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September 5th Exeter Cathedrals Express changed again.... to 30th October!

Discussion in 'What's Going On' started by green five, Aug 27, 2010.

  1. green five

    green five Resident of Nat Pres

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    Just been looking on Uksteam info and SD site and found this trip has been changed again. Now shows 70000 in charge again on 30th October rather than 60019 which was listed the other day. We were looking at booking this but wonder if it's going to keep changing.
     
  2. Paul42

    Paul42 Part of the furniture

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    I suspect the date change could be that, although 60019 was available for this date, having enough support crew members could have been the problem. 60019 is rostered for the Dorset Coast Express on 2 dates, The Mayflower, The White Rose and The Silver Jubilee in September.

    I suspect the date will not alter, but the loco may change.
     
  3. 60019bittern

    60019bittern New Member

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    60019 is the booked engine for this trip now. She's having a washout at present. 70000 isn't due a test run until the week after said tour.

    Incidentally, Paul42 guessed well, we had too much other work on with 60019 at the start of September. Sadly with so many other engines out of action at the time, this forced Steam Dreams into re-dating the tour.
     
  4. alastair

    alastair Well-Known Member

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    I see routing has now been changed substantially,now steam to Yeovil,diesel thence to Exeter via Honiton,then steam all the way back via Bristol. However the big question is can anyone say if this will be another "double tender & diesel pushing much of the way" nightmare like the recent Bristol trip with 60019?
     
  5. 60019bittern

    60019bittern New Member

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    Indeed. Network Rail stated that the increase in South West Trains' service frequency between Yeovil and Exeter meant there were no paths anymore even for a 75mph steam hauled train. It seems this doesn't stretch as far as stopping 95mph diesels from doing the job, but there we go.

    Plan now is 60019 Waterloo - Salisbury - Yeovil, detach and run onto railway centre whilst diesel runs round and takes over the train onwards to Exeter.
    Then:
    (1) If 60019 is detached with coach, then engine gets turned and serviced, runs smokebox first to Westbury via Pen Mill and Castle Cary to run round again and go tender first with coach in tow to Exeter via Taunton.
    (2) If 60019 is detached light, support coach goes with train to Exeter and 60019 is turned and serviced, then running to Exeter via a reversal at Frome.

    60019 is then the right way round to lead the train Exeter - Taunton - Bristol - Bath - Westbury - Salisbury - Basingstoke - Waterloo

    It's going to be putting a lot of mileage on our girl. I'm only a fitter so I can't tell you entirely how the operation will go but I would be fairly certain that the diesel which does our ECS from Southall will stay tagged on the tail to Yeovil and then do the Exeter leg. This saves WCRC a light engine move. Whether or not the diesel will do a lot of pushing, I can't say.

    I've heard a lot of things said about how much the diesel was assisting on the Bristol trip, but being on the footplate I can assure you it was a lot less than some may have us believe. It did assist up Haslemere, but when we struggled with being the first train over frosty rails on the climb to Clapham in the morning there was no help to be seen. The reason for the diesel on the Bristol trip (as well as the ECS move out of Temple Meads) is that Steam Dreams had advertised this trip for an engine of Sutherland's or Lizzie's calibre. I hate to say it myself, but the A4 isn't as strong as them when it comes to shifting a heavy train. The prospect of a Stanier machine storming over these routes was obviously enough for the train to book well and a full formation 12 + support coach train to be needed.

    Then the idea of the A4's water carrier came into play. It was already a long journey but with the carrier on, we could cut down on waterstops and therefore time. Indeed as we were running late, we missed the Botley waterstop and ran on to Bristol with no waterstops at all. What must be remembered however is that at the start of the day, that water carrier weighs as much as two coaches, so now we had 15 on the drawbar. With that sort of load on a route that did feature some stiff gradients, it's not surprising that West Coast Rail took the precaution of putting the diesel on the back. If nothing else, it can be put in notch one and carry it's own weight as if it wasn't there.

    It's a shame that some people felt the presence of the diesel spoilt it. I'm not keen on having them there, but I can see their operational use and I'd much rather have that than Network Rail telling WCRC that they can't play trains because it's too high risk.
     
  6. knightoftheblackeagle

    knightoftheblackeagle New Member

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    i think everyone agrees that could never have the heavy train that it had on that day,especially as rain arrived a while before the A4 was due to climb westbury bank,i think most sensible people would understand help would be necessary.its just did the class 37 have to do what appeared 3parts of the work,for it could be heard way above the beat of 'bittern',as i said before the sound of 'bittern' appeared to be out of sych with the speed at which it was being pushed.so now it looks there maybe a repeat next saturday,though now with the leaf fall can we expect otherwise,it would have been nice to have heard more of bittern.
     
  7. alastair

    alastair Well-Known Member

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    many thanks for an interesting and informative post. your points are well made.
     
  8. green five

    green five Resident of Nat Pres

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    Thanks for this report and clearing a few things up about the Oct 7th trip.
     
  9. RalphW

    RalphW Nat Pres stalwart Staff Member Administrator Friend

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    I believe that this trip, the 30th Oct is now being routed into Paddington on the return.
     
  10. malc

    malc Part of the furniture

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    Yes, the letter from Steam Dreams confirms this...

    Waterloo dep 08.12
    Woking dep 09.33
    Salisbury 11.07-11.20
    continue steam-hauled to Westbury, then diesel to Exeter arr 13.18

    Exeter dep 16.37
    via Bristol
    Salisbury 19.52-20.16
    Basingstoke arr 21.01
    Reading arr 21.34
    Paddington arr 22.29
    (steam-hauled throughout)
     
  11. Romsey

    Romsey Part of the furniture

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    From TSDB loaded yesterday -
    As advised by Steam Dreams to Salisbury on return run.
    Basingstoke 21/03, Woking 2132 - 2135, Surbiton 21/50, Waterloo 2213.

    Cheers, Neil
     
  12. malc

    malc Part of the furniture

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    Hmm? The letter from Steam Dreams was written at 15.20 this afternoon and e-mailed out at 16.37.
     
  13. gwr4090

    gwr4090 Part of the furniture

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  14. alastair

    alastair Well-Known Member

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    thanks for the times,this is getting confusing! So its now not out via Yeovil at all but reversing at Westbury (btw think the second listing of Andover in those times should read Warminster?).

    Also, looking at the water stops booked would seem maybe its running with one tender?
     
  15. 6026 King John

    6026 King John Well-Known Member

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    I guess there will be only one tender as it has to run backwards from Westbury to Exeter to collect the train for the return trip. I doubt that it would be allowed to run with two tenders leading.
     
  16. Steamage

    Steamage Part of the furniture

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    I wonder if she will follow separately? Since she doesn't need to turn, with the new routing, she might as well stay attached to the rear of the train, just in case the DL needs assistance on the climb to Brewham ;-) As noted above, there are enough water stops in the schedule that a single tender should be enough.
     
  17. Mikem

    Mikem Member

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    I agree it would make sense to attach 60019 on the rear to assist especially during the fallen

    leaves season !!

    Mike M. (70c)
     
  18. malc

    malc Part of the furniture

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  19. green five

    green five Resident of Nat Pres

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    What a palaver! Glad we didn't book on this one now as we would have got on at Woking. This could be a costly trip getting all the passengers back from stations on the return run.
     
  20. Mikem

    Mikem Member

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    Yes not that brilliant for Woking passengers, not all SWT services stop there these days

    you may be lucky and get an up West of England train or the Woking stopper every half hour.

    Mike M. (70c)
     

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