VT - Pannier Rambler & Nat Pres day out - 9600 & L94 (7752) - Nov 3rd

Dead right. The bottles at least looked fine!

 

Yes it's possible to turn at Worcester, but it's complicated to do as all 3 sides of the triangle are heavily used, and with Panniers, operationally the difference between forwards and backwards running is minimal, so turning would only real be for asthetic purposes.

 

There is indeed a triangle at Worcester but due to the fact that the twomlegs of the "triangle" effectively form two parallel single lines from Foregate Street to Henwick, there are issues with line occupation and pathing of other trains in what is now a quite busy location. It can take a lot longer than might be imagined to perform a turning move, and the potential for getting in the way of other trains is particularly high as not all trains run in to Shrub Hill, the Birmingham to Hereford services, for instance running from Tunnel Junction to Foregate Street direct and thus avoiding Shrub Hill.

In this instance we had quite enough difficulty actually getting a path in to Shrub Hill let alone turning on the triangle. It is worth remembering that tank locomotives are made to run just as well backwards as forwards, and Panniers are a particularly succesful example of the breed. For this particular tour the important thing was to have them chimney first up the Lickey in order to avoid issues with boiler water levels due to the very steep gradient. That effectively settled which way round they worked from the start, and they basically ran just over half the trip bunker first. Please do bear in mind that photographic considerations do not enter into our planning of such matters, as the objective is to run the train as planned, to time, and we generally find that the passengers who pay for it all are rarely concerned about which way round the engines are, just as long as they are making their usual noise!

Regards
Bob

 

Hear, hear.

 

Thanks for the explanations. I haven't ever been to Worcester by train before but know there is a triangle there - just that I was unaware of the logistics involved. The main reason for the curiosity is that I remember watching 9600 (I believe) using the triangle at Oxley to turn around some years ago (possibly 1998?) and just wondered if a similar procedure was planned for this tour at Worcester. I agree with you regarding photographic considerations, and thinking about it I imagine it is slightly different with the Pannier's, as their line speed forwards and backwards is pretty much the same - I guess it would only really be a concern (say) with one of the larger locos.

 

The triangle is busy, certainly, but usually there is space within any particular hour to get a locomotive turned on it. Usually it's dictated by what's happening on the 'Droitwich Loop' (Tunnel Junction to Henwick) as that usually is the busier of the two sides but it is possible to get ad hoc moves down.

 

At Oxley only one side of the Triangle (WCML) is intensively used, the Shrewsbury line does have spare capacity and the Oxley Chord is a little used freight connection from the Salop route to the WCML north.