Weymouth Seaside Express 2013

I can concur, it started raining in Bristol at about 15:00 yesterday and continued to rain until gone midnight, looking at the rainfall radar yesterday there was similar rainfall intensity in the Somerset and Dorset areas. There was just under an inch of rain yesterday. In Bristol we've had just under two inches of rain since Tuesday.

 

Sat admiring the builders yard at Pen Mill awaiting a path.

 

Nice to see some good common sense here.

This is a real railway we are talking about. Not a toy train set.

And I do understand the enormous frustration that some feel. A lot of money paid out, days given up etc,. But please give those who run the railway a chance to make the decisions. It may just be that their priorities aren't always focussed on such a minute part of their business. A part that I sometimes wonder might already take up far more management time than it should for very little payback in comparison with the sum total.

 

And you got the likes of Steve1015 sticking up for the decision makers, I assume he must be a controller.
This is in response to free2grice's last post, forgot to put quote in.

 

Presumably it's someone who is just trying to do his job and gets slagged off regardless of what decision he makes.
Sitting at Deighton station all day doesnt really give you a good overview of the situation does it?

 

And it would appear that some others don't realise just what a frustrating day the passengers are having and it's not just the gricers who are discontent. Now over an hour late awaiting both up and down trains to clear the Yeovil - Maiden Newton section.

 

The longer the dry spell, the harder the ground, the more difficult for torrential rain to be absorbed and the more likely it is to run off. Hence the danger of flash flood. Steady but not heavy rain over several hours, and indeed in spells over a number of days, gives the best chance of really wetting dry ground.

A bit of sunshine and a drying wind, and the long vegetation is as dry as it was, regardless of ground conditions - I have seen "the tops" burning happily when actually standing in water.

I think posters also forget when looking at the "diesel at the front/diesel at the back" decision that rear engines under separate control are not routinely permitted to assist on Network Rail. I am sure local control would have been quite happy for the 33 to be train engine and 5029 pilot but switching ends already caused 45' delay and a loss of path, so what would doing that have done?

In theory, this operation is like the Scarborough Spa - a family day to the seaside where the presence of steam will see much of the market happy. For those like Spamcan81 for which this isn't the case, it is clearly doubly disappointing and I can understand his frustration and annoyance. However, Bryan is right - steam is a small part of Network Rail's business, probably unduly risky in terms of threat to overall performance and almost certainly consumes a disproportionate amount of management time compared with the income it is allowed, under the Railways Act 1995 and the ORR's Control Period settlement, to generate.

And I do not work for Network Rail, before anyone suggests that is the only reason anyone can try to rationally explain the position!

Steven

 

For goodness sake, this is absolutely crazy. Diesel assistance has been put in place because the lineside was tinder dry from days of heat. I repeat tinder dry. Steam trains in preservation have run in sunny and even hot weather without the need for diesel intervention but I concede that this recent weather has been exceptional. And so was the thunderstorms of yesterday. After such rainfall the line CANNOT BE TINDER DRY ANY LONGER. It will take takes of futher hot weather to dry it all out again and thank God, that hot weather is not forecasted to come back.

it is overcautious actions of those who have the audacity to call themselves railwaymen and have not used one ounce of common sense.

Just would along the lineside and see for yourself. I think you will find wellington boots will be the order of the day.

 

I've received an email from Justin 'Basingstoker' Foulger .

''A 33 is better than a steam engine anyday! Stop moaning!''

Oh well. Enjoy your trip to Weymouth everyone. <BJ>

 

Somewhere in the now, thankfully, small number of my 1960s SR timing note books that I am still expecting to recover, are one or possibly two logs of a Bulleid with a 33 piloting!, (The 33s were light engine movements being put on the front to reduce the sections where they needed their own pathway).

So I find those double heading clips quiet nostalgic. Except that on the one run I clearly remember the Bulleid driver tried, and succeeded in drowning the diesel noise by the way he stormed out of Woking towards Brookwood.

 

Oooops! Make that walking alongside the lineside! Must be the wet weather!

 

That really makes me want to weep! Really feel for the passengers who shelled out their hard earned.
What I don't understand is that during the heatwave the steam loco was on the front & allowed to do some work, & yet now we have had some rain the jobsworths insist on the box being put on the front & instructed to do ALL the work as you can see in the video. 5029 is blowing off steam instead of using it!
I see the compensation forms coming out.

 

Maybe there is a problem with Nunney, and that is why it has been taken off the train?

 

.

This keyboard wizard was standing in wet grass to watch it. Unlike the the guy in control sat on his fat arse on his dry chair.

It was, by any measure or assessed risk, a shameful call.

 

I presume Spamcan 81 would know that as he is on the train.

 

But not yours to make. Someone made a decision. Sometimes people make decisions that end up seemingly wrong, nobody ever got a bollocking for being over cautious.

 

It's pointless me posting much more on this part of the debate. Especially with the insults being directed towards professional railway staff who may have far more to do than take immediate decisions about motive power for a train that already had sufficient planned for this morning, when they maybe have more pressing things to do.

I just hope that the outward run has allowed a good look at conditions and a decision can be made to change the return motive power arrangements if the line side is now seen as safe for steam over the whole route.

 

Why? The T&Cs of the tour operator cover eventualities like this, try reading the small print!

 

I did know what you meant to type!