Steam Dreams Sunday Luncheon to Stratford-O-A, 6.10.13

I was told that the Brit had failed it's ftr yesterday,this apparently came from someone at west coast but I can't say anything really,can't believe there would be such a cock up to stop the stock into the station.

And what the hell is all this piffle and arguing above? Like a bunch of bloody schoolchildren.

 

If it's true about 70000 failing FTR, I wonder if all the moaners will take their words back?
More likely to demand that 70013 took its place, never mind emptying ashpan, coaling, water, support crew!

 

If the stock and loco were moved to Acton yard, 70000 wouldn't have failed its FTR.

Lifted from The Cathex facebook page:
Our current understanding of the situation (and please bear with us as we may not have all the details at this time) is that the train was moved to Acton as planned by Network Rail to avoid being trapped by engineering works at its normal depot at Southall. The train was then due to move from Acton sidings to Paddington at 8am this morning however what Network Rail had neglected in their planning was that there was also a separate possession which came into effect at 1am today blocking our route out of Acton sidings to Paddington this only came to light at a very late stage yesterday and for a number of reasons, although every effort was made, it was not possible to make an emergency movement. Once 1am passed it became impossible to move the train and the cancellation resulted.

 

If it failed its FTR how did it carry out its ECS move? Such a shame Steam Dreams aren't having much luck at the moment.

 

Indeed. Sorry Mark but it seems implausible that 70000 failed its FTR as the train, according to Real Times, arrived at Acton at 1904 on Saturday evening.

Network Rail clearly have to stand up and be counted here. If they overlooked a further blockade preventing the ECS to get to Paddington, then it is they to blame.

The sad outcome of this is that for some passengers, this may have their first and only tour on the year with the hope of spending quality time at one of the UK's most popular destinations, only for those plans to be scuppered by a major cock up. Not my Steam Dreams, not by West Coast but by Network Rail.

What compensation will they be prepared to pay out for this serious oversight?

 

The railtour stock and a class 33 are stabled on Acton LANE reception road, opposite Willesden Euroterminal - I wonder if somebody has got that and Acton YARD mixed up

Don't know about 70000 as that is still shown at Southall on TOPS, it is definitely not with the stock which I would expect it to be if the whole train was to be moved to avoid any engineers possessions.

 

What!

That's the whole point of Nat Pres. Just occasionally taking a short break to very briefly mention the details of a mainline steam trip.

Well, that's what I've always thought.

 

One the whole the steam movement is in no way different from anything else when it comes to rumours and speculation , in fact it is oft worse.

 

You are right Al. And of course there has to be a balance. But those that post here are often older, set in their ways, won't listen much to others and are quite argumentative types. That is the nature of quite a few frequent posters on discussion forums. I know that I am one of those, , although as I explained elsewhere I tend these days to adopt a quite flippant, sometimes humorous approach. It helps me through the bad days.

But I do try to stay serious when a thread, or part of one, obviously needs that. And there are some serious issues here. Such a late cancellation for whatever reason, is not what mainline steam needs.

 

A friend of mine was to be on restaurant car duty on the trip and told me it was an FTR failure on Saturday.

 

When would the FTR have been undertaken and the locomotive declared a failure? Surely before one o'clock in the morning when customers were being contacted announcing cancellation!

Or did Steam Dreams plan on running it with a diesel only then for the stock to get stuck!!

Simple questions that require simple answers. Someone out there knows the answers!

 

Interestingly, Dave of UK Steam, the man who is always in the know, states on his website that the tour was cancelled due to "Network Rail Planning Issues". Surely if it was a FTR failure then this would have been mentioned. Just a thought.

 

I think an FTR failure isn't enough on its own to cancel a train like this. SD would have tried to run it if possible, ideally with another steam loco (there's a small chance that Ollie might have been able to step in, or perhaps one of the other Southall-based locos), but if not then with a diesel. Seems to me that the cancellation was due to the stock being blocked in a siding by engineering work. How much of that was bad planning, and how much was cock-up on the night, we won't know unless an insider cares to enlighten us.

 

It does occur to me. The train was stabled in Acton lane reception siding, which is on the LM region. The train then had to move to the GW region. Two different regions. Two different possessions.

 

All I know is, that a mate went to film the ECS move back to Southall on Monday, and Britannia had gone - she'd already snuck back to Southall - probably sometime on Sunday!!!

 

But was she ever there one wonders?

 

I think we can assume that she was! But then again........................................ ..................

(My mate was going to go and film the consist, but decided to go and watch ice hokey instead..............................................)

 

Almost certain 70000 did not go with the stock to Acton Lane; it wasn't there on Sunday - just one class 33 and the coaches (Still trying to work out why send the stock round to the LM to stable for a train out of Paddington )

 

There was a path from Hanwell loop to Paddington on Sunday morning in RTT. Bit odd if the stock is already in the Acton area.