'The Capital Christmas Express'. 23rd November

The fastest was 43.48 start to stop on 15th May 1965, 35005. With a severe tsr at Wimbledon. Net time circa 41.30, which was about the fastest net time of several other runs.

57 minutes to Fleet an improvement on going round the houses from Victoria? Yes of course.

But on the face of it 57 minutes non stop Waterloo- Fleet down the main is still appalling. Close to the standard of certain Bournemouth gnomes on the 21.20 ex Waterloo with a stop for a blow up on the way!

Re the 57 minutes. After crawling out to Surbiton in 21 minutes, speed needs to average 60mph all the way from there to Woking!. The 17 minutes onto passing Farnborough a further 9 miles indicates a local train in front?

Such are the problems of trying to run steam on today's very busy railway in and out of Waterloo.

 

And Tangmere is on its way.

 

We'll find out which loco has been rostered for the train later this morning. <BJ>
http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U54641/2013/11/22/advanced

 

Been confirmed as 34067 on a number of Facebook and gen posts.

James

 

And here is it, Tangmere on its way down with the ECS

 

Running 16 mins early through Woking this morning:

http://simonwhittinghamphotography.zenfolio.com/p465766334/h147e1cad#h147e1cad

Thank goodness for real time trains or I would have missed it.

 

34067 was held at Shawford for the 09:47 from Eastleigh and the following Cross Country service to pass therefore missed out the stop at Wallers Ash. Luckily, I, along with a few other photographers, had realised that and all legged it to Micheldever from Winchester, arrived with time to spare and got a cracking performance. Wonderful to see 34067 back!

James

 

Tangmere passing Battledown Flyover in the sun this morning.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/davestubbings/11008081434/

 

Finding some colour at Farnborough:

 

Great pics chaps but what has happened to the 'Tangmere Clag'

 

Yes, platform staff confirmed 1Z92 through Brookwood 15 early but, yes you've guessed it, they let out the up Waterloo stopper from the bay in front of it, to scupper any high speed through Woking. In fact it trundled through at around 30mph. No whistle. No clag. I guess the driver knew the all stations Waterloo was in front of him and so no need to hurry. Such a pity for the up main platform 2 was packed and I spent time telling parents with kids that a steamer was a couple of minutes away and get ready for something special. It wasn't.

 

Plenty of clag and noise out of Weymouth this morning, great sight in the sunrise, and a healthy burble from 47580 (think that's the one) on the back too. Fully aware of the abuse I'm risking by saying that, but personally, classic steam AND diesel designs on the main line are worth celebrating.

 

So they are; but not coupled onto the same train!

 

Unless an unrebuilt BB needs to get up Upwey Bank at 7.30am on a cold November morning..........

 

Or pretty much any other steam loco on that length train on that climb.

 

Indeed.

What was the max unassisted load up there back in steam days for a West Country?

 

It was 6. Don't forget Pete Roberts took 11 unaided with Tangmere a couple of years ago

Don