The Great Britain VII

Well on the spot reporting.......just arrived at our hotel in London....very warm.....no smog from't mills as in Manchester....surprised at the amount of people travelling on ECML today. Travelled 1st class with Grand Central...carriages a bit grubby to say the least.......

 

The final leg, a foreigner on the ECML.......LINK

 

I know some will bulk at the such liveries, but how smart does a uniform loco and rake look ?, lovely as ever Stuart.

 

46233 currently sat at Conington taking water, with a 47 on the rear (237?).

 

Climbing the 1-178 Gamston Bank in fine style great noise from the four cylinder loco.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/10257146@N05/14104103921/

 

... and as the sun goes down, she heads south with the moon for company.

 

Excellent photo (again) Stuart; you do like photographing a Duchess don't you, and I can't blame you for that.Good vid aswel, John. Just a point, where's the headboard; without trailing through all photos again, I'm sure I've seen it throughout....Pete

 

The headboard was last seen on the A4 travelling northward through York station some time after the Duchess had been attached to the train...

 

Does personal experience count ? According to BR mileposts I only live 34 miles away from Manchester and I am a regular visitor - as I am to Scotland - that's my evidence for the original statement ! Where's your evidence for refuting it ?

 

Hurstbourne Viaduct by 5944, on Flickr

Tisbury by 5944, on Flickr

Cornish Castle by 5944, on Flickr

Brent Knoll by 5944, on Flickr

Dee Valley Viaduct by 5944, on Flickr

Kents Bank by 5944, on Flickr

A few quickly processed photos from the first four days of the tour. Remarkably, got sun on 7 days out of 9, and every loco (bar the Duchess) in sun as well. I'm off for a lie down now - 2500 miles in a car in 9 days has taken its toll!

 

And in the last hour of the tour, the Duchess cruising through Welwyn North late at night.

 

We must have met, I was the one with the shaggy dog. Nice pic in spite of the rubbish light. Drove home in lovely light, caught up with her at Connington but of course the sun dropped into cloud before she departed.

 

There was a thought doing the rounds on the train for something different next year.

 

A few from me, with the rest being up at http://www.21stcenturyrailwaymen.co.uk/thegreatbritain.html , sadly I always seemed to miss the sun! This was coupled with a lack of flexibility for this year's too, work having changed my roster to dayshift limiting the time I could dedicate to chasing! Hoping for some better luck with the CathEx!

 

Unusual this. Those of you who know Southall will know that in recent years, with the footbridge closed and Platform 1 and 2 off limits, its difficult to get clear shots of the movements there. After filming the Duchess at Welwyn, I thought I would drop off at Southall to see what was happening after the run. Well! it turns out that the up and down relief lines had an engineering possession, and platform 1 and 2 were in use. This meant I had legitimate access to platform 1, and adjacent Southall West Loop.

Ok its dark, (no lights on the loop side of the platform) but it gives you a good feel for what it was like, and if you like the noise of a Large loco resting after a run the soundtrack is a good one.

 

Spamcan81 wrote :We must have met, I was the one with the shaggy dog. Nice pic in spite of the rubbish light. Drove home in lovely light, caught up with her at Connington but of course the sun dropped into cloud before she departed.

Yes nice to have met you and your shaggy dog who was well behaved considering how long we were there at the foot crossing. You were first there and then I arrived before my friends Keith with tripod and camera then Alan who stood on the steps behind us. Shame we didn't get the light and yes I drove back home with the sun out sods law. Thanks for the updates saved me getting my device out for RTT. She sounded great climbing up to Askham tunnel even when out of sight wonderful noise. Thanks for your comment,Cheers Simon

https://www.flickr.com/photos/10257146@N05/
http://simonlathlane.zenfolio.com/

 

Maybe you folks could help me. I'm just downloading all the reported times from realtraintimes so I can correlate photo timestamps and location, and day 3 has me a bit puzzled...
UK steam.info at http://www.uksteam.info/tours/t14/t0428a.htm
has the Main train as 1Z70, and, presumably, the diesel movement as 1Z71.

Real train times has this list for 1Z71, which to me looks as if its the timings for the main train with the Black 5 on the front, even though it says Diesel locomotive. http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U54864/2014/04/28/advanced

??? Are those the times for the main train as I surmise?

Jim C