2015 Mainline Steam Review - Worst Year ever?

Certainly if you look at what was advertised and scheduled, and what was delivered.

Discuss.

 

The most positive thing for me has been watching 46233 traveling all over the place.

 

There's a large number of locos coming out in 2016, there's: 5029, 6023, 6201, 7029, 34046, 35018, 44932, 45212, 46100, 60103, 61264 (after wheelset repairs) & 76084. 60103 & 46100 I am both booked to travel behind on their inaugural runs, 60103 I am booked to travel behind on January 23rd's "Winter Cumbrian Mtn Express" from Manchester Victoria to Carlisle and at the time she will be wearing her NE Black livery with her 103/502 number's. With 46100 I will be riding behind her on February 6th's "North Wales Coast Express" from Preston to Holyhead (Was booked to run from Liverpool but due to pathing issues the starting point was changed to Carnforth).

7029 I meanwhile will be keeping a close eye on as I hope to get a trip behind her at some point during her upcoming mainline career like I have done with sister 5043. 76084 Meanwhile will be quite a sight as we haven't seen a fully certified Pocket Rocket since when Ian Riley owned 76079, shouldn't be too long till she goes out on test as I keep in contact with the company about her certification progress and what funding remains to be paid.

 

The problem with that list is that there's a number of locos that would have featured on a similar list this time last year. The question will be, how many of the above make a meaningful impact on the mainline scene next year?

Also, you missed out 9466!

 

Worst year ever? - not by a long shot! That has to be 1969 and 1970 when there was a total steam ban across the network. Now they really were dark days.

Peter James

 

Perhaps we should say that 2015 was the worst year for mainline steam since the New Millenium, although one would have to exempt the Jacobite service, which seems to have run with few problems. This annus horribilis didn't begin badly, however. I recall the one and only main line trip on which I travelled (4965 Gloucester-Cardiff return on March 7th) which was a typically brilliant day out with Vintage Trains. It looked like we were in for a good year at the time. However, a few miles to the east on that fateful day 34067 passed a signal at Wootton Bassett and after that, it has been one piece of bad news after another - the WCRC ban, a general lack of registered locomotives (a mixture of overruns on overhauls and a spate of failures), diesels on the back of so many trains and then, to round the year off, the shambles over the Christmas specials where 45407 was returned prematurely to Bury leaving SD and RTC without cover when 61306 and 34067 both proved unable to run.

One can but hope tht 2016 will be better. With all the locos listed above by Moylesy98 due to return to the main line during the next 12 months, that should solve the availability problem (And both Britannias should be added to the list); however, speaking as a South of England-based enthusiast, there isn't very much to excite me. I'm sure that the UK Railtours Exeter trip with Tornado will be a good day out, but I don't have much confidence in Steam Dreams and RTC, sadly at the moment. So many of the excursions are so inordinately long and diesel shovage is all too common. What has happened to the London-Canterbury and London-Salisbury trains that used to run 15-20 years ago? This sort of journey is quite long enough for me. Perhaps when the "Hosking Belle" carriages emerge from Crewe, we might see some shorter runs in the south of England behind, say 34046 and 70000, preferably operated in conjucntion with UKRT and thus DBS operated and diesel-free.

Installation of turntables at Swanage (or more likely, Furzebrook) and Weymouth would also improve the situation for main line steam in the south.

 

Not really that dark, it was those years I was introduced to the delights of German steam.

 

Is that the one out of King's Cross in February? Still not up for sale on the website as yet. My fingers are itching. You lucky chap for having a ticket

 

The OP did say comparing scheduled against delivered. 1969 and 1970 delivered what was scheduled!

 

I guess an issue for 2016 will be whether the market has taken a knock. Increased loco supply is all very well but the paths need to be there, the drivers need to be there and above all the public needs to roll up.

1970-- my last main line steam ride in France from Hazebrouck to Calais on the overnight Milan --Strasbourg--Calais Mme train.

 

It has certainly been a more than difficult year but do you not think that many enthusiasts who want to travel behind steam on the mainline and photograph it are becoming unrealistic in their expectations of what the TOCs, loco owners and tour promoters are realistically able to achieve in today's railway environment which is so different to 1971 when the steam ban was first relaxed. And maybe even that the tour promoters are over optimistic in what is possible with the available resources.

Even in 2015 I find myself amazed at the number of trains which have actually run despite all of the problems and difficulties and far from being critical of the failures we should be grateful for what has run, yes even where the experience has been marred by diesel assistance and restrictions on leaning out of windows, and congratulate all involved for what has actually been achieved.

For all that long list of locos which may return to the main line in 2016 I just don't see the issues facing those who promote steam trains declining.
Higher frequency of service trains, higher line speeds, gauging issues and the inevitable fallout from the latest WCRC issues which may yet lead to train length and route restrictions will all have an impact on future steam operations.

Have people already forgotten the summer fire restrictions of previous years ? - the Scarborough Spa issues and more ?. I can't help feeling that we may yet look back at 2015 as not that much worse than previous years.
And despite all the problems, for me the highlight of the year ( and I missed it because I was abroad ) was the sight of two trains climbing Shap within sight of each other - was 2015 all that bad ?

Scott

 

Think he means the Manchester - Carlisle tour on 23rd Jan

 

deleted

 

Yes - the Shap event was amazing. I remember my father taking us up there in 1967 and watching the procession of slogging trains climb the bank. A couple of years ago, the Railway Magazine published a photo of what purported to be two trains climbing Shap almost nose-to-tail in the mid-60s, which were clearly far too close together (the two trains obviously being in the same signalling section!), and the photo later proved to have been 'shopped', with many readers (including me), writing in to point it out. The genuine photos of this year's steam double there made for a fantastic scene, given that the same shot could actually have been achieved without cheating in the 1960s, but seems not to have been.

 

46115 with the late running Cumbrian Mountain Express was quite something. Seeing the loco perform with more pizzazz than usual. 2015 was going to be difficult in my view with Bittern, Clan Line and Sir Nigel Gresley all bowing out and also without Nunney Castle surprisingly. When you add the issues with 34067 and 60009 on top of that. ouch

At this point though the countdown is on for Flying Scotsman, Princess Elizabeth and Royal Scot. 45212 and 34046 from a realistic standpoint as well. 2016 shall be a nice bounce back. I'm not going to list other locos becuase I want to remain realistic.

 

Looking at that list, taking out the GWR engines and 6201 most of that list is also pretty gauge friendly, which will come as good news as an awful lot of tours this year seem to have fallen foul of the "Network Rail laser of doom". If WCRC can keep out of trouble then hopefully things will look up.

BTW, you can probably add 35028 to that list too.

 

The promoters have to share some of the blame, scheduling more and more clearly over ambitious routes and combinations that can not be delivered. I am booking on the 2016 "end of southern steam" tour with some friends. RYTC says "We return from Weymouth at around 16:35 and our train will be hauled by a steam locomotive, either No. 34067 Tangmere or No. 35018 British India Line and banked at the rear by steam locomotive No. 34046 Braunton to assist with the steep climb ahead.

I know that wont happen. I have warned my friends that wont happen. You certainly cant accuse me of being unrealistic in my expectation.

 

I agree that there are some tours being advertised that you can be 80% sure will not run as advertised, but actually I think there has been a distinct lack of interesting 'enthusiast' tours in 2015. Thanks to the WCRC ban the last tour I went on other than a jacobite run in the summer was the Scottish Lowlander tour in 2014. That also featured a number of changes to the initial itinerary but was still a phenomenal trip. What was the comparator in 2015?

 

One thing which might be a factor, why do some operators (particularly SD) insist on running tours during the week then not at the weekends? Surely there's more of a market for the latter?

 

Wouldn't dream of it - always thought a healthy level of pessimism avoids disappointment !