3 Steam Charters at York: 18/11/23

Although I seem to remember No 9 being "out of gauge" for at least one platform for about 6 months despite the number of times it had used it recently before.

 

I think it has been mentioned several times in the railway mags, that unless a specific loco's paperwork is submitted with a bid then gauging checks will not be completed for that loco. If Braunton wasn't considered on the original bid and Braunton hasn't run to King's X recently it will be considered out of gauge until checks are done again.
Now many of the locos have been laser scanned then dimensions are a lot easier to check as the loco's profile can be recreated digitally & checks done at desk, but some pinch points still require a person and tape measure on site to be sure! The laser scanning has reopened some routes for Castles I saw reported elsewhere.

 

There’s a new gauging system that gives each registered loco a Nation wide certificate.

Consider that two steam locos at Southall for a busy Christmas period would be advantageous. The stock coming down provides a great opportunity to move said second steam loco. Braunton is running a charter this Wednesday, which means a second FTR would be needed prior to running Saturday. Why perform a second FTR when a steam loco is coming down the day before with a valid FTR.

 

Steam Dreams website has been updated to state 45231 will be motive power.

When was the last time two members of the same class of steam loco were seen side by side at a London termini? 1967 at Waterloo?

 

Should also be a fun morning for the stewards herding the right set of passengers onto the correct train, not only at the Cross but Huntingdon and Peterborough as well. My experience says it is bad enough when two steam tours close together are heading for different destinations, let alone the same one.

 

That's probably right. The last time I can recall two Black 5s (albeit in tandem) at a London terminus was 6 December 2016 at Victoria, seen here: https://flic.kr/p/ZG7vf9

 

We put two Black 5s (4932 & 5231) side-by-side in KX for filming The Imitation Game in 2013. The stock we used came off a job hauled by 60007, which arrived earlier in the evening.

JS

 

Rather moist at Digswell this morning! Load 11+47 for 44871, 12+47 for 45231. The latter worked across the viaduct but came to a stop in the station for some reason.

 

Felt like a AWS/TPWS stop as the braking was quite hard. Unfortunately the side by side at Kings Cross didn't happen.

Andrew

 

An impressive novelty at St Neots having two black 5 hauled steam specials passing one after the other. Both coasting at line speed, so not much action. According to the kids the 4871 was the better one as we got a toot on the whistle as she passed, but the green 47 on the back of the LSL train was better as it stood out more than the one on the WC train. A score draw by the sounds of it!

 

44871 going well on Stoke Bank this morning ,although lost a few minuets on the climb ,according to Realtime. Diesel on the back seemed to be doing nothing. Photo attached

 

Today's entertainment at York.

 

The second of 3 steam charters to arrive at York today was 44871 with the Railway Touring Companys 'The White Rose'
https://tinyurl.com/42zz4dwj

Neil

 

The 3rd charter to arrive today at York was 45231 The Sherwood Forester with Steam Dreams London to York Christmas Market charter
https://tinyurl.com/2r6b94fn

Neil.

 

Very nearly got both the fives at Doncaster but 44871 passed about 5 minutes before 45231 arrived for its crew pickup. Still, here are the pair sharing the ECML today:

 

All seems to be running a bit less smoothly on their respective returns? The LSL charter is showing as an hour late at Connington loop on RTT...
The WCRC was about right time until Peterborough but has subsequently dropped off the map.

Any idea what happened to either service?

 

Great video on the Railcam Facebook page of the two Black 5s passing each other at Peterborough. Can't post link as I'm on my phone.

 

The near spectacle at Doncaster.

 

The LSL charter ended up 2nd on the Joint line instead of 1st due to the late start from York. This meant that it got stuck at Saxilby whilst the WCRC charter took water as booked. Should have been regulated at Doncaster IMHO but that would have required a bit of thought!