4464 Bittern to do 90mph on ECML - 29 June & 27 July 2013

That's a damn shame - I was just beginning to wonder considering the early running and high speed if they were going for 100mph before arrival in York, looks as though a pathing issue has put paid to that - still a magnificent trip

 

Well almost a stop by a cats whisker... Y953 just cleared to double yellow.

 

Lovely shot. I was a bit further north at the Holme Green farm crossing. Looks like you were at the Jiggs Lane foot crossing off the concrete road.

 

Great stuff! The departure from King's Cross. Was there from 6:40am. Pics of the (delayed) arrival and what followed to come:

 

Oh a fantastic trip, can't complain at all, the earlier runs were worth it without a doubt, 93mph (they announced 92.8 on the train), and average 88 on the Hitchen section...average !

Back in mid 40's now.

Into the 50's accelerating, but maybe too late, we were early off Babworth, 8 mins early at one point...and well.

 

Great running commentary by the way.

 

Many thanks for commenting on my pic, nice video also by the way. Was my first time on doing that part of line so will have to have a look next time a bit further up. Thanks for name of crossing, will put it in my caption later.

 

Colton Junction 1207, 5 mins early, upto 71mph.

 

Braking for York...we are still way ahead of schedule....

 

Held outside York...

Bittern takes water in York station, so Both bittern and Duchess will be there at the same, but opposite sides of the station.

 

1218, arrived York, plat 10. Brilliant.

I missed the champagne, but I will settle for a pint in the bar.

I hope you enjoyed the posts as much as I enjoyed the ride !

 

A big thank you to Network Rail for allowing this to happen, Jeremy Hosking and the support crew and all the others involved in making this a day to remember.
And not forgetting our own ADB for his on board running commentary, I'm sure he had better things to do today.

 

Arise sir ADB, a truly wonderful commentary.

And it sounds like a perfect way to reach the 90s. Not too far over the top as to cause the crew problems, but enough to make sure there was not the shadow of doubt.

I can't wait to see the detailed log as it is the start to stop times that interest me just as much as the top speeds. And a 70 mph start to stop with steam is always worth recording. They have been very few and far between since normal steam ended. And even back then they were not that frequent!

 

Thanks for the running commentary! (Updated) 11 of my photos from King's Cross - with and without that headboard! Obviously click on any individual image to enlarge and then click again to make even bigger:

Historic London Departure

 

A picture, taken in the mad photographers scrum of today's historical sonic purveyors, also close up of the lighting rig..

 

And finally, last post for a while , well till the duchess arrives..

A screenshot of the Doncaster York section looked,even though it was curtailed, it was nonetheless a fantastic run.

The app, btw is called "dashboard", free on iTunes, I used a new ipad4 and an iPhone...dashboard stood up pretty well to the guys with the GPS receivers, only limitation is it doesn't do decimals of miles.

 

Many thanks to ADB for your running commentry and also to everyone who was involved in the planning of this trip and I look forward to seeing her on Wednesday and hopefully on the return to the Cross on July 27th.

 

Splendid commentary, ADB. With hindsight, I might have had more excitement staying home and reading your posts.

I must be the only one around here to feel disappointed by this morning's amazing run. To quote a friend of mine, "I should have gone to Barkston" after all. Instead, I chose Offord: lovely clear view of the line, the sun was even shining, and all I got was a video of the train braking for a signal. A few minutes later, an EMU trundled down the slow line, and as I got back to the car I heard Bittern accelerating away from the stop. I presume that is the end of the 4-track section, and the EMU was being given priority. Had the signallers let Bittern run, I reckon she could have cleared Huntigdon station (where the unit stopped?) and got to Holme loop before the EMU caught up. Never mind, better luck next time, I hope.

 

Hard luck with the signal stop. Offord isn't the end of the four track, that's at Huntingdon a bit further north but even then it's only the up slow that's missing between there and Holme. She was due due be turned slow road at or before Huntingdon so maybe that's what the signals were all about.

 

Top commentary by ADB this morning, got in about an hour ago from seeing it. 4464 hitting mid-high 80s judging by the reports. Fantastic to see and hear an A4 working like that.


Here is my video from this morning's train, captured just north of Arlesey twice:

Thanks to all!

James at SVN