46100, now 45690, Coast to Coast, now July 30th.

Leander nearing journeys end, at Willerby nr Scarborough.

 

30/07/2016 - LMS Jubilee - 45690 "Leander" rushing home through Huncoat station at 20:30 on 5Z74 after coming off the returning Coast to Coast Express at Milford. View attachment 21960

 

Thanks Al. I've sent a PM.

 

Don't forget also the amount of time Leander lost the other week in the Chinley area/Hope Valley when unassisted. Certainly delayed at least one service train.

 

I've been reflecting on this since you posted it. I have to agree with the sentiments. BUT where I start to struggle is with the simple fact that these are commercial tours organised by tour operators to turn a profit utilising a variety of suppliers to provide the loco, stock, rail access etc. Customers buy tickets for a defined product. I feel for the volunteers in these cases as you have outlined the length of the day for this tour. But the crew etc are relieved at appropriate times. Are the volunteer support crew being exploited for profit? I know they love what they do, but volunteers need to remain cognisant that someone is making profit from their kindly and passionately volunteered labour.

On assistance, well maybe we could have some good old fashioned honest and transparent advertising. "The train will be led by a Steam Loco (Name number etc0 but will be assisted when needed by a diesel attached to the coaches." More cynically, "We will have a diesel pushing the train because we have added too many coaches for the power of the loco and we want to max out on profit."

With Coast to Coast you know its part diesel and part steam, but the assistance to steam is not clear.

 

45690 Almost home

 

Bit of a paradox to say that a 5X is good for 10 but not for the known route and timings? With the load dictated by economics an assisting loco is inevitable for a 5, given the pathing constraints. The point being the train was planned with a 7 in mind and advertised which would have been OK solo. Horses for courses but often the right steed is on box rest.

 

The main problem on the day was that we were a few minutes late at Hazel Grove, which probably determined what subsequently happened in the Hope Valley due to tight timings.

 

Do you have any figures for just how much profit the charter companies make? I'd be surprised if it's a particularly lucrative business, given how many have gone under over the years. My expectation would be that, when things are going well, they turn enough of a profit to pay the staff and that's about it, but perhaps I'm way off the mark with that thought? I'm not sure they are the cynical profit hungry organisations you are suggesting, but merely trying to keep their head above water.

I'm not even sure if WCRC will make a substantial profit out of their charter business when all factors are considered? I suspect a healthy proportion of their income has come in from other activities such as the Royal Scotsman, Harry Potter contracts, crewing tampers and other TOC/FOC support, although I suspect The Jacobite brings in a reasonable return.

When WCRC run a tour with one of their in-house locos, are the support crew volunteers, or are they paid staff based at Carnforth? Presumably, they are Carnforth staff, in some form or other, and are paid directly as opposed to via. a hire fee which would be the case for externally hired locos who are expected to provide their own support crew. Therefore, you could suggest that a proportion of the hire fee could/should be used to pay the support crew, as opposed to going towards the locos upkeep, but my suspicion is that the crew would rather waive that and see it go towards the upkeep and next overhaul. That should be their choice, or the choice of the loco owning group. Of course, if the loco owning group are paid the hire fee which includes the provision of a support crew, then presumably it is up to them to ensure that the crew work a safe number of hours and comply by whatever rules and regulations apply and WCRC or DBC presumably audit that process.

 

Indeed. It's difficult enough to path freights in a gap between the passenger workings on the Chinley East to Dore section, let alone trying to path something slower than normal all the way from Hazel Grove. It's not uncommon for a freight that's a few minutes late off Peak Forest to have to wait the full hour at Chinley East for another go. It's clear that the timings were fairly optimistic, particularly for the Jubilee, and even with assistance the train didn't really make up any time on the schedule through the valley. I'm pretty sure that if there hadn't been assistance, the following stopper would've been significantly delayed.