5043 - Private Charter - 29/10/11

Post removed

 

The only thing about rods that annoys me is when you are mending an engine and you have not got any and it is going to cost you £12,000 each to replace them. Get a life Richard.

Far more importantly, we have to say a big thank you toeveryone who knew something of this operation, but managed to help us contain the info. It was intended as a surprise for Adrian, it was something that I know he has always had in mind, and I think that he may well have had an inkling that something was afoot, he had not realised the extent of the plot. The up run was planned non stop with the return down train scheduled for stops at Wycombe, Banbury and Warwick Parkway to drop off guests who had travelled down to Moor Street to join the special. In the event, having taken notes on the loco's operation from the footplate, I made it 1 hour 56 minutes, and will have to wait for Mr Notley's pronouncements for a definitive to the second time. The job itself was an interesting task having set off from Moor Street just behind a Chiltern train, which caused a number of double and single yellows to appear in front of us until he made his last stop at Bicester. It was an interesting experience to run over the new Chiltern infrastructure provided by Evergreen 3 for the first time with steam. in particular Aynho, Bicester, Risborough, Northolt and Neasden south junction were a revelation. Certainly fascinating to be able to run through them at a much greater speed than we have been accustomed to in recent years. Full marks too, to Chiltern's train planners who managed to find a path through all of their other trains, and to all involved in Network Rail's ops side who kept us moving.

A great deal of thanks is due to David Smith and all of the staff at WCR Carnforth who did a lot of high speed sorting out on the water carrier and the (H)Adrian Bar to make them available for the operation. As well as the water carrier lacking the whole thing possible, the inclusion of the bar car gave us the largest number of brown and cream mark 1 MetCamm Pullmans seen for quite a few years.

For the record the crews were Ray Churchill and Alastair on 5043 and Ray Poole and Dean Morris looking after 47773 at the back.

All in all a fantastic experience for us all, and I think it is true to say that it was the first non stop steam Birmingham to London (certainly on this route) since the famous test run with Cranbrook Castle in 1962.

Regards
Bob

 

Sorry Bob you have completely misunderstood what was intended to be a light-hearted comment regarding how I think an engine looks slightly strange to me when parked like that (in contrast to much more serious unnecessary accusations about idling diesels on railtours and loco liveries from other forum members) and I'm sure you know of other people who prefer couplers hooked away under buffers and tail lamps on the higher of the two brackets on a Mark 1 and all sorts of other silly little things. I can see now how my post can be misinterpreted as something it wasn't and even a complaint against you hard working people and I'm sorry for any offense which I can assure you was not meant in the slightest. I hope you understand that the spoken word is very different from the printed text and that often the intention and meaning of a comment like that can be lost by typing it out. I should have typed "it makes an engine look a bit strange" rather than "it really annoys me". Certainly it has been shown on this forum before attempts at light-hearted jokes and sarcasm often go awry and I guess it was foolhardy for me to even attempt it. Please continue to keep up the hard work and effort you and others put in to railway preservation and park your engines in any way you wish. Again please accept a thousand humble apologies for any unintentional offense caused and congratulations for what sounds like another fantastic result for all your hard work yesterday. Should Edgcumbe ever need new rods I shall be first in the queue to make a donation.

Richard

 

I'll second Bob's thanks to all involved.

This private charter was meant as a surprise for Adrian. No offense was meant towards anyone in the preservation community who wanted to view/photo the tour – we just wanted to maintain the surprise.

Thanks to all who helped us maintain a certain level of secrecy!

Regards

Ben

 

Ralph, if he did know about it, he deserves an Oscar for his look of surprise!

 

No need to apologise. what you do with your kit is your business. Sounds like you gave the guy a proper send off and a right treat for a whole bunch of other railway bods!

 

The good news is we are thinking about running something similar for the fare paying public in the future.

More details to follow.

 

Any chance that being to Paddington ?

I've done Tyseley to Marylebone years ago with 7029, watered at Bicester... But a chance to do a Moor st nonstop with the correct route to Paddington would be a great one.. Especially if there were panniers waiting in London to do a london suburbs branch tour with the spare stock in the afternoon ?..

Imagine panniers pull out to Greenford with its semaphores...castle on the rear then pulls the train to Southall for servicing, panniers trundle top and tail to Brentford and back, take off to Willesdon round kensington and you hounslow loop, to Kew bridge, To willesdon, neasden and ruslip.. Back to Southall, pick up the castle and tow the train back to Paddington for a non stop return to Brum ?

 

There is nothing like the sight of a GWR 4-6-0 simmering at the stops in Platform 1 at Paddington - timeless!

 

HAVE TO AGREE WITH THAT

 

Now that sounds like a railtour, bring it on
The run to Paddington and the panniers circuit then the run back,
no having to find something to do for 3-4 hours while loco being serviced.