70000 Southend to Winchester 10.12.11

Understand that this left 35 late due to late ECS from Southall.

 

Thanks. Was just about to head out to a chilly South Acton. Will delay.

 

Possibly the last opportunity to photograph 70000 in black this weekend ?

 

Be aware, it could make up a bit of time!

 

A 159 unit reported to be on fire at Brookwood - could cause further delays.

 

SWT train site says there is an "incident" near Brookwood which the emergency services are dealing with. SWT says expect delays of around 20 mins to services. Delays expected until around 12pm. I wonder if 70000 will lose her path?

 

Any more news on this?

 

eep::rant: Delays due to a Class 159 on fire, reports of delays to service trains of 120+ mins.

Should dangerous trains such as there be let out on the railway when they can cause fires and delay the network? Should class 159s be confined to preserved lines only? will NR have, in effect, a 159 ban in place by this evening?

I'll get my coat...............................

 

Approx 22 mins late at South Acton and travelling slowly.

 

Mmmmmm........... Not looking good. SWT site now says services will be delayed until 14.00 and one service from Waterloo to Basingstoke has been cancelled completely.

 

Crawling through South Acton station at around 11:42am. Played safe because of the delay and didn't get to the Bollo Lane crossing where I'd have got better shots.

 

Any more updates?

 

Late to say it I know but the doom and gloom was misplaced and by the time she left Chersey was only 10 minutes down

 

My video of a nice noisy sunny departure from Chertsey just uploading now, should be viewable by about 3.30pm or so:

[video=youtube_share;S5VZ2JHKMDo]http://youtu.be/S5VZ2JHKMDo[/video]

 

North of Chertsey and through Woking:

Zenfolio | Simon Whittingham Photography | BR Britannia Class 7MT 4-6-2 no 70000 Britannia BR Britannia Class 7MT 4-6-2 no 70000 Britannia

 

Due to the disruption on SWT today, Britannia running a few minutes down was the undoubted beneficiary!!

Expected to trundle down the slow through Woking it was in fact switched to the down fast and with a prolonged blast on its whistle and a beautifully white exhaust it tore through the very packed station around 10 late.

The reaction of the passengers was amazing with many rushing to capture this wonderful spectacle with their mobiles.

Dave formerly of Woking was at the regulator and he has admitted to me in the past that the biggest thrill of all for him is getting a clear road through Woking on the fast with steam. Today worked out perfectly for him and for us!

Off to Brookwood for the return!

Nick

 

I saw her arrive/depart at Willesden around 20 mins late, hopped on the Kenny Belle to Clapham to find the 12 o'clock to Alton was cancelled. Managed to get the !2.!2 Weymouth to Basingstoke

The lads there said it was due at 13.14 of which she stormed through on time give or take a minute.

Someone mentioned that she was going back to Crewe tomorrow.

Mike M. (70c )

 

Had to miss this in the end. Oh well. Had other stuff to do this afternoon so couldn't wait around earlier to see where she was. Good to hear she wasn't delayed too much.

 

Any evidence of a "flame-grilled" DMU had long since been removed from Brookwood by the time I arrived just before 12, hardly seemed to be any delays either. Photos and video are below.

Railway Galleries photos

Youtube Video

Cheers,
Chris

 

Nice to see the c2c twitter feed keeping their followers informed of her progress - indeed it seems like quite a few of the staff looking after the various official feeds are enthusiasts to some extent, saw the UK Rail Enquiries feed giving out uksteam's url the other day to someone who mentioned seeing a steam trip...

Chris