CATHEDRALS EXPRESS 23/04/10 WITH 30777.

Latest news on this run on the SD website:

Victoria 0845, Beaconsfield (coach connection) 0930, Slough 1019, Warwick 1326, Stratford 1353


Stratford 1810, Warwick 1836, Slough 2058, Beaconsfield (coach connection) 2135, Waterloo 2200



Timings will be issued with your tickets which will be mailed/emailed to you. Due to congestion, Network Rail cannot find a suitable slot for our train via Beaconsfield and the Chilterns. Our train will now run via Reading and Oxford with a special coach connection from Beaconsfield to Slough. We will also depart from London Victoria as there are no platforms available at Waterloo however the train will still return back into Waterloo. A Steam Dreams steward will be at Beaconsfield to escort passengers via the coach connection.



I guess this means 30777 will have to slow down for every station she goes through like she did on the trip to Gloucester a few years ago due to the tight clearances.

 

Isn't 30777 still at Tyseley? If so, I assume there is a light engine move to Southall? due in the next week.

 

Thanks for the update, am i right that it's running as 30453 King Arthur or is this just a romour?

Mike M. ( 70c )

 

Although it can be done, 30777 is the "wrong type". 30453 was an Urie Arthur with the early cab, 30777 is a later Maunsell version.

 

Yes she is due to be running as King Arthur for this trip and the Canterbury run the following week.

 

gonna be doing this one and a bit ways lol,should be able to make 08:45 off Victoria and then get off at Warwick on the rtn.

 

Wow, we are truly being spoiled on the Reading mainline this month, that will be brilliant to see "King Arthur" along there. Now do I risk going to Milley Bridge and getting bowled again...........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZY3gC6C76s :Cry:

Though I hasten to add, I actually was really looking forward to going to Beaconsfield to see it, it's a great location and worth the travel. And I do feel sorry for all the people on the Chilterns line who now won't get the chance to see it, it's a shame.

 

Great shame she's not going via the GWR/GC Joint. Might have brought back happy memories of 777 being used on the successful Sunday Luncheon Expresses out of Marylebone.
What a great bunch of steam enginemen were based at Marylebone. All from different backgrounds with experiences of many different loco types. Despite this they all seemed to want to get the best out of whichever loco they were rostered.
Well remember the dapper Gerry Wood (ex Willesden) with Fireman Brian Tagg (ex-Kings Cross) with 777 on the "Shakespeare Limited" on 18/5/1986 as well as Driver Joe Bint (ex Neasden) and Fireman Bob Cottrell (ex Didcot) on the same day with 7029 Clun Castle arriving at Marylebone for the purposes of clearance testing from Banbury and back. Bob's face was a picture as he was on his beloved Castle!
A lot of credit for getting steam back to Marylebone in the 1980s was the then Area Manager Steve Hawkes, along with his right hand man John Roker [Traffic Manager]. I wonder how many men from Marylebone are still working on the privatised railway or are they all now retired (or in that great Signing On Point in the sky!)?

 

All timings for this are now on uksteam, including the postioning move from Tyseley to Southall.

Positioning Move http://uksteam.info/tours/t10/t0421p.htm

Actual Tour http://uksteam.info/tours/t10/t0423a.htm

 

Thanks for posting the links. Interesting timings. The ECS arrives at Victoria at 7.34 and is allowed to sit in the station for just over an hour. Clearly Victoria is not as busy as Waterloo. I didn't think charters were allowed so much time in the platforms at London Termini. Also there is an interesting bit of time travel on the main run at Warwick as we depart before we have arrived................

 

Interesting that there isn't a path via High Wycombe as it wasn't more than a couple of years ago a 60MPH Hall went that way, and that also suggests gauging isn't that much of an issue either(i know it has guaging issues but i'd be suprised if an Arthur was wider over the Cylinders), must be the Chiltern timetable is much more dense of a weekday.

 

Not bad for a line that was going to close (or part of) 25 years ago & Marylebone turned into a coach station!

 

Does anyone have the times for the light engine turn Stratford - Hatton etc. presumably it will be soon after

arriving at Stratford as it did on the last trip there?

Thanks

Mike M. ( 70c )

 

Am wondering about a location either at Stratford for the return run or somewhere close to Wilmcote or another statiion nearby.

Some kind soul sent a pm about locations for Shakespear Express runs, but it has vanished into the ether.

 

It is a real shame the advertised route via the Chiltern line has been caped as it was the main reason I am on this. However the current route provides a higher mileage day out on my first mainline trip behind 30777. I’ll be on this throughout so if anyone would like updates send me a pm with your number and update location etc.

 

So far as clearence restrictions go, 777 was limited to about 10mph last time she went down through Culham. I've seen Halls run very slowly through the up platform at Oxford, too, coming "down" out of the loop on the up side, south of the station, which is what I think 777 will do on Friday morning.

It's a fast run home. Just 12 minutes in Hinksey loop for a "splash and dash", then 12 minutes to get to Didcot North junction. Maybe the speed restriction at Culham doesn't apply to the up platform?

 

Well the Earl certainly was moving some through Culham a couple of weeks ago on the Moonraker, see the first clip of this vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzCjBUNe60Y

 

http://uksteam.info/tours/t10/t0420p.htm

Just appeared on uksteam - Looks like Lamiel's been out and about today after her repairs. Did anyone get any photos or vids?

 

There's a thread for that.......

http://railways.national-preservation.com/showthread.php/23831-Test-run-today-perhaps.....

 

But Castles aren't restricted through Culham in either direction. It certainly applies to Halls and King Arthurs in the down direction, but possibly not in the up direction.