Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway steam gala 13-15 September

Track fault on the Network Rail owned track into Princes Risborough. As a result, no trains into Princes Risborough at the moment.

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Doesn't seem to be working well for them today

 

Folk on FaceAche saying 7820 has derailed outside Princes Risborough - sad news if true. Absolutely gutted that Chinnors first steam gala hasn't turned out as well as they hoped

 

Well it was definitely what was being said on Risborough station by the railway staff.

Extremely disappointing day.

Andrew

 

4555 and 55189 are toping and tailing the service between Chinnor and Thame Junction.

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Good to see the railway snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. A strange consist but who cares as long as steam is running and they’re still able to sell tickets.

 

The track has spread under the manor at Princes Risborough just beyond the signal box. I made it to PR and there was a coach to get to Chinnor but it stops at 2.45. I sadly turned around and began the long rail journey back to Bristol

 

It's good news...

 

Looks like everything back to normal for tomorrow, with the manor already back in service.

 

Made my first ever visit to the line on Friday and had a really nice day. 55189 seemed to struggle on the runs towards Chinnor, taking around half hour each time, so trains were running around half hour late when I got off the 3.59 arrival at Chinnor. 55189 then needed coal so the last trip ran around an hour down, but sounded great working away from a standing start after Wainhill Crossing past Keens Lane in the last of the light. My video, photos to follow...

 

Similar to Friday, 55189 failed to complete any Chinnor bound runs today without the loco having to stop and 'blow up' at least once on every journey. So inevitably the timetable suffered considerably because of this. I'm unsure exactly what the reason behind the regular 'Blow ups' was, but as the printed timetable indicated that the train was supposed to be formed of 5 Mk1s and the fact that one Mk1 was replaced by W55024 throughout the weekend, it may have been that the revised load was simply too heavy for the loco to handle? Sadly prior to the final round trip of the day 55189 remained at Chinnor. This was reportedly due to watering issues, so the final treble headed train of the weekend from Princes Risborough failed to materialise. However the superb run with 7820 and 4555 certainly made up for this disappointment!

 

Few photos from a lovely day Friday... https://www.flickr.com/photos/alts1985/albums/72177720320389663

 

7820 confirmed to operate on Sunday 22nd

 

From my experience with 55189 (or 419 as she was when we had her at the Battlefield), she is a capable loco, but far less forgiving of less than optimal firing technique than, for example, a GWR Small Prairie - there is a much narrower window of 'yes I like this fire, I will steam happily' and if you get out of that window the response of 'oh no, I don't like that' is much more marked. We ran her with 5 coaches and I never had to stop for a blow up (admittedly our toughest gradient is only 1 in 330), but it took me several trips with her before I'd learnt her ways, and on many of my first trips at least part of it required careful handling on both mine and the driver's part as she wasn't quite on the boil. I'd imagine the stops for blow ups were largely due to an unfamiliar and unforgiving loco meaning things started going less optimally and the crew weren't able to turn it around enough to keep plodding on. These things can happen