Great Britain 3, 6-14 April 2010

Before you read the RTC's webpage about this tour, get a paper hankie for when you start to drool.
http://www.railwaytouring.co.uk/index.php/the-great-britain-iii---060410-140410.html

Four legs hauled by Royal Scot class 4-6-0s, two by 6100 and two by 46115, Sir Lamiel and Tangmere double-heading northbound over the Devon Banks, 70013 in Scotland, Bittern plus 2 tenders from Preston to London, so probably with just one stop at Crewe. Etc etc. Bwooaah!

Unfortunately reality has already started to bite a little. Western Champion, booked outward to Penzance, has shown signs of engine trouble and been withdrawn until early December. Let's hope that the doctor prescribes good medicine. And 6100's owner is not at all sure that they'll have, or even want to have, the mainline ticket in time, even though they hope to get some running-in miles done soon on the GCR if that's convenient for the railway smile.

What's missing from the roster is GWR steam! I almost hope that RTC need a plan B, involving a King or a Castle (or both?) taking GB3 from Brizzle over Llanfihangel to Crewe.

 

The details appeared about a month ago, and there's been some debate about this trip already somewhere. I wonder if the mods can pull it all together?

 

Some were posted in thread about RTC trips in 2010 and others in the 2010 tours thread. I will have a look later at putting the relevant bits together in this thread.

I have just logged on in work during my break so haven't got time to do it at present... :-$

Thanks, Neil.

 

There is quite a bit mentioned in this thread about GB III and a fair bit about gauging...

http://railways.national-preservation.com/showthread.php?t=20570&highlight=2010&page=2

And a few posts here from post 24 by Nick.

http://railways.national-preservation.com/showthread.php?t=20654&highlight=2010

I think rather than merge some of the posts and break up the continuity of those threads I will leave them as they are so this thread can be specifically for GB III as the title says and people can continue to post in the other two threads about other tours in 2010.

Neil.

 

I know it's a long time ago now, but I have finally got round to posting a few clips of The Great Britain 2:

Part 1 - Penzance to Glasgow
Part 2 - Glasgow to The Kyle then back to York

I've tried to pick one representative shot from each day to give a flavour of that day's action. Three of us worked together on this project and we ended up with around five hours of footage. It was quite a challenge to edit it down to 90 minutes for the DVD, let alone 10 minutes for YouTube.

 

I see from the thread about 6100 Royal Scot that there is some doubt over when she will be ready for the mainline - no surprise there, then! It will be interesting to see whether she's ready for GB3, and if not, which loco deputises. This was always going to be the most uncertain choice of loco on this tour, so hopefully RTC already have a "Plan B". How late dare they leave it before deciding? The good people at Crewe and Tysley (assuming that's still the plan) won't want to be rushed, and any substitute loco's support crew will need a few weeks notice, at least.

Which class 7 or 8 locos would be available next April? Lizzie? Bittern? KEI? Nunney? Which ones are the cleared for the routes (Victoria - Salisbury - Bristol; Bristol - Hereford - Crewe - Preston)?

 

My latest newsletter from 'Friends of 71000' list the loco as 'provisional' for GB3.

 

I'm thinking 70000

Regards,

Dan

 

Interesting! Does she have any other mainline work pencilled in? Will she need a loaded test and recertification first, or is all the paperwork still "in order"? Maybe we ought to start a new thread for 71000....?

 

The latest RTC 'Great Railway Adventures 2010' brochure which has just arrived, the steam into Euston has gone. The final day of GBIII will be straight down the ECML from Edinburgh to London Kings Cross, 46115 'Scots Guardsman' Edinburgh-York and 60019 'Bittern' (+2 tenders) York to London Kings Cross. The strange thing is the the headline at the beginning of the tour details reads 'West Coast Main Line from Preston to Euston, you have to read the full tour details.
Mind you, they are still advertising 6100 'Royal Scot' on a couple of legs, I thought that this had been replaced by 6201 'Princess Elizabeth' (Ad on back pages of SR 370).

 

With 46115 sadly out of the running, which loco could replace her for the Preston-Glasgow and Edinburgh-York legs?

 

I gather Tangmere is also unlikely to be ready in time (heavy firebox repairs under way, I believe). There was much speculation around Didcot on Saturday about the alternatives. "Normally reliable sources" suggest something like the following (but more could change in the next few weeks):

2 Apr L'pool - Edin 6201 vice 70013
3 Apr BTM - PZ 30777 + 70013 vice 34067
6 Apr London - BTM 5029 vice 6201 (ex Padd & via B&H?)
7 Apr PZ - BTM 30777 + 70013
8 Apr BTM - Preston 70013 vice 6201
9 Apr Preston - Glasgow via GSW 5690 vice 46115
10 Apr Glasgow - Stranraer & rtn 2 x 5's as booked
11 Apr Glasgow - AB- IS 70013 as booked
12 Apr IS - Kyle - IS 61994 as booked
13 Apr IS - Edin 61994+70013 as booked
14 Apr Edin - York 6201 vice 46115 (60019 York - KX?)

If this is correct, (emphasis on "if",) it means Ollie will work Bristol - Penzance - Inverness - Edinburgh in the space of 11 days! Equally "tasty" is the prospect of Leander over the G&SW. Good to see a Castle in the mix, too, in GWR175 year.

 

Now that sounds like a good line-up!

 

UKsteam.info was updated yesterday to show the changes to the route on the final day (via ECML, not WCML) and also a change of date for the Liverpool - Edinburgh positioning train to Thu 1st April. However, David has not changed any of the loco allocations.

 

It's a great shame there are no GWR locos on this train.

 

2 Apr L'pool - Edin 6201 vice 70013
3 Apr BTM - PZ 30777 + 70013 vice 34067
6 Apr London - BTM 5029 vice 6201 (ex Padd & via B&H?)
7 Apr PZ - BTM 30777 + 70013
8 Apr BTM - Preston 70013 vice 6201
9 Apr Preston - Glasgow via GSW 5690 vice 46115
10 Apr Glasgow - Stranraer & rtn 2 x 5's as booked
11 Apr Glasgow - AB- IS 70013 as booked
12 Apr IS - Kyle - IS 61994 as booked
13 Apr IS - Edin 61994+70013 as booked
14 Apr Edin - York 6201 vice 46115 (60019 York - KX?)

I would love to see 5690 on the G&SW, but is she still at the GCR around that date? If so, 6233 or 71000 might be possibilities. An LMS black 'Duchess' would be a sight to behold on all maroon stock!!

 

Yes, especially in such an auspicious year for GWR. Great shame.

FC

 

At least we've got the Cornish Riviera in June!

 

That is indeed true! Although I have to agree with Ben that its sad to see an auspicious trip such as GB without any GW steam on its western legs in 175 year especially.

FC

 

And that's why I'm booked on the CRE instead!