Great Britain 3, 6-14 April 2010

Beautiful!!

 

A cracking shot.

 

Hi there

The Helicopter you talked about was hired by Jeremy Hoskings the owner of Bittern for filming purposes the film crew on the ground where at Peterborough. They had from memory 11 different cameras on the footplate to capture all the action for him. They informed me it was for his own purposes but may be retailed. Was looking forward to seeing Bittern storm through Peterborough on the up fast which it was but due to a yellow was not working very hard.

Regards

 

Well just back from a fabulous week in Scotland following the GB111 and looking at some disused lines. Started with a superb climb of Shap Wells nearly 5mins of recording as near perfect as I have every done, nice steady climb of Beatock but of course the whole essence of the climb has been destroyed by the motorway, although from the train if you are on the drivers side it is rather special. The mickeys sounded rather good climbing high above Girvan coming in and out of sync, with a clear view of Ailsa Craig as a backdrop then in the evening with know one else around they charged through New Luce and really dug into the 1:57 climb to Glenwhilly with 45407 doing the lions share of the work. Next day we took a trip to Boness to see the mickeys and the Shire wotking, then on the A9 just south of Dunked 61994 passed under the bridge with support coach so we went to see her on the climb to Druimuachdar where with a hint of problems to come she climbed the hill making some very strange noices. Monday morning at 7.18 at Achternead station you could hear 61994 leave Dingwall and with another near perfect recording we heard the whole of the 3 1/2 mile 1:50 climb to Ravens Rock a stunning performance, the weather on the Kyle was wonderful with the exhaust hanging in the air long after she had passed, a spirited climb to Luib on the way out was followed by a rather sad return run, crawling up to Luib making some terminal sounding noices before stopping near the summit, Ravens Rock was taken understandably gently and finaly stopping near the top. And then to Slochd, standing high on the hillside about 2 miles down the 1:60 from Daviot with not a soul to be seen you could hear 70013 pounding away where the gradient eases from 1:60 to 1:70 about three miles south of Culloden viaduct then accelerating over the viaduct and up the 1:60, probably nearly 10 minutes of sound as she came round the huge horseshoe, the 47 was doing a bit understandably, taking maybe 4 of the 12 coaches, the K4 couldnt have been doing much more than moving her own weight as despite lots of smoke there was not even a whisper out of her chimney, a very moving experience, later on we saw 70013 leave Kingussie getting away in true style with not a sound out of the 47 and again the K4 doing little more than moving her own weight, Cromwell really has no equal on the main line at present, her support crew can be justifiably proud of their acheivements, they must have spent their rest day cleaning her as she was immaculate leaving Inverness. Well done and a big thankyou to all that made the trip possible.

 

Completely agree with you there Ralph, a stunning photo that! I'm sure the K4 lads would love a copy of that hung in the support coach!

 

That shot of 61994 is just sensational, perfect lighting and wonderful steam effects. Looks like a brilliant nine days was had by all. It just shows how it can be achieved even with some set backs. Hopefully, RTC will be relieved by their success, but also saying never again! Although they've said that many times before and still gone through with another Great Britain. Next time, I will have to follow it up, without any doubt!!

 

Very lovely photo indeed.

Now guys, think back to South Africa in the 1970's. What was the double headed 15AR 4-6-0 hauled train that used to head out of a winters dawn on the Rosmead line?

 

Shot here of the K4 climbing through Achterneed Station on the climb to Ravens Rock and a sound clip to go with it. The original recording after trimming was over 8 mins so this has been trimmed a bit further for the Internet and is only an MP3 but still dosnt sound to bad, if anyone thought the K4 was a quiet engine then this will make them think again.
Anyone know who the crews were on the northern sections?

http://crjennings.com/preserved steam main line/images8/ML Images 23.html

 

very nice, and I listened to ollie at shap wells as well, all in glorious sterio, in the front door through the hall and out the back door and off into the distance, thanks for that, marvellous.

 

A photo of fitting the nameplate to NUNNEY CASTLE on day 1 at the waterstop,can be found on Nunney's website.
This explains why it left Paddington without it & explained elsewhere on this forum why that was.
Mystery solved.

 

Deleted

 

I stand corrected,19D..Thanks.

 

Had an absolutely cracking week,the best railtour me (or my dad) have ever been on. The trip its self was fantastic with all locos giving fantastic entertainment throughout the week! I would recommend this trip to anyone,it was so great! Some of the laughs we had and the general friendly feeling also added and made it a superb time.

Finally started to get the vids onto YT,starting with some awesome sound effects by my favourite Castle,5029!

Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ov8FPTI5j_Q&feature=related

Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWi8nosOZPw&feature=related

Part 3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mhygIgSvtk&feature=related




I will be selling a DVD of our footage (mainly so i can give others the chance to enjoy the experience) and the price will be to cover the cost of materials used. It will not be a big production like PSOV,simply DVD,paper label and CD boxes but i can assure the viewer that it will be an excellent recollection both for those on the trip and those not on board/at the lineside!

Highlights:
5029 Raising the sound barrier on the way from Paddington-Bristol courtesy of Mr Poole.
D1015 storming to Plymouth
44871/70013 powering over Hemerdon
44871/70013 racing through Dawlish Warren (from the lineside)
44871/70013 tackling the Lickey Incline
70013 attacking Shap and Beattock
44871/45407 from the front window behind the tenders from Ayr to Stranraer
70013 invading Northern Scotland with its brilliant run to Inverness via Aberdeen
61994 from the first window (behind support coach) with an amazing 14 minute video of the battle of Ravens Rock and the eventful return journey
Plus all the extra bits such as shunting and other interesting happenings at destinations and stopovers.
Photos added onto end of the video as a slideshow

Estimated viewing time:500 minutes+

Estimated price £8.99 (at least 8 hours of DVD,i think i can find a lot more than that though!)

If you are interested please contact me at any of the following and i will get back to you when editing is complete:

PM me on National Preservation

or

Email me: am-maz(at)hotmail.com or alberta45562(at)hotmail.co.uk

Money will not be requested until DVD editing is complete and i can announce final details.....

Price and running time subject to change...

Cheers,
Mark

 

Well done,Alberta.
I've made a comment under No. 3 vid.
Brought a lump to the throat seeing the old GWR Swindon works where all my past family worked and slaved away.
I myself travelled many a time behind the 'Castles' in the 1950's when I was stationed in the Army at Didcot (where the cooling towers are now.)

I remember the water troughs between the rails so well...

 

Thanks for that Aperture,i have replied to your comment.

My photos from Day 8 and 9 are now uploaded:

Day 8:
http://mark-walker.fotopic.net/c1839277.html

Day 9:
http://mark-walker.fotopic.net/c1839284.html

Cheers,
Mark

 

Would anyone be able to provide a list of the crews throughout the tours,i know most of the driver's names and some of the fireman's but if possible it would be great to have a full list so i can credit those who did the work up front!

Cheers,
Mark

 

Hi all,

Here is a video from GB3 with 61994 'The Great Marquess' making a spirited attack of the infamous Ravens Rock Incline. Listen to the loco as it pounds up the bank,right from the bottom. The final few minutes and about 4 hours more from GB3 will soon be available from me on DVD,message me or email alberta45562@hotmail.co.uk for details.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEyGMHBmU1E

Cheers,
Mark

 

Cracking video that Mark, driver and fireman certainly on the ball there and what a sound!

 

I know it's a long time ago, but I've been busy with other things...

I've finally finished producing two DVDs of GB3 footage. I'm just about ready to send the masters off to the duplicator, so the finished product should be ready by the end of the month. I'll be updating my web site with a bit of background information and some frame-grabs, probably tomorrow evening.

To whet everyone's appetite, I've just posted a couple of tasters on YouTube. They each show the intro and one sequence of dramatic hill-climbing.

Part 1: Tue 6th - Sat 10th. Saturday 10th April 2010: After a water stop at Girvan, Black Fives 44871 and 45407 restart the 11 coach train on the 1-in-54 gradient, on the way to Stranraer. In the background are the Isle of Arran and the Kintyre Peninsular.

Part 2: Sun 11th - Wed 14th. Soon after dawn on Monday 12th April 2010, Gresley K4 61994 The Great Marquess leaves Dingwall and begins the 1-in-50 climb away from Fodderty Junction, on the way to Kyle Of Lochalsh.

If you have the band-width, choose 720P and full screen.