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Great Central Railway Autumn Gala Thurs 04 October to Sun 07 October 2012

Discussion in 'Galas and Events' started by Bifur01, Jul 8, 2012.

  1. Oli15

    Oli15 Member

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    925 was turned yesterday rather than today and as of lunchtime was still facing south.

    Additionally a heads up for anyone wanting to getting any photos at Kinchley lane, the farmer has planted a load of sweetcorn over the meadow ruling out any ground shots. Bushes next to the track are starting to fill out but not extreme but the vegetation is quite overgrown next to the fence where everyone lines up. Only place to stand now is close to both sides of the gate, which will be interesting if the normal amount of people turn out!!! Have fun everyone :)

    Oli
     
  2. david1984

    david1984 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Is anyone else having trouble trying to get the timetable off the website ?, each time I try and open it keeps saying "error cannot repair file".
     
  3. david1984

    david1984 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Cheers for the heads up Oli, I take it it's the hedgerow between the lane and the field you referring to that's overgrown ?, is it still possible to get an unobstructed view of the line if you put a bit of zoom on ?.

    Edit: think this answers the trackside veg query: http://www.flickr.com/photos/69947186@N08/8057228171/
     
  4. Oli15

    Oli15 Member

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    Hi david, yes the ones that overgrown most is the bushes / trees between fence and the road. You should have no problem getting the trains if you have a zoom lens on. Just will be a tighter squeeze than normal until trees have been given a trim where everyone normally stands.

    Cheers
    Oli
     
  5. oddsocks

    oddsocks Well-Known Member

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    @ post No. 26, 6023 is in full view of platform 1, as per attached pic. IMG_1070a.jpg
     
  6. Alberta 45562

    Alberta 45562 Part of the furniture

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    I can see what you meant with the space problems at kinchley. From on board it looks like there is a school photo in process!
     
  7. campainr

    campainr Well-Known Member

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    Thanks to everyone at the GCR for an enjoyable day today. What a fantastic weather morning and late afternoon - only around lunchtime was there much cloud. The number of people around seemed to be just right too - plenty of tickets sold and yet not the sardine loadings that we've seen at some recent GCR galas. "777" looked absolutely superb in its new livery - its amazing what a change of paint can do. Comments were also made about the double-header of 925 and 777 at the end of the day and its importance in history. Is this a preservation first?

    The timetable did seem to slip one or two times but some quick turn arounds served to get it mostly back in place by the end, although some locos switched about a bit. One point I would like to raise is that the reversals at Swithland are nice in terms of being something a bit different but it means that Rothley seems at times to suffer from a lack of trains, especially as to recover some of the delay today freights that should have run through to the Brook stopped short at Swithland. Although much hype is made about "The Quorn Experience" at GCR galas - Rothley was also a good place to see trains and get some nice shots as they came along through the cutting - now however much of the interest here seems to have gone. Hopefully in future events more trains can be run through to Rothley.

    There also seemed to be a very large number of "lineside permit holders" about today - so many that those without a pass struggled to get a shot. The only place I could stand without any of them in my view (and only because I am quite tall) was the very corner of Quorn bridge looking across towards the pub! It didn't help that there were so many of them, nor that a few are very selfish and rude individuals.

    But anyway I'm digressing from the great achievement that the resignalling at Swithland has been, and the effort that has been put in by all the staff and volunteers in running this gala (still got to do it all again tomorrow as well!). So many thanks to all of you who are
    reading this and know you were part of it. :clap2:

    PS: Did anyone see the two young ladies in the lineside hut with a camera north of Leicester North? Shall we say they were not really suitably dressed for the chilly weather? I'm not quite sure what was going on there.......! :shocked:
     
  8. Dan Hill

    Dan Hill Part of the furniture

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    Looking forward to seeing some pics of 777's new look.

    I may be thinking of doing the GCR's Winter gala as I just discovered that the GCR is actually a lot quicker to get to than I thought. Just 2 hours 42 mins.
     
  9. phil.sez

    phil.sez Member

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    Does anybody know which way 777 is facing, north or south ??
     
  10. Raimondo

    Raimondo New Member

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    As of this evening 777 is facing south as it and 925 were both facing south for the double header at 4.30pm. I think this will remain the same as I don't think they are being turned tomorrow (but I could be wrong).

    Really nice post by Campainr above and congratulations to to all the staff, volunteers, crew, gatemen, buffet staff, signallers, office staff, tea ladies and everyone else for a fantastic effort this weekend. It is much appreciated by someone like me who contributes nothing physically, but does buy shares by monthly suscription. That helps my guilt!

    By the way, the newly-relaunched website looks good too - well done.
     
  11. david1984

    david1984 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Was facing South from the start of play on Saturday to mid afternoon when I left.

    Quite a good day out in the sunshine all things considered, it's quite hard to be bored on the GCR with the number of movements going on, I've added my pics here if anyone is interested: Great Central Autumn Steam Gala 2012 - a set on Flickr

    Further to Oli's message about vegetation at Kinchley Lane, I'd advise if your going there to take a set of ladders so if it's full you can stand at the back and see over, the hedge and bushes infront of the standing area can be "trimmed" to a certain extent if needbe, it's more the Tree in the field below that's problematic, the drooping branches are narrowing the width of the availible shot and they are too far off ground level to do anything about even if the field was empty (which it isn't just yet).

    Edit: Ray beat me to it Re: 777.
     
  12. phil.sez

    phil.sez Member

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    Thanks Ray and David, heading down tomorrow.
     
  13. campainr

    campainr Well-Known Member

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    For those who can't wait here is Sir Lamiel in Malachite Green double heading with Cheltenham (not the best pic of the loco as never seemed to be in the right place to see 777, will have to make another visit!)

    (click on photos to enlarge)
    EDIT: OK finally managed it here you go

    DSCF2650.JPG DSCF2651.JPG
     
  14. Tomnick

    Tomnick New Member

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    I just wanted to add my thanks to my GCR colleagues (such a complex operation wouldn't be possible without the tremendous amount of cooperation and teamwork that goes into keeping things moving), and all those who have supported this event so far. I've thoroughly enjoyed being able to really put Swithland's signalling to the test today! Just a couple of comments in response to campainr's well considered post:

    Only one turned back short at Swithland (because the loco required to re-engine it was delayed at Swithland), and another was cancelled throughout.

    With one or two exceptions, every train turning back at Swithland was accompanied by light engine movements in each direction between Rothley and Swithland, so there should still have been plenty to see. The wrong-direction movement back to Swithland along the Up Main adds some interest too (not to mention the flexibility of having several options available to get a light engine onto its next working at the north end of Swithland's Up Loop!), but I did note some quiet spells.

    Rothley remains a bottleneck, unfortunately - anything turning back there ties up the single line for ten minutes or more. Turning some back at Swithland seems a sensible compromise to enable an even more intensive service north of there.

    Fortunately not, in my case!
     
  15. Ruston906

    Ruston906 Member

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    Another great event at the railway lots to do and see the mail drop was good as always. I will be back to the next event do think there will need a good solution to over flow parking if the winter event is going to get as many people attending.
     
  16. Flipper

    Flipper New Member

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    Hi David,

    There are a number of reasons why it would not be desirable to open up the site to the general public, but in response to your specific question I would point out that Swithland is not, and never has been, intended as a publicly accessible site. As my colleague has already stated, the work was primarily performed to increase the operational flexibility of the railway. The generally enhanced view for the passengers, and the extra experiences which the loops make available to them, are a secondary and incidental benefit. Access to the site for the public was neither a driver nor a consideration.

    I can put your mind at rest with regards to the funding. To my knowledge, none of the work carried out on the Swithland resignalling project has been funded by ticket sales, or indeed any other revenue stream. The finance came from private donations, ring-fenced S&T Department funds (garnered from staff donations, contract work, sales, consultancy, &c.) and capital grants from charitable bodies.

    With regards to this specific suggestion, which I can assure you has already been looked into on a number of occasions, there are a number of problems which you would have to take into consideration.
    1. There is very little space on the Western side of the line. Any space made accessible to members of the public would have to be fenced off from the line, as well as from the embankment slope, and by the time you have left sufficient room behind the signal-wire run you would have considerably reduced your useable space.

    2. Where the bank top does extend any appreciable distance from the wire run, the ground is poorly made, consisting chiefly of tipped loose material, primarily ash and other fines which were sifted from the spent ballast when the Down line was relaid. It was never intended to be a useable surface.

    3. There is no means of accessing that side of the line from GCR property that does not involve crossing three or four running lines. To access that area from the adjoining land would require the construction of a sizeable set of suitably robust steps, as well as agreements with the landowner, who regularly uses that land as pasture for grazing livestock. Further problems exist for the very short distance where the land adjoins the public highway as it is extremely close to the bridge abutments, severely curtailing visibility splays, and there is no footpath – you would exit the GCR’s property directly onto the carriageway of a 60mph unclassified road with minimal visibility of traffic approaching on the nearest lane.

    4. There is no scope for providing any standage for vehicles on that side of the line, not even a drop off point for a shuttle bus, without encroaching on the aforementioned pasture.

    5. My primary concern with making any suitable access for the public to the lineside on the Western side of the site is that it would inevitably compromise the natural security perimeter provided by the terrain there.

    None of the above are insurmountable, I am sure, but they may serve to move your proposal from the reasonably achievable into the prohibitively expensive.

    Regards

    Shawn
     
  17. david1984

    david1984 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Fair enough Shawn, just seems a bit of a missed trick in my opinion despite the various problems with it.

    I meant to ask in my earlier post but it had slipped my mind at the time - how come the TPO is MK1 only these days, is the LNER one not longer fit for traffic or has it moved on ?, doesn't make a great deal of difference, just curious what's happened to it.
     
  18. campainr

    campainr Well-Known Member

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    The LNER TPO has been mothballed requiring a major overhaul I believe. It tends to move around the railway in storage in various sidings though I didn't catch a glimpse of it yesterday.

    Thank you Tom for your responses to my post also. Perhaps the GCR could consider contructing a "GC2" to ease the congestion on this overcrowded route! :D
     
  19. Flipper

    Flipper New Member

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    Absolutely, and, as I said, it has already been looked at a number of times in varying degrees of detail, but there is no quick win. In fact there is not even an obvious "moderate amount of time" win. I suspect the plc are perfectly happy with the current situation where only lineside permit holders can access the site, as it requires no outlay and still generates revenue, and as the resident engineering department it is certainly not something we would progress.

    As per the post below, stopped awaiting a major overhaul after many years of service. I can't speak for the 1V86 TPO mob, but I suspect that it was a priority of theirs to acquire and preserve the Mark 1 TPO whilst it was still available, and a magnificent job they have done with it too. The two LNER TPO coaches are well sheeted over, and in long term storage on Number 1 siding at Swithland.
     
  20. acw71000

    acw71000 Member Friend

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