Great Western 175 D1015 & 6024.

Both times I saw it it looked to be running really well and freely, both times it was unchecked by signals.

It was brilliant to see a King on the GWR doing what it was meant to do!

Here's my video of the train: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVKoktjepnA

PS Sincere thanks to everyone at the 6024 Preservation Society. I hope to get a ride behind it later this year.

 

Went to see D1015 near Crofton, but was let down by the weather. As it was a nice evening I went to Savernake for 6024 and a full backlighting shot. Plenty of clag, but I agree, didn't seem like she had to work very hard.

Some pics here (and one of the Hastings DEMU returning as well)

See the June 2010 collection

http://stephen-dance.fotopic.net/


STEVE

 

Everybody is entitled to their opinion but I have to say I think this is grossly unfair to the DBS crews, especially in the Bristol area. Paul Burns and Geoff Ewans were almost guaranteed to give you an excellent run. Geoff is now retired by Paul was on excellent form with the TE a couple of weeks ago. The experience of Tommy Rees is second to none. Bob Cotrell is also a fine engineman. I have travels on the Torbay Express 14 time in the last three years and I tabulate the times over various sections. Every single run included high quality running at some point in the day.

 

I do know how to fire and drive a steam loco on the mainline. I was a fireman at Old Oak in the 50s and I was lucky to have a few driving turns before steam finally disappeared in the 60s.

What I meant by my first statement was that most times a DBS crew are on a loco there is black smoke coming out the chimney and I have heard various reports from people that they prefer WCR.

EDit: And for those who were wondering... Yes, I am an old git!

 

My video either side of the Frome stop.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKc9JKfZZE0

 

Yes I did, as I said, I didn't know what to expect, but I thought it lack-lustre. Just my opinion.

 

As I said, just my opinion. If you think that making black smoke from Taunton to Theale is normal for the King and good P.R. then fair enough, it doesn’t bother me, but it doesn’t look good to non-believers. Just my opinion you understand.

 

Well, I'm a satisfied customer despite what others have said. I heard moans from certain window hangers about all the time we were losing between Castle Cary and Frome but we left Frome onlly about eight minutes down and ran very well after that. My only moan was the black drifting smoke made a lot of the trip difficult to video but what the hell! Great day in Minehead plus the Hastings unit turned up.

 

Naturally, we always hope for good PR and to end up with satisfied passengers and linesiders (believers or non-believers), but you must also grant that there are some things a loco-owner can't control and therefore it's pointless fretting over them, even if they upset others. It was possible to infer from your earlier remark that somehow the loco itself was below par which we don't accept. We would respond by saying that with a moderate load on a route perhaps more than any other suited to a 'King', the performance on the day, given the range of constraints outside our control, was perfectly competent (our opinion, endorsed by the passengers who spoke to us at Paddington).

6024 Preservation Society

 

I was 6024’s fireman both ways on the WSR. So I got to see and use what was in the tender. The coal ranged from dust to small lumps (5cm across, 2 cm thick.) It’s not ideal but it is what’s available, as users of Russian coal will appreciate. Coal merchants can only supply what they can get and I know they try hard to get what they know is needed but when there isn’t any in the country…..

We got some better size lumps when the tender was topped up at Minehead. The small coal was not only smoky (as it would be given the high surface area) but also refused to stay on the grate even with moderate working. So on the mainline I can but imagine the struggle the crew would have had with that stuff. What the firing textbook says and what reality sometimes presents you with are two different things. Anyone who’s fired will know this! I don’t know as I wasn’t there but you could speculate that up to Theale the crew were using coal which was small and dusty and that after Theale some of the bigger stuff obtained at Minehead had made it to the front of the tender? But unless you were on the footplate and could see what was going on it is just idle speculation.

As a general point let’s cut the current mainline crews some slack. They are volunteers, they don’t have to be there. They do it because they wish to. They do it in a hostile environment where conditions are nothing like they were in the 50s & 60s. The firemen especially have to work much harder than those of previous generations and more often than not they do a good job. They deserve our thanks, without them there’d be no mainline steam.

 

Only just getting the chance to reply to this, I was 6024's driver from the WSR to Reading. Lack luster performance? Hmm.
A London bound HST left Taunton in front of us that was going our way. Yes it would leave us for dead but there is a very long signal section from Athelney to Somerton (9 miles or so). So I did not push the loco until I saw the distant for Athelney was green. Then we were away, speed rising to the mid sixties. As reported elsewhere we had the stuffing knocked out off us by a late running Weymouth service at Castle Carey. Which we followed up the climb to Bruton, only after here did we get greens. But I am not in the habit of thrashing loco's so drove the loco in a manner that got the job done. At no time were we struggling for steam. By opening the regulator on a king wide open you can empty the boiler of water and steam very quickly, the have to be driven properly or the fireman will have a nightmare to contend with.
According to our times we left Fome 9 minutes late, Woodborough only 3 late. Six minutes lopped off the schedule, giving her as much as I dare without killing the fireman! The 30mph through Pewsey cost us another two minutes but after Savernake we were able to claw the five minutes back by running in the low 70's all the way to Theale which we arrived on time.
As for the black smoke, that's down to the coal being used on the day. I was surprised myself how much was coming out. But there was not a lot we could do about it, even a strong blast on fire was not improving it. Good steam coal is not available now, not unless pay way above the cost effective odds. So all the mainline users have to use what they can get that will do the job as best as possible.
I am not going the comment on the West coast drivers compared to us, other than do not forget that most of them are ex EWS men from the same stable!
I also do not wish anyone else to comment on a who is better or worse, because it will only get petty.
Let all the drivers get on and do their work as each sees best.
Wayne Thompson DBS driver.

 

Yes, thank you.

As I posted earlier, it was a real pleasure to be able to see 6024 running well on the GWR mainline both at Newbury and at Ruscombe. I am grateful to everyone involved in enabling that to happen, from the crew to the operating company, Network Rail, the preservation society, the support team, etc etc

 

Thanks for the replies above, all of us try to do our best and it is nice to have the thanks from people. I am lucky enough to be able to drive steam on the main line,very lucky. At the end of the day though I'm doing my job, I'm not playing, there is a lot going through your mind that people would not think about. I, just like the other drivers, have to treat the train just as we would our day to day bread & butter traffic. People would like us to break records every trip and ask 'how fast were we going'. We can not do that, there's rules to be obeyed and we are working with machine's 60, 70 and 80 years old. They have to be treated right. I enjoyed Saturday, I thought it was good trip and had the thanks from the loco group. Even though I am a Southern man I do like working with 6024 and its support group, I have go to now a number of them quite well over the last few years. I can go several months without getting on steam but in five days worked on Clan Line, Tornado and King Edward I, not bad.
I will say though 6024 is a bit of a beast!!!
They must have been good men working on those Kings years ago, my hat is off for them.

 

I remember that the display board for 6000 at the NRM says something along the lines of "The Kings were never able to achieve their full potential because one fireman was not able to deliver enough coal to keep them at full steam"!

 

That was true of quite a few of the largest steam locos, I think. I've seen similar comments made about Merchant Navy, A1/A2, 9F and, especially, Duchess classes. In China, the QJs usually had 2 or even 3 firemen working together!

Wayne, let me add my thanks for your postings. They're really helpful and informative. They help the rest of us to understand what happened on the day and also to interpret what we see in future.

 

i was on this trip in coach A dining and we had a wonderful time, great locos, great food, great company, great weather!
the western down and the king up, an amazing time in lovely minehead where everyone is so friendly,

shame tornado will not be down there this week but we do have braunton,
i am there for 4 days from tomorrow.

wayne is 'the man' when it comes to driving mainline steam, lovely chap and the guys from 6024 are really nice.
i know wayne quite well from tornado and he got clan line to worting junction last year in 46 minutes, i think, not bad....lol

this one of the best railtours we agreed we had ever been on,
tornado's swanage came in as a tie lol!
border raider was so much fun but sadly we got help up on the way home...

anyone in minehead this week, please say hello...
rog

 

Rather belatedly I'm afraid, but our thanks to the kitchen car crew who sent a large and delicious rhubarb crumble and carton of cream to the support coach after the Frome stop. T'was appreciated by all!