Return of the Cotton Mill Express

Just back from Lancaster after a very cold morning, I was half frozen when the train turned up, and the frozen last coach didnt help. It turned out that the overnight derailment at Carnforth meant that the coaches weren't coupled up to a 47 for 5 hours to heat the as per the plan. The run to Preston was very quick, but as you know, thats as far as we got. We could have gone on with a WRC 37 pulling us, but they realised that for most of us, Copy Pit diesel powered wouldnt be the same at all.

We were pulled back by a 47, with 46115 at the back, the pace was slow as the Scot was doing its own thing with its engine brake, rather than as part of the train.

My Mrs, having spoken to me on the phone, passed a load of photters waiting at Stalybridge, felt gulity, and went back to break the news. Hope noone's still out there freezing.

The train arrives late at Lancaster:



And gets dragged back North again:

 

Had a brilliant day today,spent the morning at Manchester Victoria,freezing to death,came a way with a film of 66152 so it can't be all that bad!


Thanks to Malc,Ralph,Pat and the Northern Rail guys for keeping us in the know,and the others who were with us,at least we had a good laugh i suppose......
Hopefully the loco is a quick fix?

 

There goes that unreliable vacuum brake. Why oh why do we have to put up with this new fangled system that the locos never had in BR days.
Oh hang on, it was a vacuum problem, but everyone said it was olny air brakes that went wrong.
Comiserations to paid up ticket holders for this tour.

 

I too had a wonderful day, got up at 6.30, and then a 100mile round trip just to stand by a freezing lineside for three hours watching dmu's go past! :doh:

Thank god for "Tornado". :thumb:

 

The WRC train manager came down the train when it was decided to scrap the trip, saying we would be getting a letter mid week with a refund and details of the rescheduled trip.

So (A) We get another go at it
(B) Maybe we all got a free high speed steam run from Lancaster to Preston.

He didnt say how much refund, personally I wouldnt expect 100%, but I'm sure some people would, particularly all the people the train never reached - although there were only a handful of us in the last coach, the steward's plan had a bum on every seat.

Noone told me about free soup from the buffet car, but then I suppose they'd already made it for the dining classes.

 

I actually sent a text out using those exact words!


Hey,we had a great day watching the 142's etc,could of watched them from the end of my street,but that would be boring!

 

"Had a great Day" and" watching 142s" dont go together Mark!!!!

 

Well the day only got better once we got to Woodlesford

 

There's no such thing as 100% reliability with anything mechanical bt vac is a damn sight more reliable than air systems, doesn't mean it's 100% trouble free but as damn near to it as you'll ever get.

 

I could not get out this morning and did not know about all this drama until now!

 

It always amuses me that the most criticism comes from people who have not dug into their pockets for a seat on the train. Any loco can fail... look at Virgins figures for this year. It's not RTC's fault and it looks as though they will take care of the people that matter... the paying passengers. Freeloaders lineside I have no sympathy from me. If it wasn't for those who stump up the trains wouldn'e run.

 

And how exactly do you know someone watching today might not be inspired to travel on one of the forthcoming tours ?, i know of no other tourism industry which takes such delight in belitting potential customers, true there are freeloaders out there, but i really hope people who tar all with one brush like this are not put in charge of advertising or talking to the public.

I don't know what what some peoples sums are but, travelling on every mainline tour in the year requires quite a few thousands of pounds and a Tardis, be realistic and accept not everyone can travel on every tour, doesn't mean they are not booked on others however.

 

The only linesiders i don't like are those who never contribute,to anything,just get out of their house,watch it go by,go back in and then out again. Other than that we are all one big group,its not fair to call everyone freeloaders,as for starters,me and my dad or others could have been out there,people like Ralph for instance who do contribute a fair amount to the tours,we have no right to moan,but you cant have a go at all linesiders and call them freeloaders,for starters we contribute thousands each year and i for one if i was out there wouldnt find it nice to come home and be branded a freeloader because the very small minority moan. Most linesiders just have a laugh and call it a day etc,only those extreme non payers will start moaning and for me they can just ... off,but because we dont know who they are,we cant just go on a forum and brand everyone,trust me,i know!

 

A couple of pics before Preston at Bay Horse at http://philmetcalfe.fotopic.net/p63120266.html.
Problems happen, 46115 has been a very reliable loco so far as are all of WCR steam operations generally.

 

I have now added a couple of shots of 46115 being dragged back to Steamtown:

http://andrewstransport.fotopic.net/c1809372.html

Cheers

AN

 

Can we just cool it for a bit, chaps before it gets too personal? Its not the end of the world, the affected persons should get at least a proportion of their money back or the opportunity to do a future trip, and I haven't noticed much grousing from 'linesiders' on this forum. All locomotives have the potential to fail, and we should live with our disappointments whilst being thankful for what we have.

 

What he said.

Let's calm it down a bit. There seems a few too many threads of late which some people seem to enjoy descending into arguing. Its not entertaining reading and is barely related to the thread's subject.

Play nicely

 

Exactly - the inference made by the OP was that anyone at the lineside is a non contributing waster - a suggestion that wants refuting straight off, as we are all lineside some days, providers and paying customers on others.

A withdrawal by dp266 would not go amiss

 

all,
please, am still not home yet and am modding by mobile !! can we play nice please
wow it's a pain removing insults on a htc

Like most of us I am both a photographer and a passenger. Today was sad but these things happen, I fully intend to do another trip, not the refund option.
canceling, whilst unpleasant i feel was the right choice, to go at any price would be a huge risk, to go with a diesel would have lead to much upset. Above all the final arrival could have been very late, who knows what paths or problem lay ahead.
46115 will run again, photographers will watch, and passengers will ride.


as one post said it was a great ride from lancaster to preston, highlight of the day was our train overtaking the motorway traffic.

 

I have read with interest all the comments made on this thread.My only comment is that this is the THIRD expensive failure that RTC have had to endure in the last FOUR months.Lets hope things improve for the tour operator.