St David's Day Cathedrals Express

No, no, no. A P2 pretty please. Let the rolling stock owners sort out the carriage livery thing.

 

departed newport a few min's late.
mark

 

Bristol Parkway 19:35-19:51. The relief crews were expecting Tornado to
have a top up of water on arrival. Not sure if this actually took place. <BJ>

 

Just went through Badminton, around 20:10 ish. Made one hell of a noise as it came out of Chipping Sodbury Tunnel. Was going like the clappers!!!

 

Note the welsh red dragon flags above the buffer beam. Nice touch for St. David's day. <BJ>

 

May attempt at Pontyclun this evening didn't work

But as promised, three shots from Cardiff Central this morning are here

 

This one went off very well.The running between Cardiff and Swansea was very good but was marked by the two stations at the end of each leg not being ready for us. However,this did not affect the overall enjoyment of the trip.There was no excessive speed but the hill climbing was good especially leaving Swansea in the evening.Full marks for not turning the train which I understand was the original intention.Cardiff to about mp 215.5 in 51mis 38 secs and Swansea to about mp 171 in 50mis 31sec.Cardiff to Swansea is just short of 45.5 miles.
We now need a Britannia and a Castle over this section for a comparison.I note that Vintage Trains are running Brit 13 in June.Any chance of the Castle doing this section?

 

Went straight from work to watch her climbing stormy bank.Obviously working hard but purring along with quiet efficeincy. A very impressive machine. Regarding comparisons I am looking forward to the day when an original Castle could be compared with Didcot's Saint. In spite of less boiler power they were reputedly better hill climbers than Castles due to the settings of their Stephenson's valve gear. So much has been written about that:-it is a part of the legend of the Saint class. But it would be nice to recreate it and assess it for real. A bit of industrial archeology research if you like.
I think there are 2 trips pencilled in at the moment for a Brit to west Wales this year. Agreed it would be great to see 5043 in this part of the world during GWR175 (it was her old stamping ground).

 

Glad to see Palace Gates at least was on this, there certainly seemed to be a fair smattering of familiar faces including, i'm reliably informed Mike Notley. Just a couple of minutes down at Reading on return and was able to see her accelerate away from the platform with a wonderful chatter. Twelve coaches, nothing! The sight of the solid column of white exhaust towering over the train as it disappeared into the glare of the signal lights was stunning.
Coaches, ok, a bit of a motley crew but they were clean, warm and could'nt hear any flats, so most of the regular moans were absent. GOOD. Great weather too-what more can you ask for.

 

My video taken from the overbridge at Skewen station is now up:-

http://www.blip.tv/file/3290914