The Merchant Venturer 21 November 2009

I also forgot to mention the Grain Barge, which is a Bristol Beer Company Brewery Tap. By the way, is The Orchard on the south bank of the Avon? If so, I'm due to pay a visit. Another good pub, for those of you interested in ticking them off your Good Beer Guides and willing to catch a bus (I think an all day, all city centre routes ticket with First is around £3.70), you could call at the "POT at WOT" (otherwise known as the Post Office Tavern at Westbury on Trym), which is a 20 minute journey from the city centre. I must admit, I'd probably not do it myself, though, even if we do have 3.5 hours in Bristol. Its the agony of choice, as I call in Bristol on the way home from attending WSR galas. Oh well, there's always the Commercial Rooms...

 

One thing that is a bit confusing is that on Steam.info website, she is booked to leave Waterloo at 8:55am (I think that is correct from memory) But yet the Tour Guide states she is leaving Waterloo at 8am on the dot... And she is booked later at Waterloo too on the return leg.

 

Tickets say Waterloo is a 08.55 departure and 20.50 arrival which is what UK Steam states.

 

If by "Tour Guide", you mean the UK Railtours brochure, then the times in there would be the provisional times - theses are rarely the same as the final times.

 

Thanks for the reply malc - Looking forward to it all the same - I plan on getting alot of shots and video at every possible angle during the trip. We'll probably scrabble for every possible space during the trip...

Hoping to get some footplate shots if someone I know is the driver that day???

One question is 'Tornado' running that day as there isn't any info to suggest otherwise??

Thanks.

 

The pub is situated between the Bristol Harbour and the New Cut, (the diverted River Avon), and is very close to the SS Great Britain. The address is 12, Hanover Place, Hotwells. <BJ>

 

There is a pub 200 yards down the road.. But with 3.5 hrs I might do that and get some shots of the famous bridge.

 

Cheers for that. I've been working on Hotwells for a couple of years, and still haven't found all the pubs in that area. Anyway, looking forward to it, with only five days to go before the off.

 

I'll be leaving home relatively early to park the car up and head off for Waterloo - I think the train is just after 5:15am?
What times are other leaving? And which Coach are others in?

 

I'm on a work Christmas party up in Newcastle from Thursday to Saturday. I may try to get down to Bristol for the return journey, depending on if I'm in a fit state to travel! I'm sure a few hours window hanging will sober me up.

 

That's if you can wave off the UK Railtour staff who seem to be slightly over-concerned about performance recorders and people filming from the droplights (they don't seem to have done too many steam railtours on their own, so I suspect that they are testing the water now Past Time Rail has gone). Whilst there is a genuine safety aspect to this, I think their attitude may come from some bad experiences during the odd railtour hauled by diesel traction. But heh-ho.

I'll be in carriage J (towards the back or front, depending on how the stock is marshalled methinks), seat 13F for anyone who wants to drop by. I'll be the "noisy(!)" chap with sideburns who will continually extol the virtues of Bulleids (despite not being around when they were actually running for BR) throughout the trip. Just ask those who had the good fortune (or misfortune) to sit next or near me on 'The Royal Scot' last month!

 

According to the following page, the railway in the Feltham area is closed until at least Friday 20th November:

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service_disruptions/today.html#sa1c9e4a1d1349548b8faaad06961215

If the line does re-open on Friday or early Saturday then it won't affect Saturday's trip, but posts on other forums suggest that the line may be closed for a couple of weeks.

 

If the line is not reopened in time I would gather that it will be routed via Latchmere Junc, Kensington Olympia to Acton for a spin along the GW mainline to join the booked route at Reading. Other than that it could be routed direct to Salisbury like the return or via the surrey hills but think that will be unlikely.

 

There is a path down the fast line to Worting Junc. on a Saturday, trouble is it is at 7.20.

 

Maybe we should change at Twickenham for a rail replacement bus for Reading! I think its possibly too late to alter the start time to 07:20, and there's always the West London Joint, with the possibility of going GW at Acton Wells. As an update, the River Crane Bridge has collapsed near Feltham, and UK Railtours have suggested that if it does not open on Friday/Saturday morning, it is likely that the train will be diverted via Olympia, Willesden South West Sidings, Acton Wells and Slough, rejoining the advertised route at Reading. The start times remain the same.

 

From the UK Railtours website:

(Sorry, I didn't notice that Bulleid Pacific had already posted that info)

 

I too am in Coach 'J' - We'll be the noisey bunch (12 of us), no doubt talking about Nine Elms steam and of course Bulleids!!

 

I spoke to UK Railtours today, the trip is on and they were currently finalising details with Network Rail.

 

It wont be open for this week...nor for a little while....a very sick bridge London side of Feltham