The Scottish Lowlander, 27th September.

It will probably depend upon what the plans are for the Edinburgh end of the trip. I'm assuming that we'll be going straight through Haymarket Tunnel to Waverley, drop off for an hour or so, the train carrying on to Newcraighall, where 60009 will be able to turn on Niddrie triangle and water without getting in too many people's way. That would negate the need to drag the stock around Edinburgh by diesel. The less likely scenarios are:

1. Branch off near Slateford onto the Suburban line, heading around to the east side of Edinburgh and entering Waverley from that direction. Would require a reversal back to Newcraighall and weaving around service trains in the process, so diesel a necessity. On the small plus-side, it takes in a short stub of the original route taken by 60007 around Newcraighall-Portobello Junction.

2. Even less likely would be to turn the train round at Gorgie triangle, a particularly busy location. Also would still need a diesel, and would still need to get to some sort of servicing facility.

I'd say the option at the beginning would be the most likely scenario, but then we enter the field of assistance on Shap and the saw-tooth gradients through Dumfries.

 

A full account of the original 26th September 1964 special, with much detail provided by the tour organiser himself, is included in the new book "1964 - Last Summer of the Duchesses" which should be on sale by the beginning of August, price £9.95. Probably the first-ever detailed account of the duties of the 15 working survivors during the 1964 summer timetable, virtually all of the accompanying high-quality illustrations have never previously been published. Expected to be a sell-out, it can be pre-ordered from the publisher at https://www.atkinsonspublications.c...p?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=61

 

Yes ... thank you, but I already have a copy of that text ... supplied to me by the guy who wrote it. I was also on board the 26/09/64 train.

 

As an essential prelude to the research in preparation for the book, a survey was undertaken by the author earlier this year to collate all the surviving records of ‘Princess Coronation’ workings during the 1964 summer timetable and a detailed spreadsheet was subsequently produced that contained nearly 800 separate sightings – these being provided by over a hundred different observers. This is now available as a 12-page A4 publication at a separate cost of £5.00 + £1.00 p&p

Please do note, however, that this spreadsheet will NOT available directly from the publisher, (Atkinson Publications Ltd). Therefore, all interested parties are requested to e-mail: Duchess-1964@outlook.com for details of how to obtain copies . If ordered in conjunction with the book, the total cost will be £14.95 and this will include free p&p for both items.

A proportion of the sales of both items will constitute a donation to the ‘Princess Royal Class Locomotive Trust', owners and operators of No 46233 ‘Duchess of Sutherland’ - today, the sole surviving fully-operational Duchess.

 

Anyone else beginning to get really excited about this trip yet or is it just me? Feel like a kid waiting for Christmas!

 

Aye. If it runs to plan, I'd say it would be a strong contender for tour of the year. Starting to get the logistics of getting from York to Crewe sorted out, as I have a presentation to give that Friday evening. Mate of mine coming up from Swansea and another getting on at Preston, so it will probably be a fair old beano. Will have to stock up on some beer...

 

Hi all,

Just trying to work out the route from Coatbridge through Glasgow.
Got a slightly dated (blimey just realised it's from 1988!) map book and I can only see one way to go!
If I'm correct then we will go through Coatbridge junction to Longloan junction (if this still exists!) then to Rutherglen east junction, past Polmadie, then Larkfield junction to Muirhouse south junction to pick up the old GSW line through to Barrhead and Kilmarnock.
Anybody else able to shed any light on the potential route or am I way wide of the mark and need an updated map book!

 

I traced a potential route on Google Earth a while back which closely follows the original tour, and it was: Lenzie, Bishopbriggs, Springburn, Stepps, Coatbridge Central, Kirkwood, Mount Vernon, Carmyle, Polmadie, Crossmyloof, so its probably the same route as yours.

A slightly more slimline version would be Edinburgh Waverley, Polmont, Falkirk Grahamston, Camelon (for rare third side of Larbert triangle), Cumbernauld, Coatbridge Central, Kirkwood etc.

The only issue I have is the extent to which this ambitious trip will run as planned. Having read the Railway Herald's trip listing (this is me thinking "do they know something we don't"), I'm hoping that the Edinburgh leg is not lopped-off the itinerary because its 'too difficult', with Glasgow Central declared the new destination of the trip. It would still be a c480 mile round trip via Dumfries, and I've not spent any time in Glasgow beyond walking to Queen Street, but I'm hoping the Edinburgh leg will remain to ensure the recreation remains as close as possible to the original.

 

As suggested to you on Saturday's shindig, I am up for a mission, and will keep a supply of several bottles of beer to ensure I endure it (I have a feeling the buffet will run out by Carstairs!). Whilst I do want it to go to Edinburgh, I think it will end up being a Crewe-Glasgow-Dumfries-Crewe trip at best; near-worst case Crewe-Glasgow-Crewe (although even this is fairly rare for a non-multi-day tour). I hope we are both wrong on this one.

However, it looks as though the Monday of the West Highlander will be a bit of a dry run through part of the route. Despite this, bear in mind that it will be 61994 doing the honours on that leg, so it won't be able to take a 75mph path wherever one is available on the Dumfries route. The extra 15mph of 60009 could make all the difference between a good path or a bad path.

 

Just had a look back at the timings for the 2011 'Caledonian Tornado', which was steam Crewe to Glasgow and return, via Shap and Beattock both ways but heading out via Manchester Victoria (not on return). There was a 6.20am start, with three hours in Glasgow, and a 1.10am return. A straight Glasgow to Crewe run was timed at six and three quarter hours.

 

Based on timings of previous trips over various sections of route, I've come up with the following approximations:

Crewe-Carlisle 3 hrs 20 (based on Royal Scot 2009)
Carlisle-Edinburgh 4 hrs 25 (based on Auld Reekie 2012)
Edinburgh-Polmont 30 mins (based on Cath-Ex to Scotland 2013)
Polmont-Coatbridge 1 hr 15 mins (based on a combination of West Highlander 2012 and Royal Scot 2010)
Coatbridge-south of Glasgow Central 45 mins (no real comparison)
South of Glasgow Central-Carlisle via Dumfries 4 hrs 30 mins (Great Britain)
Carlisle-Crewe 3 hrs 20 mins (Royal Scot 2009)

So 17 hrs 10 mins to do that little lot. Add an hour stop in Edinburgh, and you are looking at an 18 hour day. However, I am sure there are areas where timings could be tightened-up because of the 75mph speed limit of the locomotive. Its all on NR's plate now...

 

IIRC, this tour was advertised as running via the "main line" through Kilmarnock, rather than Paisley, Irvine and the branch through Annbank to Mauchline. If that really happens, it could save a useful amount of time and give an interesting climb (1 in 75 though Stewarton?) It will also be the first steam tour in recent years to use this route. The various recent GB and West Highlander tours have all gone via Irvine.

 

It was indeed. From earlier post in this thread : -

 

Deja vu!

 

Just re-read the bumpf on the RTC website; it seems the tour will be going via Falkirk Grahamston, so I presume it will take the south curve of Larbert triangle and head back via Cumbernauld. This would cut a fair bit of time, for if it went via Lenzie (which admittedly would be the original route), it would have to 'slot in' with various conflicting services from and to Glasgow Queen Street.