'Torbay Express' 2013

That is correct. I'm sure that uksteam will update shortly. Timings now available thanks to Realtime Trains. <BJ>
http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/P90200/2013/09/15//advanced
http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/P90192/2013/09/15//advanced

 

Something is still wrong. The revised times on UKSteam say 08:41 from Trowbridge and 08:52 from Westbury. The letter with the tickets say 09:00 and 09:15 so if the times on UKSteam are correct there will be many unhappy passengers. I called Torbay Express and they confirmed the times are 09:00 from Trowbridge and 09:15 from Westbury.

 

RTT is updated from railway industry sources and that says 08.41 and 08.52. 45 minutes for the 13 miles from Bath to Trowbridge seems rather generous, so I suspect that TBE may be wrong - maybe they have not changed the provisional times to actual times.

 

Just received the bi-weekly newsletter from Pathfinder. This gives the times as Bath Spa 08.25, Trowbridge 08.50 and Westbury 09.00 - different to what it says on the TBE website (08.15, 09.00 and 09.15) or RTT/uksteam (08.17, 08.41 and 08.52). Lets hope they don't leave any passengers behind!

 

Thanks, Stu.

 

Two sets of timings available. The following has been copied & pasted from the TBEL website. <BJ>

The new route involves an earlier start and the new confirmed timings are set out below.
Joining Station Depart Return
Bristol Temple Meads 07:55 21:25
Bath Spa 08:15 20:55
Trowbridge 09:00 20:48
Westbury 09:15 20:20
Taunton 10:40 18:30
Arrive Depart
Paignton 11:55 17:15
Kingswear for Dartmouth 12:30 16:45

 

The Torbay Express Newsletter has the same times as the Pathfinder newsletter (no surprise). So why did the office tell me the times with the tickets are correct just this morning? I hope this doesn't end badly..

 

The TEx office assures me the correct times are:

BTM 7.55
Bath 8.15
Trowbridge 9:00
Westbury 9:15
Taunton 10:40

They are aware of the email yesterday with different times and will be "sorting that out".

 

Nunney Castle in steam at Barton Hill this morning (FTR exam?). Braunton appeared to be just warming through.
Plenty of activity around both engines. <BJ>

 

Braunton running a few minutes late on the outskirts of Bristol heading towards Bath. 11 coaches today.
Ignore South West Rail Gen, there is no diesel attached to the train. <BJ>

 

The difference in timings did seem to have an effect on the running of this morning's train. The arrival time at Trowbridge was 2 mins early at 08:36 but the train was held for nearly half an hour until 09:03. Despite the train leaving Westbury some 25 mins late, the arrival at Taunton was 6 mins early. <BJ>

 

RTT not updating at present for the return leg. Train reported on SWRG passing Newton Abbot 9 late at 17:41. <BJ>

 

Looks like it missed out Frome. At least, they didn't leave any passengers at Trowbridge due to the timing discrepancy (although I believe they left some at Bristol who didn't realise the train left earlier this week (their own fault for not reading the letter, presumably)

 

Post removed

 

It was good to see the friendly rivalry between the loco crews at Bristol TM this evening as Braunton and Nunney Castle arrived at the station within minutes of eachother. At one time as Nunney Castle ran light through the station towards Barton Hill one of the loco crews jokingly shouted across to the other ''What a load of rubbish''. As the locos performed their shunting duties and running round it was as if we had returned to our train spotting days of the 1960s.

Another DBS driver was 'passed out' during the railtour today. Congratulations to him. I understand that he is based at Didcot. <BJ>

 

The driver 'passed out' is Dave Proctor.

 

We missed out Frome because of the late departure from Trowbridge. It wasn't totally passengers fault at BTM as the indicator panels showed a departure time of 0830 until just before 0745. They did make a couple of announcements but it appears not everyone saw or heard but they did ignore their letters as the departure time was clearly shown as 0755.

 

Good man

 

Digging back into my memory that always used to happen in steam days when a gwr loco was near a SR Bulleid.

The crews on the gwr loco used to say it whilst pointing at their own loco, casting envious glances at the proper steam locomotive that also had an axle with 2 wheels under the footplate, the correct number of cylinders and a number 5 digits long starting with a 3.

 

As a matter of interest,now that DBS have lost the Steam Dreams contract,other than TBE and VSOE, what other regular steam work do they have ?