VT - Valentines Express to Oxford - 14 Feb 15

Should have just left Tyseley.

Any updates photographers should know about?

 

Here she is powering through Evesham.

 

Rood Ashton, going very well up Campden Bank, with 8 on the hook. Looking forward to the return trip.

 

4965 passing through Hartlebury

https://www.flickr.com/photos/31339850@N06/16528212205/

graham

 

4965, down to about 5mph on, Old Hill. Was almost curtains at one point, due to the slips. Video to follow tomorrow.

 

Might well have been you I was standing with then, she just about made the easing of the gradient at the tunnel it seems with the wet rail not helping, my effort from Old Hill: http://daviddepperphotography.zenfolio.com/p936143073#h30cd3ebf

 

Hi David, that was my dad you was standing next to. I was at Kidderminster. Regards, Liam.

 

Another great performance form, 4965.

 

Superb video. What a brilliant performer 4965 is and such a faultless example of reliability in its main line history. I saw it at Fernhill Heath on the return trip, the fastest loco at that location that I've seen to date, obviously out to make up the few minutes of lateness. I wonder what the edhp was on Campden bank? It must have been pretty high for a Hall.

 

Brilliant video; what volume will the lap top cope with !!!!!!!! Pete

 

A GWR loco slipping? There are those who worship Swindon who won't believe that.

 

Most excellent.

 

I don't normally take video, but I thought I would share this one for the great show from 4965. I set my compact camera up on the bridge and let it roll while I took photos, this is the result:

This is just south of Moreton in Marsh.

 

My footage of 4965's run through the Cotswolds. Seen on Honeybourne Bank, and at Kingham.

 

Really great trip yesterday with 4965 on great form. It was 181 miles to and from Snow Hill to Oxford, making this trip probably the bargain of the century; with pleasant countryside and an interesting destination for my wife too. The best running was on the return with a 7 minute deficit to make up after a couple of signal checks on the North Cotswold line. 4965 cruised mile after mile in the low 60's with the peak inevitably being downgrade between Honeybourne and Evesham. The running between Worcester and Stourbridge was equally brisk before the drama on Old Hill bank. 34 mph through Cradley Heath wasn't the best impetus and the drizzle meant full power really couldn't be unleashed. 2 slips around Old Hill station were quickly caught but the damage was done and a minimum of 7mph really was touch and go. The driver (still Ray Churchill?) asked for a bit more on the last stages and we actually accelerated to 10mph by the tunnel mouth. A final flourish between The Hawthorns and Snow Hill saw 62mph reached by Winson Green and a 4 minute early arrival.
This really was the perfect trip for enthusiasts and wives / girlfriends and to prove the point a happy couple celebrated by getting engaged on the footplate at Worcester on the way out - a great moment creating a spontaneous round of applause! Thanks to all involved, hope to join you on another trip at some point this year.

 

You old romantic you! Just a thought. On almost every run in the past with 4965/4936/5043, the safety valves are blowing hard throughout. Yesterday's clips reveal a lack of even feathering at the safety valves at a number of locations suggesting that all was not as well as normal with the fire.

 

Sounds like a excellent trip. Thanks for making clear the speed through Cradley, as that now explains, the slog up, Old Hill. I think 5043 suffered the same problem last year, minus, the rain.

 

There was a 10mph TSR for the Hall in the tunnel on both directions...

 

Passing through Oxford on Saturday, I managed to capture the Hall on Light Engine and ECS workings.