Z48 - 10th May 2014 - A Tribute to The Great Western Railtour

Difficult to tell Mike, it's a very subjective thing and depends so much on the conditions at the time and if the respective owners give the driver carte blanche.

 

I'm with you about the Flyer. However, I have to say that one's view of "favourites" has to be tempered by your experience of the locomotive and whether Clun proves to be better than The Earl is really a bit academic. I recall that a typical driver's view of their favourite might be simply the fact that it always seems to provide steam when needed. That's definitely true of when steam was in regular service. Couple this with the ability of different locos to run more freely than others and you end up with quite a cocktail of factors. If Clun gets the same sensible treatment as The Earl then it'll hopefully just be double the spectacle and enjoyment out of Tyseley. I'm sure that VTL will be looking for split loyalties amongst their supporters so they fill their trains whatever is up front!

 

Discussion on the sea wall damage etc is now at http://www.national-preservation.co...n-route-to-plymouth.214445/page-2#post-767135

 

Not looking good for RTC to Kingswear on 19/4 either.

 

Tickets arrived today with outline timings. It looks as though we are tucked in behind the 1504 Plymouth to Paddington on the way back. However, the 1525 Plymouth to York starts behind us but has a Bristol arrival time ahead of us. That suggests a pass somewhere so perhaps we are in for a clever bit of train movement, possibly in the Taunton area. It will be interesting to see how that's done without stopping, unless, of course, there is a Plan B to run ahead of it. Now, Plymouth to Bristol in 130 minutes would be interesting and actually ahievable. (It's fun to speculate but we can be sure that VTL and FGW have it all in hand!)

 

I see that timings are on RTT for the return at:
http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U50567/2014/05/10/advanced

With all the caveats understood about RTT, it seems that the plan on paper is for the non stop run from Plymouth to wait for ten minutes at Dawlish Warren so that the Plymouth-York Voyager can pass. OK - we now know the plan from NR and all that remains is to see what actually happens on the day. I guess that hinges on how quickly we can get to Newton Abbot and through whatever TSRs remain on the sea wall section plus how much faith there is on the day in us being able to stay ahead of the York train all the way to Bristol. Interesting.

 

Agreed Don. Remember also that VTL is giving us a 1500 departure from Plymouth. That presumably means we will leave as soon as the 1504 Paddington service has cleared and could then stay on its tail all the way to Exeter given the stops that it makes. That could put us at Taunton by around 1640 - something that is quite achievable - and then a run to Bristol as you say arriving at 1722. It does depend on whether the controllers on the day are watching the train and working to make it happen. It'll probably also hinge on what is happening around Teignmouth/Dawlish/Exeter and, of course, how well the national network is behaving on the day. And Bristol will also have to find another platform for the York train as it uses the same one as us. There is also the possible problem of us sitting at P3 in Bristol for an hour and a half.

All interesting stuff to speculate about and a clever starting path for the train. The fact that we are even thinking about such possibilities in 2014 is actually quite a complement to NR and the TOCs who do seem prepared in exceptional circumstances to consider such events. Anyway, all we know is that if VTL, but especially FGW/NR do it then perhaps we should be rather more charitable in future on the occasions when things don't go the way of steam charters.

 

Nothing to do with the Castle I suggest. We have been warned about RTT. On this matter I actually trust WC/VTL to be on top of this and I take their silence as significant (in a positive sense).