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Taking a Proper Engine to London


D869

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blog-0898872001368308563.jpgIn a scandalous misuse of the limited time remaining before Railex, Jackie and I took the Cheltenham Flyer from Tyseley to Paddington and Back with 'Castle' class 'Earl of Mount Edgcumbe'.

 

The run was superb - a storming ascent of Sapperton and some fast running in both directions on the main line. 40 minutes early into Paddington and then an hour early back to Gloucester. A shame that NR couldn't find us an earlier path back to Brum so we all had to sit in Gloucester for an extra hour forlornly hoping that we would get underway.

 

Cream crackered now - very long day.

 

Pics from me. Vids from other folks.

 

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Waiting to leave Gloucester this morning

 

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I can't really call this 'old and new'. How about... 'old and very old' at the buffers. I haven't checked, but I wonder which has had the longer time in main line service.

 

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Back in Gloucester this evening.

 

A couple of vids on Sapperton and one on the main line.

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  • RMweb Gold

Don't feel too guilty Andy. I should be getting some of my unpainted stock painted this weekend but am heading over to Wilton tomorrow to have a look round the Salisbury clubs' show - will probably take in lunch somewhere in the Wyle  valley whilst out - be rude not to!

 

Jerry

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Don't feel too guilty Andy. I should be getting some of my unpainted stock painted this weekend but am heading over to Wilton tomorrow to have a look round the Salisbury clubs' show - will probably take in lunch somewhere in the Wyle  valley whilst out - be rude not to!

Hope you enjoy the show then. I'm back on the case today - we have St Ruth fully set up with lights and other gubbins for some testing this afternoon.

 

Regards, Andy

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  • RMweb Gold

It's so nice to see a steam locomotive running without a diesel 'helping'. Great photos. You must have had a great day, I'm very jealous! 

 

Regards,

 

Nick. 

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  • RMweb Gold

Great stuff although that was a rather filthy exhaust going through Tilehurst (grotty coal or over-firing I wonder?) - 'Castles' never left a smokescreen like that in the old days.

 

I wonder if it went up Sapperton as fast as 7029 did back in 1985 when it beat the HST p-p running times (and ran into Swindon over 20 minutes early); it would be interesting to see some timings.

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  • RMweb Gold

It certainly seemed to thrash up through Frampton Mansell with no effort whatsoever..! Would have liked to have been about up there yesterday, but other duties required me to attend Tesco instead...

 

What was interesting was that the headboard said 'Cheltenham Flyer', whereas the planning documentation referred to it as the 'Cheltenham Spa Express'...

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I believe that all the 43s pre-date me so that's over 30 years in service for them. There is a picture of one on the wall where I work proclaiming we are 'moulding the future for transport'. (There are a series of them for different industry sectors.) It makes me chuckle every time I see it. I suppose that they are likely to be around a few more years yet at the very least.

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Thanks all for the comments. I like them even though RMWeb seems not to want to show the 'like' button today.

 

It's so nice to see a steam locomotive running without a diesel 'helping'. Great photos. You must have had a great day, I'm very jealous!

Yes it was a great day. Shame Jackie managed to sleep all the way up Sapperton though - still it was an early start and this isn't exactly her thing.

 

Great stuff although that was a rather filthy exhaust going through Tilehurst (grotty coal or over-firing I wonder?) - 'Castles' never left a smokescreen like that in the old days.

 

I wonder if it went up Sapperton as fast as 7029 did back in 1985 when it beat the HST p-p running times (and ran into Swindon over 20 minutes early); it would be interesting to see some timings.

Not sure but the general impression was that the crew did a superb job. There was some slow running at times but on at least one occasion it seemed to be a case of softly softly etc because we passed an HST that had to stop (Reading IIRC). After the station it passed us again and then we got put onto the fast lines. I'd love to see some timings. I was too busy enjoying myself to do it but plenty of others did but I haven't found any online so far.

 

It certainly seemed to thrash up through Frampton Mansell with no effort whatsoever..! Would have liked to have been about up there yesterday, but other duties required me to attend Tesco instead...

 

What was interesting was that the headboard said 'Cheltenham Flyer', whereas the planning documentation referred to it as the 'Cheltenham Spa Express'...

Work. The curse of the drinking classes. I'm not sure if this was a late addition because they handed out the VTL 2013 catalogue and there is nothing at all in there for 11th May. IMHO they picked the better name whatever happened.

 

I believe that all the 43s pre-date me so that's over 30 years in service for them. There is a picture of one on the wall where I work proclaiming we are 'moulding the future for transport'. (There are a series of them for different industry sectors.) It makes me chuckle every time I see it. I suppose that they are likely to be around a few more years yet at the very least.

I did a quick check. The Castle was built in 1937 and withdrawn in 1963 so didn't manage 30 years. Not sure exactly when 44025 was built, but I guess it was pretty early so comfortably over 30 years in service. I still prefer the scream of a Paxman engined example though.

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  • RMweb Gold

Nice shots Andy.

 

Especially like the one of the front ends comparison.

 

Am getting worried now though...your last few blog entries have all been about kettles...what has happened to those Hydraulics we all love? :O

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Nice shots Andy.

 

Especially like the one of the front ends comparison.

 

Am getting worried now though...your last few blog entries have all been about kettles...what has happened to those Hydraulics we all love? :O

Hi Pete,

 

Grenville is on the workbench as I type this. Was aiming to get it ready for the paint shop by the end of today but this blasted computer keeps on side-tracking me. For once it's not just RMWeb - I just had an interesting email about the renovation of Hayle Wharf that prompted me to go digging around in my files to answer some questions.

 

Regards, Andy

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