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Met 1, Steam on the London Underground & related events


Paul.Uni
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6 hours ago, NickL2008 said:

Sarah Siddons leading Train 150 at Ruislip

 

Great to see this today, a superb job has been done on Sarah Siddons, a pity that the incident happened this morning, but worth the wait! 

 

NL

Quite,

 

but we’ve all lost our shoes before going to work at some point

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12 hours ago, Corbs said:

I messed up the shot of the last train at Earl’s Court today but headed to Ealing Common to catch the ECS heading back to base :)

I messed up my shot of that at Ealing Common. Unfortunately I can't share any of my photos from Yesterday on here yet as they were shot on Ilford HP5 35mm Film! I used an entire roll up Yesterday, which is unusual for me. Having done that I'll be processing the film ASAP so I can share the photos (if they've come out alright!).

I took a couple of rubbishy videos though - 

 

6 hours ago, adb968008 said:

Quite,

 

but we’ve all lost our shoes before going to work at some point

They must've tried pretty hard though - It was the negative (centre) shoe! Quite miraculous that they managed to get it sorted in 90 minutes! They had a line possession in place on the headshunt at Ruislip and had discharged the traction current. I'd been waiting at Eastcote but decided that, if the problem was that serious, I'd head down to Ickenham (so past the depot exit) to see what was going on - Sarah was surrounded by a sea of Hi-Vis-covered workers! Once we got to Ickenham we walked down to a bridge that overlooks the siding and had a better look before heading back to Eastcote when we saw the train draw up to the signal to exit. We were worried we were going to be put in behind, so missing our shots, but thankfully it got put in behind us.

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It was quite a busy day yesterday, I started at Wandsworth Road to watch 44871 heading to Hastings, before heading to Earls Court, with announcements of it being game over, and decided to head to Ealing Broadway to see what the score was. I saw a tweet that it had left Ruislip depot and somewhat puzzled by its route realised that it was going to pass Ealing Common, at precisely the time I arrived, so bailed and sure enough it showed.

Then on to Broadway to watch the arrival and departure, before taking the train back to Paddington and an excruciating long wait for a District line to High. st Ken (i’m Not doing that again even if on paper it makes sense), as We arrived at at High St Ken , I could see it was about to go, so went to Earls Court. 

Saw it pause at Earl’s Court before having a lunch stop, and saw it returning again thru the court, and followed it to High St Ken for some close ups. Saw the departure, and the staff advised that the return is slower, so if you head back to Earls Court, take the Piccadilly line to North Acton we’d see it again... sure enough we passed it, and got a North Acton shot.

With 7 in the bag, we felt confident to take a risk, and chose Chiswick Park... (4 tracks, Piccadilly line every few minutes in the centre and potential to be blocked by a District).. very nice curved station with a wide spread across, and luck had it to deliver a clear view, in the afternoon sun, such was the luck that immediately after passing 3 tubes followed within 2 minutes.

Luck wasn’t to last, we headed to West Kensington, a pretty but maybe shabby chic station, it looks like it needs a coat of paint, but if you did it might spoil it... on que L1 was heading upwards, and I was bowled by a tube that the covered the full length of the platform, end to end...it sounded good though.

 

Food for thought, I counted the compartments, 8 or 10 to a rather cozy compartment, approx loads around 180 per train, at £150 ahead would suggest approx £27k revenue per train.. £160k for a weekend.. not bad for a tank engine, I doubt 44871’s trip to Hastings also yesterday had even a 1/3 of that revenue.

 

pictures to follow tonight.

Edited by adb968008
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10 hours ago, Paul.Uni said:

Some pics off my phone

 

The weather really cleared for the ECS of the evening, cloud made getting light shots rather difficult all day.. I was down the end of the platform from you Paul with the gathering masses.. I'll give all the staff credit for being good sports with the crowds of people yesterday 

 

Met no.1 at Ruislip

 

NL 

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The light wasn't quite so good today but I managed to get a few OK shots.  Decided to use my Sony RX100 compact rather than lug the DSLR about.  It would be a real shame if this really were the last time for steam on LT, it's certainly popular, judging by the numbers who turned out to see it.

 

 

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BBC London TV News covered this in a brief segment. One of those they had a chat with was a transport museum director who'd come across from the USA to see what his London counterparts got up to. He seemed like a pig in muck!

 

The Nim.

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Today was a good day all round; happy passengers on all three trips - no-one "difficult" at all that I saw - stewards happy (met a few colleagues I hadn't met before) and the train behaved itself.  Even got a pint out of my ex-boss at the end of the day.

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Well... It might, in the immediate term, still be possible to run steam over the following:

Ealing Broadway - Acton Town

Ealing Common -  Rayners Lane

Rayners Lane - Uxbridge

Harrow-on-the-Hill - Amersham (And maybe Watford and Chesham too?)

I say this as, for now (until the '73 stock comes out in a few years' time, at a guess) the Piccadilly Line is staying with the old Westinghouse signalling system so the lines shared with that and used jointly with the Met and District respectively will have to remain as-is for now. The Met North of Harrow is shared with Chiltern Railways' services, so that section too will have to remain with the old signalling for the foreseeable future. Watford and Chesham are possibly going to be resignalled, though maybe not in the case of Watford (all depends whether they finally make their mind up as to whether they're going to close it or not!). If LU see any value in it, they might even leave the short hop from Harrow to Rayners under the old signalling to permit such movements as the heritage stock, but I doubt it.

 

Personally, I still think the Watford branch or, failing that, the Chesham branch ought to be made into a proper LU heritage railway! :P 

So... Who knows? 

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Correct.  It is Steam on the UNDERGROUND that will cease, not Steam on the MET.  Until now, signalling still uses "lights on sticks".  Once you have nothing at the lineside for the steam/Sarah Siddons' driver to look out for, you have to hardwire transmission-based signalling into a steam locomotive, which would be the crowning engineering achievement of the railway heritage movement, if it were done.

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On 22/06/2019 at 23:17, Paul.Uni said:

 

 

 

Caught me in the Guard's compartment door :D

 

A superb weekend - recovering from the problems on Saturday morning made it better I think. The team pulled off a small miracle to get No. 12 operational again and we were ultimately only 30 minutes late back on Ruislip Depot.

 

Regards,

 

Dan

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  • 4 weeks later...

According to the latest Steam Railway magazine, the last Steam On The Met will be in 2021 before the new signalling comes into use between Rayners Lane and Harrow-on-the-Hill.

 

2021 is also the 50th anniversary of the last regular steam on LU, so it would be nice if a LT livered 57XX would be used.

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I think my friend, Mr Connor's, idea for this is the best - Get the panniers with a couple of LT Brake vans on some engineers stock to commemorate the occasion. Paint a couple of battery locos into LT Maroon as well, to add to the effect. Maybe even employ the Pannier(s) on some actual engineers workings...

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All of the engineering fleet are air braked now, so a Class 20 or Sarah Siddons would be required to act as translator between vacuum and air systems.

 

The idea of painting a battery loco maroon though is rather appealing.

 

Regards,

 

Dan

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Sarah Siddons heritage train on 7 & 8 September

Quote

Vintage Suburbia on the Met Line

 

Enjoy lazy September days on the Metropolitan line, travelling in vintage style through lush suburbia on 1950s ex-British Rail 4TC coaches, hauled by Sarah Siddons electric locomotive and a Class 20 locomotive.

 

Relive the 1950s as you board the heritage train and take time to enjoy the special atmosphere at Amersham station, where you can mingle with costumed characters and browse our special pop-up Museum shop.

 

On Sunday 8 September only, courtesy of the LTM Friends, you'll also be able to enjoy free heritage rides up to Amersham Old Town, where the annual Heritage Day is taking place, on buses including RM2 from our collection.

 

Tickets and journey times

Journey 1 (single)

Wembley Park 10:23
Amersham 11:14
Adults £20 1st Class, £15 Standard class
Children 3 -16 £5 (under 3s go free)

 

Journey 2 (return)

Amersham 11:42
Harrow-on-the-Hill 12:10 arrive
Harrow-on-the-Hill 12:22 depart
Amersham 12:50
Adults £15 1st Class, £10 Standard class
Children 3 -16 £5 (under 3s go free)

 

Journey 3 (return)

Amersham 13:42
Harrow-on-the-Hill 14:10 arrive
Harrow-on-the-Hill 14:22 depart
Amersham 14:50
Adults £15 1st Class, £10 Standard class
Children 3 -16 £5 (under 3s go free)

 

Journey 4 (single)

Amersham 15:26
Wembley Park 15.59
Adults £20 1st Class, £15 Standard class
Children 3 -16 £5 (under 3s go free)

Info from www.ltmuseum.co.uk/whats-on/heritage-vehicles-outings

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20142

The Branch Line Society & Vintage Trains - Birmingham Balti Bash Sunday 22nd September 2019

20142 and 20189 are expected to top and tail this train

Full details are on https://www.branchline.uk/fixture_set_id.php?id=181

 

4TC

Timings for the remaining Swanage railtours and the Imberbus railtour:

 

Swanage 11 August
ECS Eastleigh to Waterloo http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U55339/2019/08/11/advanced
Waterloo to Swanage http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U55337/2019/08/11/advanced
Swanage to Waterloo http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U55338/2019/08/11/advanced
ECS Waterloo to Eastleigh http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U55340/2019/08/11/advanced

 

Imberbus 17 August

ECS Eastleigh to Waterloo http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U68428/2019/08/17/advanced
Waterloo to Warminster http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U68429/2019/08/17/advanced
ECS Warminster to Westbury http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U68430/2019/08/17/advanced
ECS Westbury to Warminster http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U68431/2019/08/17/advanced
Warminster to Waterloo http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U68432/2019/08/17/advanced
ECS Waterloo to Eastleigh http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U68433/2019/08/17/advanced

 

Swanage 18 August
ECS Eastleigh to Waterloo http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U55339/2019/08/18/advanced
Waterloo to Swanage http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U55337/2019/08/18/advanced
Swanage to Waterloo http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U55338/2019/08/18/advanced
ECS Waterloo to Eastleigh http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U55340/2019/08/18/advanced

Edited by Paul.Uni
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