RMweb Gold colin penfold Posted July 28, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 28, 2013 Well, I was wondering. I booked at the last minute to go on the Nenta Tours trip from Norwich to Carlisle on Saturday because the lovely wife was working all day. I looked to find there was a Cumbrian Mountain Express running the same day and with luck on the timings and a bit of creative thinking I could get a shot of it. We left Norwich at 0430 which meant getting up at 0315. Do you know what the 0 stands for in 0315? Oh my god it's early! Anyhow, I duly dragged my self to Norwich where I found 57315 at the head of a West Coast Railways set of MK1s. I was quite pleased to find we had Mk1s, it's a long time since I had some serious mileage at 95MPH having my bones shaken by BRs finest. I did find West Coast's explanation about the stock hilarious. We would normally have had an Air Conditioned rake apparently but they overheat in the hot weather, so we have this rake so you can open the windows instead. Only in the UK could we have trains with air conditioning to keep you cool in the hot weather, that can't run in the hot weather! It's up there with the wrong type of leaves, the wrong type of snow - now it's too hot to have aircon! If you don't believe me you can read the explanation on the last image, just above the route and timings. We set off across Norfolk and Suffolk picking up customers before heading for the S&C via the Ayre Valley route. I was interested to travel from Stowmarket to Ely via Bury St Edmunds, a route I had never travelled. Bury Station buildings are very nice architecturally - I wonder what sort of a model that would make in its heyday. By the time I left our train at Appleby, 57315 was on the rear due to the earlier reversal at Ipswich (57314 was leading) And just as planned, next train into section behind us was 1Z28 Cumbrian Mountain Express with 46233 Duchess of Sutherland subbing for 60009 Union of South Africa, with 47580 County of Essex on the rear for assistance due to fire risk. I then had a nice lunch and a mooch around Appleby before catching a service train into Carlisle to catch the return leg of 1Z28 before re-boarding the Nenta tour to head home. I had a very nervous journey back due to a track circuit failure as we were 45 mins late and I really thought I might get stranded in Carlisle. Anyhow we arrived just in time to see the Duchess before she left Her departure was quickly followed by the arrival of our stock with 57514 leading And we then set off home via shap with 57315 leading We were due back in Norwich at 0100 (because of the routing via Bury St Edmunds and Ipswich) but we reached Ely in time for the 2245 service train, so I jumped ship and got on the sprinter to reach Norwich at 2345 before I turned into a pumpkin! A very long day - nearly 19 hours and 783 rail miles, but a most enjoyable trip. The Settle and Carlisle was glorious in the sunshine and the views were superb. The trip was well organised and punctual throughout. For those of you interested the timings and routes are shown here: So the question is - can anyone beat a 19 hour day and 783 miles to get a photo of a railtour ?? !!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted July 28, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 28, 2013 Well, I was wondering. I booked at the last minute to go on the Nenta Tours trip from Norwich to Carlisle on Saturday because the lovely wife was working all day. I looked to find there was a Cumbrian Mountain Express running the same day and with luck on the timings and a bit of creative thinking I could get a shot of it. We left Norwich at 0430 which meant getting up at 0315. Do you know what the 0 stands for in 0315? Oh my god it's early! Anyhow, I duly dragged my self to Norwich where I found 57315 at the head of a West Coast Railways set of MK1s. 130727a Norwich Station 5731 web5.jpg I was quite pleased to find we had Mk1s, it's a long time since I had some serious mileage at 95MPH having my bones shaken by BRs finest. I did find West Coast's explanation about the stock hilarious. We would normally have had an Air Conditioned rake apparently but they overheat in the hot weather, so we have this rake so you can open the windows instead. Only in the UK could we have trains with air conditioning to keep you cool in the hot weather, that can't run in the hot weather! It's up there with the wrong type of leaves, the wrong type of snow - now it's too hot to have aircon! If you don't believe me you can read the explanation on the last image, just above the route and timings. We set off across Norfolk and Suffolk picking up customers before heading for the S&C via the Ayre Valley route. I was interested to travel from Stowmarket to Ely via Bury St Edmunds, a route I had never travelled. Bury Station buildings are very nice architecturally - I wonder what sort of a model that would make in its heyday. By the time I left our train at Appleby, 57315 was on the rear due to the earlier reversal at Ipswich (57314 was leading) 130727b Appleby 57314web.jpg And just as planned, next train into section behind us was 1Z28 Cumbrian Mountain Express with 46233 Duchess of Sutherland subbing for 60009 Union of South Africa, with 47580 County of Essex on the rear for assistance due to fire risk. 130727c Appleby S&C Station 46233web.jpg 130727d Appleby S&C Station 47580 County of Essex web.jpg I then had a nice lunch and a mooch around Appleby before catching a service train into Carlisle to catch the return leg of 1Z28 before re-boarding the Nenta tour to head home. I had a very nervous journey back due to a track circuit failure as we were 45 mins late and I really thought I might get stranded in Carlisle. Anyhow we arrived just in time to see the Duchess before she left 130727e Carlisle LMR 46233 web.jpg Her departure was quickly followed by the arrival of our stock with 57514 leading 130727f Carlisle LMR 57314 web.jpg And we then set off home via shap with 57315 leading 130727g Carlisle LMR 57315 web.jpg We were due back in Norwich at 0100 (because of the routing via Bury St Edmunds and Ipswich) but we reached Ely in time for the 2245 service train, so I jumped ship and got on the sprinter to reach Norwich at 2345 before I turned into a pumpkin! A very long day - nearly 19 hours and 783 rail miles, but a most enjoyable trip. The Settle and Carlisle was glorious in the sunshine and the views were superb. The trip was well organised and punctual throughout. For those of you interested the timings and routes are shown here: 130727 route.jpg So the question is - can anyone beat a 19 hour day and 783 miles to get a photo of a railtour ?? !!! I did once go to Australia to photograph one (but after that weekend I was working there for several weeks - the round trip from Sydney up into Queensland to the first place where I phot'd the steam special working was only 1100kms = 683 miles) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodenhead Posted July 28, 2013 Share Posted July 28, 2013 That's not a bad sub for 60009. Wish I had the stamina for a 19 hour round rail trip. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold beast66606 Posted July 28, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 28, 2013 So the question is - can anyone beat a 19 hour day and 783 miles to get a photo of a railtour ?? !!! Nearly - I traveled roughly 10 miles in 20 minutes for the returning ECS today ! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonBradley Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 Oh WOW, Now I'm green with envy. Oh I much prefer open windows to A/C! How else does one stick ones head out and get smoke in ones eyes and smuts on ones face and the smell of coal smoke! Thanks for the pictures. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EddieB Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 So the question is - can anyone beat a 19 hour day and 783 miles to get a photo of a railtour ?? !!! Personally, yes - I've flown to Germany to catch the restored Bayern Pacific on a special (only to get held up on departure from Stansted and having to settle for only the return leg), with some longer distances for railtours combined other attractions (the raitour or an event dictated the travel timings, but I made sure I had a full itinerary rather than just putting all my eggs in one basket). There was the time I travelled over to Sylt, found a good spot by the line with a few locals, before the news filtered out that the run with an 01 Pacific was cancelled. Maybe not 700+ miles that time as I was already in Northern Germany, but still a long journey (but plenty of 218s to compensate). However, I know of one fellow who has flown to Thailand for the weekend, purely to photograph the double-headed steam specials that are run to commemorate the king's birthday. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 5944 Posted July 29, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 29, 2013 I flew to Pisa last year to photograph a steam tour. Got there on the Friday, picked up the hire car, spent the night in a hotel, then drove to Lucca in the morning to make sure the train was actually running. It was, so I got a couple of shots of it arriving, then drove up to a spot I'd looked at on the map. Turns out the map I had was a few years old, and the sat nav I was using hadn't been updated either. I got well and truly lost! I eventually found the spot I was aiming for, stood there in the pouring rain for half an hour, and gave up! 2000 mile round trip, and all I had to show for it was a couple of rubbish photos at a station that I shouldn't have gone to. D'oh! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classsix T Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 Colin my man. You're trying to run before you can walk! You're after a "man of steel" merit and you've never done Stow-Ely! Get the black bits in on your home turf, then get some red bits and I'll acknowledge your efforts with a grunt in the Compleat Angler one day! If you'd booked on both tours and done mileage on both, then got home...kudos. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EddieB Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 I flew to Pisa last year to photograph a steam tour. Got there on the Friday, picked up the hire car, spent the night in a hotel, then drove to Lucca in the morning to make sure the train was actually running. It was, so I got a couple of shots of it arriving, then drove up to a spot I'd looked at on the map. Turns out the map I had was a few years old, and the sat nav I was using hadn't been updated either. I got well and truly lost! I eventually found the spot I was aiming for, stood there in the pouring rain for half an hour, and gave up! 2000 mile round trip, and all I had to show for it was a couple of rubbish photos at a station that I shouldn't have gone to. D'oh! Reminds me of another trip partly erased from memory. I caught the ferry and drove all the way to (the appropriately named) Louny in (then) Czechoslovakia for a steam run. Got there to find nothing doing and finally found out that the special had been cancelled weeks before. Almost as embarrassing as trying (unsuccessfully) on a later visit to find a preservation site near Chomutov. Being near the border, the road was popular with the local hookers advertising themselves (erm), who obviously thought their luck was in when a hire car with German plates drove past slowly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TheSignalEngineer Posted July 29, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 29, 2013 Not in the same league as some of those but my son decided that we should get a ride behind a Deltic when they were disappearing from ECML service. The best bet in those days was the York - Edinburgh leg of the train from Plymouth to Edinburgh. Rather than do it the easy way and get the train at Birmingham where we then lived we decided to make a day of it. We set off on a local train into Moor St, then on to Euston, a quick sprint to KX, lunch at Doncaster before on to York to find 55010 waiting to take our intended connection. A track circuit failure on the way to Edinburgh meant we arrived too late for the last daytime train home, but in those days there was always the Bristol Sleeper. To fill in time we did the Forth and Tay Bridges to Dundee and back. The sleeper joined the Glasgow portion at Carstairs in those days, and because of engineering work went from Preston to Crewe via Manchester Victoria and Stockport. We ran into New St via Wolverhampton and Bescot, arriving in time for the first bus home on Sunday morning. We got our Deltic trip, also Class 101 and 116 DMUs, 2xHST, Classes 26, 40, 81, 86 and 87 plus a WMPTE bus to do over 800 miles in 24 hours. The follow-up Scottish epic was to go from Birmingham for lunch on the Isle of Skye via the Mallaig ferry using only one box on a staff travel card. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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