black and decker boy

I suspect its crew training runs that opportunistically are being offered to the public but pay-on-day tickets a 37 to Mallaig for £40 will draw out a few tractor bashers but maybe very few normals who happen to be around the station given a scotrail fare is under £20

More info on the LSL trains here: https://www.railadvent.co.uk/2024/04/west-highlander-day-trips-to-run-on-scotlands-jacobite-line-next-week.html Tickets will be available as a ‘pay on the day' basis priced at £40 per adult and £20 for those under 16s.

Yes, I believe there will now be 2 Midland Pullman sets with various extra PCs and trailers having been processed through Eastleigh at regular intervals. i think the short lived RCS HST set has now gone blue.

I think the reality with Pacers is starting to bite with a few of those preserved now being stripped, up for sale or heading for scrap. Yes LSL have restored a couple for novelty trips but how many others are going to get the same treatment. at least with LHCS you can swap vehicles and locos to retain a service. sprinters could work out in the medium term but U.K. doesn’t have a great record in mainline running of preserved units (certainly since 1994) but sooner or later we may run short of 1960s built locos to run up our scenic lines.

We have generated 498kwh so far this year, half of which, 243kwh, was in March. The bulk was exported.

Again, you fall into the trap that this is just about the Jacobite doing it’s summertime trips to Mallaig. it is in fact about the whole WCRC fleet that operates at up to 100mph on up to 5 services per day on our mainlines U.K. wide. 2 recent safety breaches on WCRC doors were noted in the court judgement (neither were Jacobite) plus we know the prohibition notices on last years Jacobite relate to WCRC not following their own safety procedures with regard operation and stewarding of the doors. A door opening at 100mph is a very serious safety hazard, a door opening as a train is moving in a platform is a serious safety hazard. Clearance to lineside structures is permitted to be as low as 150mm nowadays so an open door would strike and do significant damage. ORR have not reinvented the Railway Safety Regulations 1999 which are quite clearly written. The Court agreed that the implementation of those regulations by ORR was legal and proportionate hence finding in favour of ORR.

Anything fitted with CDL doesn’t need a Reg 5 exemption. only mark 1 s need a Reg 4 exemption (end pillars and crash-worthiness). WCRC currently operating 2 rakes of MK2s fitted with CDL with no exemptions needed or provided. Other WCRC rakes of MK2s should follow but note that WCRC had stripped some of its MK2s of its BR era CDL so has now had to refit. Vac braked stock is a bit of a red herring as WCRC last year bought all the Riviera Trains mk1 fleet all of which were dual or air only. The second Jacobite rake was formed of MK2s anyway. All of the steam locos used on the Jacobite in recent years have been air brake fitted (all Riley’s).

Paragraph 77 of the court judgement is what you need to read. WCRC in their exemption submission stated it wanted to run between 1 and 5 services per day. So neither ORR or the Court have ridden roughshod over poor Mr Smith. WCRC estimated cost per vehicle at £30k and a total bill of £3m for the fleet. WCRC had then inflated that to £7m by including lost revenue but the Court struck that out as no evidence was offered by WCRC so as far as the judgement is concerned, £3m for the full fleet is as bad as it gets. (ORR also countered this by saying short exemptions were on offer to give a transitional period to fit the coaches without loss of revenue - WCRC effectively lost this opportunity by not having a plan B ready to go if they lost the JR and seemingly still not having a Plan B 4 months later as they have applied for a new exemption that offers zero CDL fitment)

The statement in the court judgement was from Network Rail not ORR. even 5 services a day equates to a core fleet of around 60 vehicles rather than 130. I don’t think their original exemption even listed 130 vehicles but hey Ho, that seems to be part of the West Coast smoke & mirrors BS

You are falling into the trap that this is only about the Jacobite. from the court judgement - suggest you read it, it’s very insightful- ORR assessed CDL at £26,250 per vehicle based on figures from 3 other heritage operators on the mainline. WCRC themselves told the court they assessed it at £30,000 per vehicle. The Jacobite needs what, 12 coaches? WCRC claim to use 130 altogether. They operate up to 4 services per day across the U.K. at speeds up to 100mph. WCRC currently have 2 full rakes in operation with operable CDL, both are Mk2s.

The general population won’t have heard of the Jacobite or West Coast Railway Company Limited and therefore won’t actually care. Whipping up public opinion about the Jacobite is probably as misplaced as West Coast thinking they are above all other operators and don’t need CDL. It’s in Scotland so won’t sway any of the current government who in reality, won’t be getting any votes from the issue even if they solve it. Holyrood has no power with regards to Safety Regulations. Both parliaments have far greater concerns than a rather rich farmer who doesn’t want to invest in prescribed safety systems for his 1:1 trainset.

The facts & figures of the Jacobite were laid before the court as part of the & JR and are also on companies house the Jacobite brings in around £5.7m Of turnover per year of which around £1m is profit the rest of the business brings in £6m and also generates around £1.4m in profit overall for WCRC limited, turnover is £11.7m, profit before tax £2.4m (accounts to March 2023). It had over £5m cash / assets available as at March 2023. WCRC is not poor by anyone’s yardstick. the court assessed cost of fitting CDL to their entire fleet (the exemption and JR were not about Jacobite) was £1.8m. court judgement is here https://assets.caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewhc/admin/2023/3338/ewhc_admin_2023_3338.pdf Published accounts here https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/document-api-images-live.ch.gov.uk/docs/aRSRl5euxY8sZ-MLKSxI_u9qvURQo0bqcuesT811Wq4/application-pdf?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=ASIAWRGBDBV3HSN7LA5F%2F20240330%2Feu-west-2%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20240330T173253Z&X-Amz-Expires=60&X-Amz-Security-Token=IQoJb3JpZ2luX2VjEPH%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2FwEaCWV1LXdlc3QtMiJHMEUCIDzCJ6d1rHAlGUbmDTETImQ4lEZzKum9qLZBGrkaCyYrAiEAp0CQaI6viHTcex%2F3cRU7sUN4bpiGZ4%2FDEnIiDw5ysToquwUIGhAFGgw0NDkyMjkwMzI4MjIiDOwZV0e0vHK6CuezeCqYBVnVQUpQVDjgIzZ2D94SBkT1xUqNazvudQ8AcfCSInVh7Sgo81QPIU0uXuu6oONyF7wYDzCKQeor7NJNcE23cQmypjbaqZOV2eJykqvSdTpzWFvMIEEUY8cmeHCw79Xs4Yk0pWskZZduQWHQH7UC39cbuqDoNj%2FRiXJ%2BGWXOEPIDliNkzRwrgbNvwd7YXhaRVUbWQGYLMz3YvC0E0BDl7Vc%2Bq2%2BqeTrh8Lo%2Fm5GaaTLeYyWA4AKt3zHvssyxTtnOzHvYRiSMBnM2X9A7G6tyXy6wzz7Lh%2BrpYgp35tyI4veiuXqc7T%2Fry7vUOO6VQgDRAF2JkS%2FC8Iyw%2BCJnOWkLh8oZttIWB58TlDg12xvaiE3nyWi71P5z8onbVQbdoiuOGUjIx8in6guOOzzpzu0iL5Gjt2ONjxDW5GpJ4T3P%2BiLEGOv9jokzBP6TRjCFBbSAbcZ%2BgvcMSgOEeSrlXb%2BTzzdHy7CJtHndXy9W5wwc%2Bov%2BHg%2F5DtpvEWiO%2FdIL9XdQDYPWy4UgAt1AGw5PXUaHDRc1mrmyDLv4%2BytUHNV6BImygRrWast37zUFeUceYjag73yNVXHnGPEgwgShelqXaNiltAc1e7m4XZotJqwidCXn2coMwPuN34OpmUmwbj8u6EsrauK6bry93UUtLPQQgozc2HNv0B39%2Fq%2BjuqOZeNt2tBuzuXophRyTTCyr72saNyyD4tD6T285ci2HKa%2BZ%2BzwonZfBMxgXzQR6RXT7sj9fVm2UqSa0WynFuHrMNromVuj%2B59nRAfKw2fBTplBH9U6Tbt7YdjzFfo%2BmHacRUG9V6XIuDc5oWCCIgyMP6Uzg4JvnSn633EwA0EfAqOGiN4U%2BLs6vBpBM5H6AiGYbW%2BiCLVvjvl4eq0Mws4ehsAY6sQE9zdR8wlzAGJof8qt6bPgrAPIFHAW%2B7rYNbn6t9JD7GaLTExpLTwirIPaor%2FAgda74c56WluOBuMYHIiVqbCArvHuK7fNMrMynqQo%2F9YYH2PmtL0pyw7SOPQOVj%2FKV9FNusq3wk8%2BcH24dSYNR64L87BqtwOHr4cy%2FmwgWbETZw01XxYtvpBnUjuma3sv%2FY3YaXYnwSfQ%2FT19tdTK%2BDkje%2FLmMb41N9Fv%2FYUr%2BKaOwpOg%3D&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&response-content-disposition=inline%3Bfilename%3D"03066109_aa_2023-12-30.pdf"&X-Amz-Signature=9f7783da29ee2298494e0399bef2c0ed28729cf4e770aa90c28abaf54e6045b8

The 66s didn’t really directly replace the 60s though - they directly replaced the remaining class 20/31/33/37/47/56/58 fleets. class 60s have suffered far more from the loss of the heavy-haul traffic flows of our diminishing heavy industry. DBC is a very different business now in scale and flows to that of 1994. Where any heavy flows passed to the new FOCs, 60s weren’t an option so the 66/6 was created. There is still hope for the 60s, GBRF continue to operate then, Cappagh operate them and have more in store for possible return to service (60099 rumoured to be on the come back trail) and it’s reported that Land Recovery have bought many of the current tender for return to service.

Rochdale (girder bridge) includes a bay platform littleborough (stone arch viaduct) crosses a road and river wakefield westgate oxford

Are you aware that there was once a more direct route from Crainlarich via Callendar to Dunblane and thence Stirling. It closed in the 1960s after a rockfall. It could no doubt have been repaired but economics meant the services were simplified to what we have today. population of Fort William is a mere 10,000 and Mallaig is under 1000. Oban is around 8,000. The service outside of the tourist season is very much a social rather than commercial basis with very few trains a day. efficiency and cost drive things hence RETB signalling and services which split at Crainlarich. Tourism is heavily linked to the West Highland Way so cutting off trains from that would harm ticket sales and having to run all services individually to Oban or Ft William would increase costs. i think whatever small amount is available for railway infrastructure upgrades has a much better use on higher density lines & services, especially where passenger and freight run together more frequently. the borders railway was perhaps different being a reopening of an existing route and very much (affluent) commuter belt for Edinburgh.

Spent a lot of time dumped at Healey Mills in the 1990s

I’m sorry but that’s simply wrong. Regulation 5 exemptions cover CDL and none last for 5 years. Vintage trains have an exemption until November 2024 but which has an agreed CDL fitment plan bound into it. NYMR exemption isn’t applicable to WCRC SRPS have no exemption and aren’t running until CDL fitted. HDL have fitted CDL so need no exemption LSL have fitted CDL so need no exemption Riviera have fitted CDL so need no exemption (they only operate MK2s) LUL have fitted CDL so need no exemption GSWR (Royal Scotsman) have an exemption to Feb 2025 but which has an agreed CDL fitment plan bound into it. VSOE have an exemption to Feb 2025 but which has an agreed CDL fitment plan bound into it. No other operators have Regulation 5 exemptions for use of hinged door stock.

Seen reports elsewhere that WCRC appeared on GB News yesterday and have said their exemption is based on NOT fitting CDL and they have provided a risk assessment to that effect!!!!!!! I really do wonder about the mentality of the folk at Carnforth. dont hold your breath if you’ve got tickets for this season on the Jacobite.

You miss the fact that the locos used on the Jacobite aren’t WCRC. They hire from Riley. do we think Riley will retire and take his locos off the mainline if WCRC give up or do we think he’ll entertain offers from others with the ability and ambition to continue running in the highlands? CDL fitted stock doesn’t require a reg 5 exemption so no need for ORR. Reg 4 exemption required if renovating a demic though. Early Mk2s would hit the Jacobite target market if painted maroon.

WCRZc bought all of the Riviera MK1s which are air or dual braked in 2022 or early 2023. The Jacobite locos are hired from Riley and air braked. vac brakes are therefore a side show and not a barrier to solving the Jacobite should WCRC actually want to move forward in a positive way. as for economic viability, from published accounts, the Jacobite was 50% of the annual profit (£1m per year) but slightly less than 50% of turnover which means all the other rail tours operated and loco hire, engineering services etc generate the other 50% of the profit. it is a very good % profit vs turnover and they have continued to buy locos and coaching stock despite knowing all of this about CDL, emission tanks etc fir the last 3 years so I very much doubt they are about to retire to their gold plated paradise island.

Why do they need a diesel? All the Jacobite steamers are fitted with air brakes.

I think the ORR quote on the BBC is pretty robust An ORR spokesperson said they warned all heritage operators "several years ago" that their trains had to either seek an exemption or be compliant with the rules after 31 March. "West Coast Railway's application for an exemption failed and they made a claim for judicial review. A temporary exemption was granted in order to maintain the status quo, enabling WCR to operate whilst the litigation reached a conclusion," they said. “Despite this, WCR chose to sell tickets when it was far from certain that a new application for an exemption would be granted, either in time for the commencement of services or at all. "It submitted an exemption application on 8 March, which we are now assessing. ORR is disappointed that WCR appears not to have made sensible contingency plans for the benefit of their customers.” EDIT: just checked the official guidance for an exemption application and clause 7.3 says ORR have up to 4months from date all necessary information is received to assess and determine an application. WCRC seemingly wanted it done in less than 3 weeks!!!!!

Scratch That. This has appeared on the WCRC website this afternoon. https://westcoastrailways.co.uk/news/important-announcement-the-jacobite They really are deluded but seem unable / unwilling to recognise that and the wording of that release is inflammatory and an exaggeration of the truth & process involved and omits the fact they only applied last week or so for the exemption.

They are open standards. Only 1 compartment coach runs and only in 1 rake. this is all made clear on their website as you pay a premium for the compartments the website also states the train will be of mk1 or mk2 stock.

No trains have been cancelled by WCRC due to a lack of CDL and a movement is in RTT for the Jacobite stock. Lots of hints of MK1s being fitted with CDL at Carnforth so let’s not panic and jump to conclusions