RMweb Gold Ian Hargrave Posted July 30, 2022 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 30, 2022 On 28/07/2022 at 11:03, Gilbert said: But...this was on Dawlish Webcams website according to FB It seems that both Rail Charter companies concerned are confident there will be two steam hauled specials running this weekend. On Saturday 70000 Britannia will be powering the English Riviera Express, (which starts from Kettering diesel hauled) from Norton Fitzwarren near Taunton to Kingswear. Times through Dawlish are 12.03pm and the return at 5.52pm. On Sunday we welcome on the first of three occasions, the return of LMS 6233 Duchess of Sutherland powering the Royal Duchy from Bristol Temple Meads to Plymouth, where a diesel locomotive takes over to take the train on to Par in Cornwall. Times at Dawlish are 10.44am and return at 6.27pm. Latest news is that the diesel will be included in the train formation to assist to lessen the chance of causing lineside fires. It is likely the same will apply to Britannia on Saturday. Attaching a 47/57 to the rear of the Duchess is quite usual in any case,if my two experiences with her over Shap & the S&C are indicators. Have to say,during a Deltic powered jaunt on the GCR yesterday,I had the salutary experience of witnessing a scorched cutting on the approach to Rothley station.which considering there is housing close by is not encouraging. But now to be fair the GCR have temporarily stopped using steam. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Gilbert Posted July 30, 2022 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 30, 2022 Today's Duchess at Keynsham 5Z30 with 47813 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 5944 Posted July 30, 2022 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 30, 2022 70000 Britannia acting as a very large headboard for 47593 for the trip to Kingswear today by all accounts. Lots of whistling but not much chuffing! 6233 reportedly behind the 47 tomorrow going to Plymouth, so even more pointless than pushing it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
6990WitherslackHall Posted July 30, 2022 Author Share Posted July 30, 2022 At least steam is running again. Better to have a diesel on front of it than not run at all. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
6990WitherslackHall Posted July 30, 2022 Author Share Posted July 30, 2022 Speaking of railtours, anyone know why the Beamish, Durham and Newcastle railtour was cancelled? Was hoping to see it in York. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Gilbert Posted July 30, 2022 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 30, 2022 6 minutes ago, 6990WitherslackHall said: At least steam is running again. Better to have a diesel on front of it than not run at all. I assume the operators are trying to balance risk and the best experience for their paying customers. A fire caused by a steam loco at the moment could have immediately dire conseqences for someone working or living close to the line and (looking at the big picture) could also lead to more draconian rules from Network Rail in the longer term. I assume given the T&Cs associated with these things the operators could have just run the tours with diesels. I'm due to travel behind either Britannia or Braunton in August but while I'd be disappointed I would understand if we were relegated to a pair of LSL 47s. Chris H 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Gilbert Posted July 30, 2022 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 30, 2022 (edited) and...I've just watched 70000 on the return north on the Teignmouth and Dawlish Railcams and it appeared to be working pretty hard. Someone who saw it southbound this morning said the same. It will be interesting to see how hard DoS is worked tomorrow. The weather forecast here in Bristol tomorrow is "wet"... Edited July 30, 2022 by Gilbert Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
6990WitherslackHall Posted July 30, 2022 Author Share Posted July 30, 2022 3 minutes ago, Gilbert said: I'm due to travel behind either Britannia or Braunton in August but while I'd be disappointed I would understand if we were relegated to a pair of LSL 47s. I would be too but you know, it's out of the TOCs control and sometimes these things happen. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium brushman47544 Posted July 30, 2022 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 30, 2022 (edited) On 21/07/2022 at 15:34, 6990WitherslackHall said: There's the scenery as well. Most of it is stunning. Except there’s less and less of that because Network Rail has allowed the lineside trees and vegetation to grow, to the point in some places where you can’t see anything except trees from the window. With the increase in prolonged periods of hot weather better vegetation control is important because it’s not just steam locos that can start fires, sparks from diesels and electrics (especially third rail) can create equal distruction. Clearly steam locos create a much higher risk, but better control of lineside vegetation would benefit all trains, not just steam. But that costs money and it seems to be cheaper to let it grow and make delay payments than properly cut back. Edited July 30, 2022 by brushman47544 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Gilbert Posted July 31, 2022 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 31, 2022 Duchess is definitely working hard today on the Royal Duchy. Class 47 on the back. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
6990WitherslackHall Posted July 31, 2022 Author Share Posted July 31, 2022 (edited) Looks like the majority of railtours are going to be steam hauled with diesel assist or diesel hauled until further notice. Edited July 31, 2022 by 6990WitherslackHall Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium newbryford Posted July 31, 2022 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 31, 2022 (edited) 7 hours ago, 6990WitherslackHall said: Looks like the majority of railtours are going to be steam hauled with diesel assist or diesel hauled until further notice. Somebody on here will be happy about that......... not. Edited July 31, 2022 by newbryford 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Mike_Walker Posted August 1, 2022 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 1, 2022 The Bluebell Railway held a gala to mark the 150th anniversary of Fenchurch over the weekend. It didn't end well, after 30541 was thrashed up Freshfield Bank in an unnecessary way it sparked a lineside fire that rapidly spread to adjacent farm and woodland. https://youtu.be/AiABzoEoG74 2 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Ian Hargrave Posted August 1, 2022 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 1, 2022 (edited) 23 hours ago, Gilbert said: Duchess is definitely working hard today on the Royal Duchy. Class 47 on the back. But for many years this is quite usual in any case. A reason once given me by a tour operator was to provide power for the restaurant car on the train and not traction ! Thus 46233 “towed” 10 WCRC MK 1 + kitchen range 47 from Crewe to Carlisle over Shap & return via S&C …or so I was informed anyway. Be that as it may,these are perilous times for wild fires and if a steam tour causes one,it could be game over for some time. Edited August 1, 2022 by Ian Hargrave adding text 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Mike_Walker Posted August 1, 2022 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 1, 2022 7 minutes ago, Ian Hargrave said: But for many years this is quite usual in any case. A reason once given me by a tour operator was to provide power for the restaurant car on the train and not traction ! Thus 46233 “towed” 10 WCRC MK 1 + kitchen range 47 from Crewe to Carlisle over Shap & return via S&C …or so I was informed anyway. Be that as it may,these are perilous times for wild fires and if a steam tour causes one,it could be game over for some time. Very possibly but the most common reason for dragging a diesel along on the rear of a steam special is that the diesel will be required at some point in the tour or during turning the train, to lead. It is therefore the simplest way of getting the loco to where it is needed without taking up an additional path (i.e. cost) and it has the added bonus of being on hand should there be a failure. For example, in the case of this weekend's Royal Duchy, steam only worked as far as Plymouth where the diesel ran round and took the train on to Par, repeating the process on the return. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Reorte Posted August 1, 2022 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 1, 2022 12 hours ago, newbryford said: Somebody on here will be happy about that......... not. Looking through the replies on here it seems that whilst not exactly happy everyone understands and accepts the reason. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Gilbert Posted August 1, 2022 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 1, 2022 17 minutes ago, Reorte said: Looking through the replies on here it seems that whilst not exactly happy everyone understands and accepts the reason. Not everyone may agree. This was a comment on the Bluebell video: The comment of the day came from a photographer who said "Don't ring (999) they will stop the trains", 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium newbryford Posted August 1, 2022 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 1, 2022 8 minutes ago, Gilbert said: Not everyone may agree. This was a comment on the Bluebell video: The comment of the day came from a photographer who said "Don't ring (999) they will stop the trains", Some people really are selfish. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Reorte Posted August 1, 2022 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 1, 2022 9 minutes ago, Gilbert said: Not everyone may agree. This was a comment on the Bluebell video: The comment of the day came from a photographer who said "Don't ring (999) they will stop the trains", Sadly not that surprising, but as far as RMWeb goes I've not seen any sign of that on RMWeb. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Gilbert Posted August 1, 2022 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 1, 2022 2 minutes ago, Reorte said: Sadly not that surprising, but as far as RMWeb goes I've not seen any sign of that on RMWeb. Yes - sorry - my comment was about the wider rail enthusiast "community" .....some of whom clearly could do with a little help.......if one was being generous Chris 2 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkC Posted August 1, 2022 Share Posted August 1, 2022 On 30/07/2022 at 18:30, 6990WitherslackHall said: Speaking of railtours, anyone know why the Beamish, Durham and Newcastle railtour was cancelled? Was hoping to see it in York. Some discussion here https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/uk-railtours-cancel-trip-to-durham-and-newcastle-30-7-22.235086/ 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Ian Hargrave Posted August 2, 2022 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 2, 2022 The GCR have today lifted their temporary ban on steam due they say to rainfall in the area over the weekend .And yes it did rain ….but please can we have some more ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
6990WitherslackHall Posted August 2, 2022 Author Share Posted August 2, 2022 Steam is running from Pickering to Grosmont again on the NYMR. Q6 63395 is double heading and top and tailing with 31128. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
6990WitherslackHall Posted August 2, 2022 Author Share Posted August 2, 2022 On 01/08/2022 at 09:32, Mike_Walker said: It didn't end well, after 30541 was thrashed up Freshfield Bank in an unnecessary way it sparked a lineside fire that rapidly spread to adjacent farm and woodland. Did they know of the tinder dry conditions? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Reorte Posted August 2, 2022 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 2, 2022 4 hours ago, Ian Hargrave said: The GCR have today lifted their temporary ban on steam due they say to rainfall in the area over the weekend .And yes it did rain ….but please can we have some more ? Rained here enough last night and today, albeit on the other side of the country. Everything's very soggy right now. At least all my water butts should finally be full. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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