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Winter CCE with Scots Guardsman 28th January

Discussion in 'What's Going On' started by pete12000, Jan 20, 2017.

  1. henrywinskill

    henrywinskill Well-Known Member

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    Ah Steve Shep not getting nasty again is he lol
     
  2. 3855

    3855 Member

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    I agree with your sentiment entirely and if it were down to me i'd limit all mainline steam to max load 10. Having studied the pics from today i'm sure today's train was ten coaches ....
     
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  3. alastair

    alastair Well-Known Member

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    Great filming.Thanks for posting!
     
  4. Big Al

    Big Al Nat Pres stalwart Staff Member Moderator

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    Just a postscript to my comments already made about today. It had all the features of an enjoyable steam charter:
    - a loco in good form, fired and driven well, to include the mandatory Stanier draincock wheeze;
    - a lively performance up Shap (and down the other side);
    - a nice scenic coastal ride in improved weather plus a feisty blast up Lindall Bank;
    - a bit of rarity in the route by going through Barrow rather than via the cut-off;
    - on-time or thereabouts all day;
    - heating in the train for all;
    - no unwelcome guest.

    When it all comes together as it should, trips like this suddenly become a delight, as today. And why doesn't that happen all of the time, I hear some of you ask? Well that's for others to answer I think, but as far as today's WCCE is concerned, many thanks are due to West Coast, the RTC, Steve and Chris up front and all the support crew and stewards involved. And not forgetting 86259 that effortlessly swept us to and from Carnforth, well as quickly as NR would allow.

    For the life of me, I don't see why this electric isn't used more often to get people from London up north.
     
  5. Sean Emmett

    Sean Emmett Member

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    What speeds up Grayrigg / Shap?
    Haven't booked RTC for a while due to shoveage, but if this sets the pattern I'll be back.
     
  6. nanstallon

    nanstallon Part of the furniture

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    Nice picture. I'm looking forward to 4th March run.

    John
     
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  7. RalphW

    RalphW Nat Pres stalwart Staff Member Administrator Friend

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    Thanks to all who braved the elements to give us such brilliant cover of the tour, you've all done very well. :).
     
    Last edited: Jan 29, 2017
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  8. Big Al

    Big Al Nat Pres stalwart Staff Member Moderator

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    The load was only 10 for 395 tons gross and that definitely helped but this is a Class 7 locomotives and I honestly think that this was the correct load, especially as hill climbing was involved. That said, we went out of Carnforth Loop like a dog out of the traps. Speed was already up to 41 by Milepost 9 and increasing when the TPWS cut in. After the restart with the loco astride the summit we hit 58 before speed started to fall away. Oxenholme was passed at 53 with 48 over Grayrigg. The climb of Shap was starting to look quick after we touched 72 just before Tebay and were still motoring at 56 by MP 34. But the Scot lost its feet in the rain just before Scout Green and that pulled the speed back. Once we had recovered and Steve Chipperfield asked the Scot to dig in a bit more, we settled down to a steady loss of 2 mph per half a mile resulting in a minimum of 35. Masterful handling of the loco in difficult circumstances ably supported by the fireman who seemed on top of providing what was needed.
     
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  9. RalphW

    RalphW Nat Pres stalwart Staff Member Administrator Friend

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    I'll bet all those who were out there to get you the vids and stills are really pleased that you appreciate their efforts.
     
  10. Sean Emmett

    Sean Emmett Member

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    Thx for the report. Sounds like a good tour. Any chance of a repeat?!
     
  11. fergusmacg

    fergusmacg Resident of Nat Pres

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    I'm more concerned to the ones that pay for a service "the passenger" or do you not care about them? High speed railways need high speed fencing, you really need to get a hold of yourself. As a regular user of the WCML I appreciate the resilience in that proper fencing provides, and as they appear to want a much higher 8ft(?) fence than the existing rickety walls and fences that also have a long life and are economic, what would you provide?

    As for efforts of the photographers, if they can't find a suitable position that the fence is in their shot then they are not trying hard enough, besides it's not 1968 it's 2017 and those fences are now part of a modern railway along with colour light signals, CWR, electrification, M6.etc etc. sometimes you do have to co-operate with the inevitable. Now I do like to see others efforts but it's not the end of the world as Shap is less than 10 miles from were I live and I can easily pop up and see for myself (and quite often do) although the antics of some of those gricers is off putting sometimes especially on the roads not built for speed.
     
    Last edited: Jan 29, 2017
  12. Enterprise

    Enterprise Part of the furniture

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    One never has to; there's always a choice.
     
  13. sgthompson

    sgthompson Part of the furniture Friend

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    Thanks for all the kind comments about my video from yesterday as they are much appreciated and no palisade fencing was hurt in the making of my video :):)
     
    Last edited: Jan 29, 2017
  14. MellishR

    MellishR Resident of Nat Pres Friend

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    It's great that one can sometimes take a photograph of steam on the main line that could have been taken 60 years ago, but what we're mainly enjoying is riding behind, and seeing pics and videos of, steam on today's main line, with all the modern features mentioned in post #125. Let's celebrate the presence of steam locomotives pulling trains under the wires with modern rolling stock passing in the other direction. I do agree that NR could make a bit more effort to choose less visually obtrusive fencing, if only a duller colour, but that's for the sake of the scenery in general, not just for photographs of trains.
     
  15. gricerdon

    gricerdon Guest

    Wow!! That's how a steam loco should be worked . Fantastic. Should have been on it but had a prior engagement. Were the drain cocks stuck open?
     
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  16. gricerdon

    gricerdon Guest

    I thought the new load limits were in place. For Shap this means 10 for 46115 and therefore no DL and for a Jub its 9 therefore a DL on 21st January
     
  17. 26D_M

    26D_M Part of the furniture

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    From which it can be deduced that the 21st January train was planned a a 9 coach train from the stage the additional 5MT was stood down by RTC, in November according to Ian Riley posting on Nat Pres.
    Was there an unexpected late surge in demand necessitating two additional coaches?
     
  18. John Stewart

    John Stewart Part of the furniture

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    This throws up an interesting bit of commercial judgement. There is the income from two additional coaches (not hard to calculate) minus the cost of providing the diesel (about which I haven't a clue). One assumes that the balance comes out on the right side but arguably at the unknown reputational cost of having 10 coaches of disgruntled passengers against 8 coaches of happy passengers.
     
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  19. sgthompson

    sgthompson Part of the furniture Friend

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    Thanks for the comment and I assume the drain cocks were stuck open but I could be wrong .
     
  20. RalphW

    RalphW Nat Pres stalwart Staff Member Administrator Friend

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    Except that as we heard from those who were on the last trip that had a diesel presence, there were not 10 coaches of disgruntled passengers.
     
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