RTC 'The Yorkshireman' - 11/6/22

Seeing YouTube footage Peter Kirk was driving into York on the way there and supervising someone on the return out of York who was not a familiar face.

 

Watching some video the punters seemed noticeable by their absence.

 

No but they pass with in a minuet or two. What paul42 means is there is not enough time with trains every half hour each way. It might just be possible southbound if a special followed a service train into plat 1 as booked, that would give 22/25 minutes before the next up service train would be approaching. With late running (as normal ) even a few minuets would count. Northbound trains ,steam needs to go into plat 1, the up line ,to get access to the tanker in the car park. That would block the line from South Jnc to North Jnc for the time it took to fill up and get a away.

 

Glint shot from yesterday ,nearing Kettering North Jnc.

 

I believe Steve Beames (spelling may be incorrect) is currently undergoing training, may well have been him.

 

Good luck to him. Thanks for clarifying who Peter Kirk was supervising. I presume he is a qualified fireman? The reason I ask is that he’s not a name I’m familiar with at all.

 

Nice to meet you yesterday

 

"Bahamas", 11/06/22.

 

Sorry, but nothing has been clarified here and most of what has been said about yesterdays staff on the footplate is inaccurate speculation. Operating trains like this involves a large amount of teamwork. The guys up front are no more important than the rest of the train crew, the caterers and other on board train staff to say nothing of the fitters and train preparers back at Southall. On that basis, please do not ask me to identify who was doing what on yesterdays train.

Peter

 

Hear hear! A few on here seem to want to name (and worship?) the WC Drivers and Firemen.

 

Not sure anyone is looking to "worship" them, but in the same way say Verstappen and Perez are the face of the Red Bull F1 team, perhaps with Horner as the back up act, then the guys on the footplate be they WCRC, DBC, LSL or VT are the face, if you want to use that word, of a railtour.
As Peter said there are many people doing very valid roles behind those faces, but that is life.
I spent half my working life buying the interiors of aircraft, but I do not expect people sitting in my seats, or eating food served from my galleys or meal carts to even think about me and how easy or difficult it was to get them on that aircraft. However some of them may owe their life to the Captain Eric Moody and Captain Peter Burkhill and the crew management shown by them and their crew in times of severe stress. (Google them if you do not know who they are).
I am not suggesting it is remotely the same as a life threatening situation on an aircraft, but an ascent of Shap with poor coal or poor rail conditions will equally exhibit a crew working together in harmony and many of us I think want to recognise that fact.

 

Footplate celebrities arose long before my life began and I remember in the 50s drivers' names were bandied about amongst spotters. Why worry about it?

 

Agreed,its good to appreciate the work and effort these gents put in, knowing who they are can only make this better.

 

GWR top-link drivers used to have little brass nameplates they could mount on the loco cabside. I don't know if other companies did the same. VT have continued the tradition in recent years

 

LMS did that also, and I think the practise continued into early BR days.

 

Frank Santrian used to regularly have one one the cab side when driving on the Jacobite at Fort William, the slot for it is just below the cab window.

 

Indeed No. 45407's are still used, Driver Riley on the driver's side and quite often Fireman Titley on the other. That'll need to be changed now that the latter passed his driving exams last month....