Flying Scotsman

I observe that conditions at the Bluebell seemed rather easier.


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Now what was I saying about avoiding football supporterish comments?

PH

 

Don't think the WSR has a 1-in-55 from a standing start, which surely negates any difficulty with the weather... 1-in-65 is the worst they have, and it begins a good mile out of Blue Anchor... plus, isn't sanding gear supposed to help out in poor conditions?

PH, I am no football supporter of any kind. The fact is that Flying Scrapheap actually went up a jolly steep hill with a good load on, without assistance, perfectly well. Almost worth that 5 million quid...

 

I wouldn't go that far - we did at least have the advantage of dry rail.

Without having been on the footplate on the WSR, I wouldn't wish to second guess why they needed assistance. Certainly it can't have been a decision taken lightly, given the inevitable delays it would introduce on a high profile day. I only hope their passengers still enjoyed their day.

Tom

 

On a train hauled by the most famous loco in the world, a bit of drama, then rescued by one of Swindon's finest......What's not to like?!!

 

Neither you nor I know anything about the details of curvature or any check rails at either venue. The worst railhead conditions are found where there is drizzle rather than heavy rain and where the route is under trees.

PH

 

The weather was a mix of showers and drizzle with problems in the wooded area around Roebuck while running backwards. The sanders are for forward running only. Due to the timetable getting behind, a sensible operational decision was made to provide a banker on later services.

The WSR boys have taken 1,000 tons up the hill out of Bishops Lydeard using "88" which would have been quite a sight.

 

As I suspected.

Paul H

 

Because of the requirements of the Public Contracts Regulations which translate the EU Procurement Directive into UK law.

 

"Suspected", like some great sleuth? The weather is self-evident in the video.

It appeared to be needing support up the hill forwards in the above video.

 

If you had actually read properly what @Snifter had to say you would have noted that on account of problems early in the day, resulting in "timetable slippage" it had been decided to provide banking assistance on later services. Comparable "yah-booings to yours are found on the sound track to the video but aimed at the locomotive rather than the crews. These attitudes are seventy years out of date.

PH

 

This line is notorious as a pacific tripper upper I believe. Surely a bolster wagon of Minky-cloth wielding FS fanatics could have been propelled to mitigate against these conditions...

 

I'm sure I have seen a video of 6024 coming g a cropper somewhere on the WSR.

Without having been on the footplate, who are we to comment?

Whilst it caused some timetable slippage I bet it was a rather exciting spectacle for passengers and line siders ( and no doubt the crews of 7820/6960)

Chris

 

Sensible stuff!! The only thing I would say is it emphasises what tourist railways really require to have are tank locomotives which tend to have back as well as forward sanding arrangements.

Paul H

 

Looks like significantly different railhead conditions to me though...apples and oranges and all that.

 

Much as we might gain a little gentle amusement "Locomotive doing something it isn't designed to do has adhesion problems in difficult track conditions" isn't a world shaking story

 

Ah! but it seems to be the case nowadays with local hacks and wanabee reporters trawling Facebook/Twitter for 'news'.

 

Maybe not every story has to be world shaking [grin]. If we can all spend as much time as we have discussing it, and bearing in mind all the other posts against the incident on Facebook and elsewhere, clearly it was *news*. Lets face it, "local kid caught nicking cars " isn't a worldshaking story either, but its reported often enough. There's no hint of safety issues or incorrect practice in the story, so it feels like reasonable publicity to me. I don't think I'd be unhappy to see it if I was WSR.

 

As do many tender locos.