The Midday Scot 19th March 2016

The Duchess beats the ban 19 March 2016

The programme of steam tours this Spring has been decimated by the prohibition order on West Coast Railway Company. Happily this tour was rescued from the wreckage to allow No 46233 Duchess of Sutherland to operate from Manchester to Edinburgh over Grayrigg, Shap, Beattock and Cobbinshaw. The last of these was a first for me with steam so it was a ‘must-do’, and happily a deal was put together involving WCRC providing stock and catering and the newly renamed DB Cargo UK operating the train.

So the Duchess made a smart getaway from Victoria over the old L&M line, with 11 coaches and no diesel. She raced along beside the M602 to pass Eccles at 55, Patricroft at 58 and reached 64 over Chat Moss to arrive 5 minutes early at Parkside Junction. The run on the main line to Wigan was more measured, but she was away sharply uphill from Wigan North Western to reach 38 at Boar’s Head and 47 at Coppull summit She then rattled up to 60 before signals starting detaining us from Balshaw Lane into Preston, reached one minute late.

Northwards on the almost level stretch, we reached 59 at Barton and Broughton and ran through from there to Oubeck in better than even time, with a maximum of 68 at Brock. We were slowed through Lancaster (passed at 22) but managed 55 at Hest Bank before crawling into the loop at Carnforth for water.

From there we blasted up to Yealand summit (41) and passed Burton and Holme at 58 and Bela Viaduct at 64. As the adverse grades began we slowed to 57 at Hincaster Junction and 48 through Oxenholme. Then the Duchess dug in for the climb and her speed dropped only slowly, to 39 at Docker and 35 at Beckhouses, then slogged over the summit at 34.

On the downhill stretch she took until well after Low Gill to reach a maximum of 57 along the Lune Gorge, and any hope of a run at Shap had gone when she passed Tebay at 47. The misery continued as she dropped to 35 at Birkeck viaduct, 27 at Greenholme and 17 at High Scales. Briefly down to 16 mph, she recovered back to 17 at Scout Green and 19 at Shap Wells, but she was down to 16 again at the top of the climb. Poor coal and inexperienced crew were speculated on as the reasons, and it certainly seemed that Grayrigg had winded her. A lively run downhill, in the seventies all the way from before Thrimby Grange to Wreay, with a maximum of 75 at Plumpton, saw our late arrival in Carlisle reduced to 7 minutes.

Due to difficulties with coaling and watering we left Carlisle 50 minutes late, but we were up to 56 by Rockcliffe and a maximum of 69 after Floriston, then flew past our planned stop in Quintinshill loop, making us only 17 minutes behind time! We continued in the 60s until just short of Lockerbie, where a spurt to 70 was swiftly followed by heavy braking, causing us to fear we would be looped there. But no, we were off again reaching 63 at Nethercleugh, 70 at Dinwoodie and 74 at Wamphray. By Beattock station we were already down to 61 as the serious climbing began. Speed was 48 at Auchencastle, 40 at Middlegill and 34 at Greskine, but we hung on in there in the early 30s, passing Harthope at 31 and only slowing to 29 when the driver sighted the single yellow for the summit loop.

Quick work with the bowser (as we watched two Pendolinos limp by) ensured that we left the loop only two minutes late, and we had another rousing run down the Clyde Valley in the late 60s and early 70s, with a maximum of 73 just before Crawford. From Carstairs the gradient to Cobbinshaw is more or less continuous, but we made it to 25 at Carnwath and up to 52 during the slight easing before Auchengray, passed at 48. Gradually we slowed over the final stages of the climb, passing the summit at 32. Then we had a final glorious chase down into Edinburgh, touching 75 just after Harburn, 74 at Midcalder Junction and continuing at 72 through Curriehill and 68 at Kingsknowe before slowing for the junction into Haymarket. Setting the disappointment of Shap aside, it had been an epic run, against the odds, on what turned out in Scotland to be a glorious sunny spring day Many thanks to all who made it possible.

18 photos are at http://pjhtransportpix.zenfolio.com/f731739511

Peter in Manchester, where the sun has come south from Scotland

http://pjhtransportpix.zenfolio.com

 

Sorry, I couldn't seem to find your pictures from yesterday, amongst all all the others in your (very nice!) photostream

Peter in Manchester
http://pjhtransportpix.zenfolio.com/f731739511

 

Some very odd and uninformed quotes have been made about the train on Saturday. Inexperienced crew from Manchester? Hardly. Fireman was Tony Jones who has fired Tornado and Britannia quite beautifully "up north". The driver was Keith Murfin who, to the best of my knowledge still holds the Grayrigg/Shap record with Tornado and 13. The Traction Inspector was the venerable Bob Hart, one of the finest enginemen and driver of steam in preservation. I asked Bob about the coal on the first leg and he politely replied "what coal?". It was Ayrshire Opencast apparently. It was matt black in colour which indicated their was little 'quality' burning coal present. Bob said it clinkered quite badly from the start of the day and got progressively worse. Those on the train and trackside must have seen the clouds of black dust emanating from the chimney as we ran around the Lune Gorge as they tried to bring the fire round for Shap. Despite their best efforts they only had 160lbs on the gauge passing Tebay.

The bagged coal taken on at Carlisle seemed to be quite different. It actually looked like 'proper' coal and the performance on Beattock showed it certainly burned much more fiercely and raised steam more efficiently. I didn't have the opportunity to find out it's source.

It was really sad to hear the comments being made by a tall white haired guy wearing an RTC Steward's Reflective Jacket to members of the public on Carlisle Station about DBC's "inexperienced crews and unfamiliarity with the locomotive" being the reason for the poor performance on Shap rather than heaping praise on DBC for running a proper steam hauled train.

 

To be fair, he was only asking someone to confirm if the rumour, that he was clearly told, was true rather than stating it as a fact, and happily it wasn't true.

Kind regards,
Chris

 

It would be interesting to know the source of the original coal, presumably filled at 10A.
Agree totally that it is utterly inappropriate for RTC staff to be overheard making adverse comment about the crew competence. Loyalties to their regular masters colouring judgement perhaps?
If the quality of coal was again a problem and the loco was as down the nick at Tebay as reported, it was an outstanding performance by the crew to get over the top.

 

My pics from yesterday follow the pics of the class 37 at Arnside but I've put them in the following album.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/48546196@N06/albums/72157666196759475

Cheers
Phil

 

Agreed,that was totally out of order. Whoever that was(if indeed it was an RTC steward) should be reprimanded. Particularly,given that DBC must have put a hell of a lot into making this trip work. As you say,very sad.

 

Out of curiosity, where have you got the information about the RTC making adverse comments about the crew; and the off the cuff comment about loyalty to their regular masters? An unfair comment, bearing in mind the effort put in by all the parties involved, RTC, DBS, WCRC, and NR to make it happen.
The DBS crew did a great job - it was a long day, with an unfamiliar engine, and some hefty gradients.
The information we were are of, was poor coal, which was rectified for the rest of the journey, so why make a fuss about it? You probably answered your own question anyway.

 

Post #284 mentioned RTC staff questioning the crew competence in relation to the slow ascent of Shap.
My inference was that this criticism may have been borne of loyalty to the currently indisposed TOC normally used by RTC. Likewise the problem with the coal may have, at its root, the erstwhile competitor. Not heeding the lesson of 30th January when poor coal caused problems for the same loco on the same route was asking for trouble. Coal that has the outward appearance of slate, as the earlier post implies, is always likely to prove unsuitable therefore whoever supplied it either didn't know its intended use, wasn't interested or didn't care.

 

Think you are reading into this a little too much. We had a good day out, climb of Beattock was the highlight as it makes Shap look like a mole hill, and DB did a good job.

Of course there's a need to get to know the locomotive after a long absence from the footplate, but it was a creditable first attempt. The RTC staff member was probably just providing his or her opinion, and was not reflecting company policy. We can't prove one way or the other whether there was a motive behind the quality of coal, so we'd better leave it at that.

 

Yes, sure you are right that it was an individual opinion rather than RTC company line. A bit unnecessary all the same given the actual heroics performed.

 

Not really unnecessary; it just strikes me of someone more used to previous form on the bank, was expecting a carbon copy, and was momentarily disappointed. No doubt the climb of Beattock more than made up for it.

 

Unnecessary the disappointment was voiced and in the form of a negative remark about on the day colleagues.

 

So stewards should keep schtum, then? Whoever it was is entitled to their opinion, and if they were asked for it, then they gave it; it's not corporate professionalism we're talking about here. I don't know, there's never a dull moment on here, as everything has to be dissected, chewed and spat back out again for a repeat performance, all the while thinking the worst...

 

If you are a representative of a business I'd say yes one should keep ones negative opinions to oneself in front of customers as a matter of course. Is that too outrageous?

 

The railtour market has never been a corporate-professional pigeon, and stewards are happy to give you their opinion as they are generally enthusiasts too. Or are you suggesting that they should be employed in order to prevent them from making off the cuff remarks?

 

Don't you mean WCML?