RTC to Worcester 17/06/17 now 26/08/17

My shot of the Streak on it's last stretch to Sapperton Tunnel. Enjoy.

 

A good run, particularly up Sapperton. 60009 took it all in its stride. Glad I managed to get at least one trip in before withdrawal.

 

Just the one shot at Fawler

 

Cotswold Venturer 26th August 2017 - the short trip

On a whim, and because service trains were good from AGV via HFD, I went to Worcester Shrub Hill to 'do a deal' with Les and travel from WOS to Reading to 'do' No.9 over Sapperton. Definitely a good decision. There were quite a few empty seats on the train so I could have had a table for 4 to myself but Les offered a compartment in the brake, the second coach, ideal as the compartments were on the milepost side for the Golden Valley and GWML and there was an opportunity to stand and milepost on the Midland section.

Ray Poole was driving but I didn't find out who the fireman was. Ray eased No.9 away from the platform and we accelerated rapidly and noisily to 41 by mp118 1/2, 2 1/2 miles out. We were signal checked on Norton Jn approach, passed the box doing 18. Abbotswood Junction was crossed at 31 taking us onto the mainline. Not the blistering charge down the main. We passed Eckington at 69 and finally got to 75 by Ashchurch with a maximum speed of 76 . The 5 miles of gentle climbing saw our speed fall to 67 by Morris Hill where Ray started braking for the restriction on the curve through Cheltenham Spa Station. Not the 5 mph restriction we had last year with the Castle, but 33. After we cleared the station speed rose rapidly down 7 miles of 1 in 368/304/344 (max 68). We passed Gloucester Yard Jn and Tufley at 66 and came off the level stretch at 69, losing nothing to the 2 miles of 1 in 104 before we slowed for Standish Junction, taken at 36.

The three cylinder 'chatter' from the A4 got louder as speed rose on the 2 miles of 1 in 720/347/300 to pass Stonehouse at 50. Our speed stayed around 52/3 all the way to and through Stroud where the climb of the Golden Valley starts with a gentle 2 1/2 miles of 1 in 250. Ray worked the A4 hard and came off this section at 55, No.9 sounding superb. We crossed Bourne Viaduct at 56; passed Brinscombe at 56 and took this onto the 1 in 103 over St Mary's Crossing(54). The noise level rose as we started the hard climb with 1/2 mile of 1 in 75 past MP98(50); then 1/2 mile of 1 in 70 over Chalford Viaduct(46). The bank bit and speed fell further over the mile of 1 in 74 to MP97 1/4(42). We came off the short level track over Frampton Viaduct at almost 42 and the A4 sounded magnificent as we attacked the last 1 1/4 miles over the reverse curves. Speed loss was controlled over the 1/2 mile of 1 in 75 to MP96 1/2(40) but the final curve and steepest and noisiest part of the climb, the final 3/4 mile of 1 in 60, saw speed fall rapidly to between 31/2 into Sapperton Long Tunnel. Ray worked the A4 hard up the 1 in 90 through the tunnel and we burst out 2m8s later. The summit is between Sapperton Long and Short Tunnels and isn't marked trackside. From the time through long tunnel, the actual summit speed was around 30.

We didn't actually charge down the bank through Kemble but did accelerate to 70 by MP85 1/2, maxing out at 73 just before Purton. We drifted through Swindon P3 at 24. Despite a lot of noise we didn't pick up speed that quickly, just getting to 70 at Shrivenham with a max of 71. No point in doing anymore as we were due to and did veer off into Challow Loop. We were early and by any maths could easily have got to our water stop at Milton before either of the HSTs that passed us in the loop passed Milton Jn. How many times have we experienced that in recent years??

We stopped at Didcot Parkway. 60103 was under the coaling stage so you could only see the top of it. The relief line is fine for 75 mph restricted steam engines and by Cholsey we'd accelerated noisily to 64. Things got louder up front as we picked up to 72 as we came off the 1 in 1320 down. On the level No.9 was, well, an A4, and we hammered through Goring and Streatley at 74; and maxed at 76 just before Pangbourne. We arrived at Reading at 1935 giving me chance to get across to P9 and catch the direct Newport Service.

Good to get some mileage behind No.9. As Al said earlier on the thread, Mr Riley has to be thanked for solving the riddle of the axle boxes. The big A4 ran beautifully for the 104+ miles I travelled. Thanks to John Cameron for making it available. He could easily have said enough is enough when the boxes kept overheating. It will be a sad day when the A4 is retired from her rightful place, the mainline.

I don't think the A4 had anything to spare on Sapperton. Any speed into the tunnel of over 30 is really good. Can't make a direct comparison as didn't do the Duchess though someone who was on the train told me the Duchess was doing just over 30 into the tunnel on the Cathedrals on the 17th. Can't compare it to 1st March with 60163 because we had a 30 mph speed restriction over Chalford Viaduct and lost all momentum into the climb.

The last time I did Sapperton properly was with 5043 on the Cotswold Explorer last year. Shattering climb with 5043 blasting into Sapperton Long at 37, but with only 9 + Reg, the Water Carrier. Not sure an extra coach would have dragged the castle back to 31 but that's only conjecture.

A thoroughly enjoyable afternoon out with No.9. Thanks to Nigel for running it; to the A4 support crew for providing No.9 in such excellent condition; and to WCR for the operation on the day. Ray Poole did his usual excellent job as did the fireman. I wonder how many more opportunities we'll have to travel with Ray on the footplate?

 

hello
a few shots at eckington at http://stevebottrill.zenfolio.com/ or https://www.flickr.com/photos/15931796@N00/
regards

 

Saw it on the return through Tilehurst a couple of minutes early, a fair crowd there observing it. As I arrived later than intended I did not get chance to set the camera to take a picture or video.
Nice sight though, first steam tour I've seen for a while. I purposely don't bother going if I know there is a box on the back.

 

Here is said video, featuring the short but, hopefully, sweet sequence on Sapperton Bank in the evening, as well as a shot at Aston Magna on the outward run. I hope you enjoy!

 

60009 provides an audible feast as she lays down the power up Sapperton, proving the A4 is now in fine form !

 

Many thanks for the log 1020Shireman. I had meant to come back and ask one of you timers what the speed was at the top of Sapperton, but got involved with questions from a couple of passengers and then forgot to come back to the brake. Glad you enjoyed the run, I certainly enjoyed the day even if it did mean getting up at 0400 to get up to Slough.

 

Very interesting to read the performance notes for the return, and here is my offerings from Cholsey. Going very well!

Enjoy!

 

Two from the top of Sapperton - great show. Thanks to all involved

A4 on Sapperton 1 by Stephen Dance, on Flickr

A4 on Sapperton 2 by Stephen Dance, on Flickr

 

Thanks to all for sharing and for the interesting notes from on board. Here's my offering from amongst the many who "ventured" to Sapperton to witness steam at its finest.

 

Taken me ages to edit the video, but here's mine