If you register, you can do a lot more. And become an active part of our growing community. You'll have access to hidden forums, and enjoy the ability of replying and starting conversations.

Royal Duchy 2018

Discussion in 'What's Going On' started by LMarsh1987, May 23, 2018.

  1. 1020 Shireman

    1020 Shireman Part of the furniture Friend

    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2013
    Messages:
    2,836
    Likes Received:
    2,677
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Relaxingly retired
    Location:
    Deep in the country
    Love the comments about an obviously heavily contrived PR Statement. If everything was black and white and they had ordered coal that wasn't delivered, the opening paragraph of the statement wouldn't have said:

    "As you may already be aware, we unfortunately encountered logistical problems in receiving our fresh delivery of coal for 34052 Lord Dowding whilst servicing the locomotive at St. Blazey yesterday afternoon".

    but something factual:

    "As you may already be aware, we unfortunately encountered logistical problems at St. Blazey yesterday afternoon. The fresh delivery of coal for 34052 Lord Dowding that we'd ordered was not delivered and we were unable to source an alternative supply on a Sunday Afternoon".

    Anyone from LSL like to provide a revised statement to that effect?
     
    Jerr Grey likes this.
  2. 33026 Seafire

    33026 Seafire New Member Account Suspended

    Joined:
    Dec 3, 2016
    Messages:
    79
    Likes Received:
    40
    Location:
    Amsterdam Or Newcastle
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Well, it was a logistical problem, They ordered it and they were let down.
    Your not gonna give in till they bury the coal merchant in public, are you?
    What good is that gonna do if they turn round and say you know what no more coal for railtours and refuse to do business with others
    Because of LSL burying them in public, not gonna help your chances of further dutchies etc is it,
    Should be more grateful instead of ungrateful,
    They got you home, they got you back early,
    They aren't gonna chew out a company just because it pleases the likes of you,

    If that bothers you I'm sure other companies will take your money, If LSL have bothered you that much.
    Or run your own railtours If you think its so easy.
    Simples.
     
  3. NeilL

    NeilL Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2012
    Messages:
    1,916
    Likes Received:
    1,402
    Occupation:
    Retired & OAPWay & tree feller
    Location:
    Staffordshire
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Do West Countries have smaller coal capacity than LNER pacifics. What can Tornado do on a tender full?
     
  4. twr12

    twr12 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 2, 2007
    Messages:
    1,540
    Likes Received:
    692
    Now that is a can of worms and a half!

    How many variations of Bulleid tender?!!!!
     
  5. The Man

    The Man New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 18, 2010
    Messages:
    153
    Likes Received:
    442
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Railwayman
    Location:
    RUGBY
    Graham,
    A far more detailed account than I could muster, but mainly very accurate. Sorry to say that Braunton has lost a bit of its previous sparkle. Quite a challenging trip in all. We dawdled along from Exeter to Totnes to let the PAD -PNZ get away, but still caught him up at Totnes, which, as you say, scuppered any run at the bank. We were certainly not short of steam, but power seemed down to what I would have expected. Leaving North Road we were actually stopped dead on the very steep gradient to Devonport, following the XC PNZ, and getting away was very difficult. The OOC stop at Liskeard was unfortunate, and again a very difficult restart.
    I am not going to go into the issue of the missing coal at St BZ. Needless to say that both I, and the LSL crew were expecting a delivery, which never arrived. Between the LSL crew and ourselves we decided that we would just about get back to Plymouth. Arrangements were made to get the Diesel down to work the train forward. On arrival at PLY there was not enough coal to let the Steam Loco go forward inside the Diesel, so the decision was made to come off, and work the train back with the Class 37.
    It was my call, and I still honestly believe that it was the correct choice, given the circumstances which we faced.
    Heartfelt thanks go to Laira Depot, who were brilliant in accommodating the loco at short notice, when they are facing space challenges of their own at the moment. Also to the SDR, who arranged a coal delivery on Monday so that 34046 could get back for its WSR commitments this week. Triumph in the face of adversity!
    It is true that the Royal Duchy and LSL locos seem to have a jinx. The first job which ran out of coal was largely due to a lack of experience of this job, and a miscalculation. This time, the expected coal did not arrive. Not the same thing at all, and no parallels should be drawn. The other failure to appear, when 6100 was deregistered was absolutely out of the control of LSL / WCR & NR. The loco was prepared, and ready to leave the WSR. An error was made by an outside agency. ( but not entirely a coincidence that 6115 went out of ticket that week!)
    I apologise to anybody ( who paid to travel) who was disappointed by Sundays run, but I still feel we did the very best we could do when faced with the situation.
    See you all in two weeks.
    A
     
    Last edited: Sep 4, 2018
    MellishR, acorb, green five and 19 others like this.
  6. 26D_M

    26D_M Part of the furniture

    Joined:
    Oct 22, 2009
    Messages:
    4,416
    Likes Received:
    1,681
    It seems a bit unreasonable to expect a detailed explanation of exactly why there was no coal at this stage because it may well be subject of some investigation / contractual dispute that would be frustrated by making public statements.
    You can be sure, given the stature and eminence of the management at LSL they will want to determine the root cause of this episode.
    As an aside, its slightly ironic, given the cross connections the TOC has with coal supply trade, that this incident occured and unresolvable.
     
  7. The Man

    The Man New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 18, 2010
    Messages:
    153
    Likes Received:
    442
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Railwayman
    Location:
    RUGBY
    Well if you could have found me 5 tons of coal at 20 minutes notice on Sunday afternoon in St BZ, I would have accepted the offer!
     
  8. 26D_M

    26D_M Part of the furniture

    Joined:
    Oct 22, 2009
    Messages:
    4,416
    Likes Received:
    1,681
    Totally understand your frustration Andy, I was just meaning that of all things coal would be the least likely problem you could imagine scuppering the job.
     
  9. gricerdon

    gricerdon Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 10, 2018
    Messages:
    1,572
    Likes Received:
    726
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Gricer and Grandad
    Location:
    Wallers Ash
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Andy. I am very interested in why you think it's down on power. Does it need a boiler wash out or is it valve settings maybe? Thank. Don
     
  10. The Man

    The Man New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 18, 2010
    Messages:
    153
    Likes Received:
    442
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Railwayman
    Location:
    RUGBY
    It Looks in very good order. Doesn't need a WO. I am at a loss to know. I am sure the LSL lads will sort it as soon as it gets back to HQ.
    A
     
  11. oddsocks

    oddsocks Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 22, 2009
    Messages:
    1,813
    Likes Received:
    289
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Retired / Dodging a Coffin for as long as I can.
    Location:
    Half a mile east of Snells Nook Halt. (1883-1931)
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Pedant mode on..... Bated breath not Baited. (As in"Abated")
     
  12. 30567

    30567 Part of the furniture Friend

    Joined:
    Aug 7, 2012
    Messages:
    5,608
    Likes Received:
    3,510
    I'm no expert but starter for ten WC 5 tons ; Tornado 7.5 tons ; A4 9 tons.
     
  13. 1020 Shireman

    1020 Shireman Part of the furniture Friend

    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2013
    Messages:
    2,836
    Likes Received:
    2,677
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Relaxingly retired
    Location:
    Deep in the country
    Thanks Andy. As always a forthright post. Still a bit miffed that LSL just didn't say the ordered coal didn't arrive. Why allow the speculation that it wasn't as simple as that run? Certainly would have got the sympathies of the passengers as these things happen and no-one was looking for the name of the coal merchants to blame them, although with social media some might have been. Good to put it to bed and needless to say and I apologise to LSL for 'misinterpreting' what was said on Plymouth Platform. As always you made the best of what you had in front of you on the day. Let's hope everything goes well on the 16th.
     
    green five and Gladiator 5076 like this.
  14. GWR4707

    GWR4707 Nat Pres stalwart

    Joined:
    May 12, 2006
    Messages:
    18,042
    Likes Received:
    15,732
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Cumbria
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    I would imagine that the LSL crew on the ground travelling with the locomotive are not the same LSL people who order the coal, so perhaps that's why there has been some ambiguity in statements both on the day and subsequently?
     
  15. 26D_M

    26D_M Part of the furniture

    Joined:
    Oct 22, 2009
    Messages:
    4,416
    Likes Received:
    1,681
    Very true. It is rather sad that there seems to have been an eagerness amongst various parties to leap to the conclusion no coal had been ordered, rather than not delivered, and then take the lack of "formal" information by LSL staff on the day as tantamount to admission of "guilt".
     
    TitchChooChoo likes this.
  16. NeilL

    NeilL Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2012
    Messages:
    1,916
    Likes Received:
    1,402
    Occupation:
    Retired & OAPWay & tree feller
    Location:
    Staffordshire
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    I guess water capacity was more important to Bulleid whereas LNER locos could collect water en route and coal was the more important.
     
  17. TitchChooChoo

    TitchChooChoo New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 23, 2016
    Messages:
    1
    Likes Received:
    1
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Essex
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    This is indeed correct and there is of course huge frustration all round when this kind of thing happens. Where has there been ambiguity in the official statement subsequently though?

    As you may already be aware, we unfortunately encountered logistical problems in receiving our fresh delivery of coal for 34052 Lord Dowding whilst servicing the locomotive at St. Blazey yesterday afternoon.


    These things unfortunately sometimes happen when operating steam on the mainline and sometimes even the best laid plans don’t turn out as originally hoped for. We are sorry for the disappointment that this would have no doubt caused for some of the passengers, but we can only re-assure you that every possible effort was made to try and source some in time from elsewhere.....
     
    26D_M likes this.
  18. RalphW

    RalphW Nat Pres stalwart Staff Member Administrator Friend

    Joined:
    Sep 11, 2005
    Messages:
    35,445
    Likes Received:
    9,143
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Retired-ish, Part time rail tour steward.
    Location:
    Northwich
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Thanks for pointing that out, it's old age and brain fade wot does it. :(
     
    MellishR and oddsocks like this.
  19. big.stu

    big.stu Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 5, 2008
    Messages:
    1,062
    Likes Received:
    1,754
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Software Engineer
    Location:
    Cambridge
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    I suspect if people weren't so aggressive and quick to point the finger, LSL might be inclined to engage on places like Nat Pres, but (like other notable mainline operators), I suspect they regard it as a rather 'toxic' environment and choose to keep quiet.

    Coal was ordered. It didn't arrive. A lot of effort was expended trying to source an alternative supply. In the end, they had to make a difficult decision. How do I know? I politely asked a man who knows...
     
    green five, TitchChooChoo and 26D_M like this.
  20. 26D_M

    26D_M Part of the furniture

    Joined:
    Oct 22, 2009
    Messages:
    4,416
    Likes Received:
    1,681
    It has surprised me just how ready to believe the worst of LSL some folks have clearly been, particularly as they are comparative newcomers. From the tone of certain comments it seems to me there are some who would be quite happy to see LSL painted in a bad light, for what reason I know not.
     
    brit70000 and big.stu like this.

Share This Page