Tornado Railtours - 2019

In the meantime, The White Rose railtour confirmed (it’s a busy schedule currently proposed for Tornado in 2019), I said it before and I’ll say it again, proposed times for this tour, Kings X to Potters Bar in 15 mins, Kings X to Peterborough in 75 mins - (timings virtually identical to last years Ebor Flyer) so are the timings achievable not running at the higher maximum?

 

With the right path yes easily. Needs fast line all the way. Similar to Waterloo to Salisbury which I once did in 76/02 for the 83.7 miles, max just over 80. 35014 ex works on 11.

 

Not quite the same though is it. In that 0814 slot I'd say 35 mins to Welwyn, overtaken by 0830 and 0833 ex KX then 50 mins Welwyn to Peterboro start to stop.

 

I'd suggest A1 Steam get confirmation from NR that the route onto Harrogate is fit for 'steamy trains both ways' RE the bridge at the southern end of The Stray. If you ask now, you might just get a reply before the tour runs.

 

A statement from the A1SLT states that the North Briton on the 9/2 has been postponed till September.

 

This is why. Update to Covenanters:

It is with considerable regret that we have to announce that the ‘The North Briton’ on Saturday 9th February from the East Midlands to Carlisle via the Settle & Carlisle Railway has had to be postponed and re-dated to September 2019 – we are hoping to have confirmation of the precise date within a few days.

Following its test run earlier this month it was identified that No. 60163 Tornado had suffered some damage to a motion bush as a result of a minor deflection to the combination lever on the driver’s side. During the test run, Trust personnel had noticed that Tornado was slightly off-beat – something impossible to detect until the locomotive had left the 25mph Nene Valley Railway and picked up speed on the Network Rail main line. Investigations to-date lead us to believe that this damage was caused during a priming (water carry over) incident whilst operating a photo charter train on the Nene Valley Railway during our last couple of weeks of operations. It was, however, not possible to identify the cause of the damage to the motion bush without significant dismantling of the engine. After work to rectify this issue, and a thorough C exam including a piston and valve inspection, the engine has been reassembled and Tornado is currently in the middle of her annual recertification prior to returning to the main line.

Despite best efforts by our Director of Engineering and his team of staff and contractors, we have been advised by our operator DB Cargo that they now have insufficient time to complete the necessary processes and procedures, both internal and industry, to facilitate the necessary test run to enable Tornado to haul ‘The North Briton’ on Saturday 9th February.

After so much hard work and dedication by the team who worked to get Tornado and her support coach ready for the first test run and the additional effort over the last fortnight, this is a bitter blow. We recognise this will also be a great disappointment for all those who support the locomotive and we seek your further patience and support whilst we clear the remaining hurdles to Tornado’s imminent return to main line service.

 

On the 3rd of March. Has anybody any news/info about the availability of Tornado and Alycidon for this job. Alycidon had bogie problems, we all know the last few months for Tornado, 03/03 is only a couple of weeks away.
As some might know we were booked on the postponed trip (full refund) and I'd like to book again but only if the haulage is confirmed. I don't want another postponement/refund.

 

Maybe another version of that question is--- does anyone know when Tornado's loaded test run is scheduled for, supposedly this week?

 

Given what has happened over the last year with Tornado I don’t think you can count on anything happening regardless of what announcements are made

 

When the Trust do get it fit again (and they will) IMO it'll need 2 or 3 months trouble free 'running in'.
With what's gone on I really can't see them turning it loose on a hard/difficult/long day tour.
I can hope but......................

 

Ticket for the Auld Reekie Sun 03 March has arrived!
Donny dep 08.30.

 

Where is Tornado now ?
6 days to go to The Auld Reekie and the silence from the trust is deafening.

 

I think it's still at Wensleydale, there's been no movement from there on RTT as far as I know.

Timings for Auld Reekie not yet appeared on RTT .

Dave B

 

The PR on this one is disappointing to some who have supported with their wallets over the years.

 

Still not on RTT but that is not unusual for some one off trips. With the tickets, UK Railtours provided confirmed timings (their underlining) as follows,

Doncaster pl8 d 08.30 / a 22.02
Wakefield Westgate pl2 d 08.57 / a 21.15
Leeds pl16 d 09.25 / a 20.45
York pl11 d 10.10 / a 20.12
Edinburgh pl8 a 14.55 / d 17.20

They do caution that platforms could change and to listen for announcements. This info does suggest that full timings are not far away.

 

After almost a year since the failure and after several false dawns and cancellations it just may be that they are trying to slip the return under the radar. If /when it is successfully completed I have no doubt that the PR machine will be cranked up to full throttle.

 

By then it may be too late to sell the remaining expensive seats.

 

Pl 16 at Leeds is a bit of an eyebrow raiser squeezing neatly between the 0918 to Glasgow and the 0929 to Liverpool. And departing one min after the 0924 all stations to York.

Leeds is very busy at that time. Looking at RTT I'm guessing there are engineering works between Tollerton and Thirsk until 1000 and the later start is to accommodate to that. But there could be some traffic to contend with.