RTC - BIL to Weymouth 6 & 9/07/19

Very nice. I was standing on your left and entertained (or bored) you with a tale of 35007 on the club train 52 years ago tonight. 72 up Roundwood 98 at Fleet and stop and examine the loco at Brookwood due to left side cylinder problems. Still made it to Waterloo of course but then withdrawn on arrival at Nine Elms.

 

Byfleet Junction on the return

 

Seen here on the return, approaching Dean Hill level crossing. A minute or two down by my reckoning, but a fine sight nevertheless!

 

Popped down to Worting Junction for the return - her path was held for a Voyager, hence the pressure relief plume and the crew kindly made her whistle through the junction itself

 

A good day out. Worth the 03.30 alarm. A real shame that my coach (buffet) had no lights. The lack of apology or even acknowledgment of the issue by wcrc or rytc took the edge off.

 

A very spirited departure from Woking this evening, after a signal failure there caused general delays. Video to follow when processed, but here's a frame in the meantime.

 

Three shots of the return trip at Farnborough are now on Flickr; this is the first one on the Photostream:

RD20480. 35018 at Farnborough. by Ron Fisher, on Flickr

They are also in this album along with the pictures taken at Winchfield this morning:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/train-pix/albums/72157679197451928

Night night.

 

Nice to meet you. Your story certainly wasn’t boring.
Regards,
Dave.

 

Maybe the tannoy was dead too but there was an apology by the train manager about the lack of lights in the buffet.

 

For those complaining about the headboard and the lack of Pullmans, here is the real thing.
Taken two years ago at the same location I went to yesterday:

 

Indeed, that was then; this is now. Sometimes one thinks there's a certain constituency out there who would rather there not be anything resembling steam on the national network if it doesn't meet their rarified expectations. All in all, it was a bloody good run.

 

My footage of British India Line in action with an added bonus of Braunton up Whiteball yesterday. I filmed BIL at Worting Junction and Mottisfont and Dunbridge, Enjoy.

 

As She Who Must Be Obeyed eloquently put it in Sunday morning - the day was not about the route or the stock. It was all about the loco. From scrap condition to the pristine engine we saw and travelled behind was testament to the team at WCRC. The absolute bonus was passing through Eastleigh and BIL's "home."

Once free of the suburbs we were treated to some spirited running in the 70s through the New Forest. This shows that BIL is a true contender on the main line.

 

Don't they have at least some of the ex SLOA ones albeit in maroon these days?

 

Thank to all who posted their videos and pictures. As someone who is very much a Southern man, I'm most disappointed that I couldn't get out to see 35018's first run on "home territory", especially as the weather turned out to be better than forecast. I hope that the two trips on SR metals this month won't be the last. Carnforth has obviously done a very good job on her and she is a fine addition to the main line fleet. Perhaps the picture below will serve to remind everyone just how massive such a restoration project actually is. The date was April 1974 and the location - well, I don't need to say!

Rather ironically, 60103 was hauling three Met-Cam Pullmans painted in chocolate & cream over the S&C last Saturday whereas the only one behind 35018 was painted in West Coast maroon!

 

It may have avoided the wibble on here if RTC had called it something other than the BB. The fact is that WCRC cannot provide a full set of Pullmans, but does it matter? What was offered was a trip down the Bournemouth mainline at an affordable fare behind a Merchant Navy Pacific, 52 years to the day since the end of regular steam working. None of us who were around at the time would have thought that remotely possible,

 

Does anyone know if 35018 is crossing on to the FL from the SL anywhere between Farnborough and Basingstoke tommorrow on the outward leg as there doesn't seem to be a stop at Winchfield on the RTT timings? Also the platform number is listed for Farnborough but is not mentioned for Fleet as it was for Saturdays trip which suggests she won't be on the SL?

 

Wow - that' very observant of you. Looks like the water stop is booked for Andover unless they can make it to Salisbury on one tank. The interesting bit is that the train is booked through Platform 2 at Basingstoke which suggests it will be on the fast line. However, I thought steam was not allowed through P2 - there was an issue with Clan Line last December when it was incorrectly routed through P2 and Wayne Thompson stopped just short of the station to inform the signallers of their error. I wonder have they got it right this time.....

 

Forget the wibble about headboards and stock, the more important question is which of Southalls fine selection of sulzers will take us to Weymouth tomorrow?