The Royal Duchy 5th April

=D> That's what I like to hear Martin,D1015 still working the train back from Par!.

 

and if you look VERY carefully the other side of Hemerdon Bridge you may just see something VERY unusual!

FC doing a going away shot for her darling hubby!

FC

 

I notice you are doing the going away shot Shirley!

Can't wait!

 

Ive done the going away shot enough times of the King for my darling wife so its about time FC did 1015 for me.I hope all our steam friends turn up if only to rib Shirl about videoing Western Champion.................. 8-[

 

Oh ha ha both of you! lol.

(mental note) must take a bottle of something with me to dull the pain!!!

FC

 

\/ Will be looking out for you Shirley,can't miss this rare spectacle,will you be wearing your D1015 T-shirt?!.
Alan.
PS. Good luck with 6024,hope she's back soon!.

 

:smt021 :smt043 :smt067

No. I'll be the ONE person wearing a 6024 shirt!!!!

FC

 

Has anyone seen the definitive route and timings yet ? Latest seems to be D1015 to Westbury via Swindon, steam from there to Par and D1015 back to Padd, but its still only Tuesday..................

Thanks
STEVE

 

Apparently Notwork Fail have now sanctioned the trip as a Mystery Tour.
The mystery being:
Where do the passengers get on & get off?
What route does it take?
Which parts are steam & which diesel?
Could NR organise a PU in a brewery?

 

Times now at http://www.uksteam.info/tours/t09/t0405a.htm

Note that it calls at Didcot and Swindon in the morning but Hungerford and Newbury on the return. I am not sure what the arrangements are for passengers returning to Didcot and Swindon, or starting from Newbury and Hungerford. Also it doesn't go to Bristol in either direction.

David

 

Deleted

 

I note that D1015 is now working all the way back to Paddington. Is it stil doing the Bristol - Penzance section of The Great Britain II?

 

I hope not otherwise it will be a waste of my time (only my opinion) going out on Sunday. 'Ducks very quickly!'

Quote1015, as far as we are concerned, is working from Paddington to Westbury via Swindon/Melksham and returning the train from Par to Paddington

FC

 

Well I think us passengers have been rather short-changed. I don't blame RTC but I booked this tour to go to Penzance not Par. Newquay -OK. Didcot -Bristol, OK I suppose. Now we're back to the original tour less Par - Penzance. At least we get a Westbury start which is pretty rare!

Are the locos running tender first from WSR? One hour isn't a lot of time to (I assume):

Uncouple the support coaches
Run to Bradford Junc
Run back round the rest of the traingle
Couple back to support coaches
Water Locos (water pressure isn't usually very good at Westbury unless Road Tankers are to be used)
Attach locos to train.

Possible but tight I would think.

 

They like to call us customers these days don't they?
So much for for customer service from NR! What a convoluted muddle!

I originally booked to join at Newbury but didn't have a problem with changing this to Didcot. I presume NR will be funding a coach between the two or allowing free train travel from Reading?

 

Does anyone know what the mileage is from Westbury to Par? Should still be an enjoyable day out even with the decreased steam leg. D1015 Par-Paddington should make up for it though!

 

I use these charts for my mileages.

http://www.geocities.com/ralfedge/index.htm

 

I make it 166 Miles from Wesbury to Par.

A further 44.8 miles to Penzance.

 

Certainly a shame the tour keeps being changed and certainly not what I booked on it for originally.

Using the 'Mile by Mile' book i have worked it out as:

D1015 = Paddington - Westbury via Didcot = 109.64
5029 + 70013 = Westbury - Par = 164.69
D1015 = Par - Paddington = 280.51
(All in miles & chains)

Hope this helps.

 

The normal practice, IIRC, is to run tender first from BL to Westbury. The locos will arrive at BL on Saturday facing Minehead. I don't imagine they'd be sent to Minehead, turned, and sent back to BL just to be turned again at Westbury.

BTW, am I the only one to think it a little odd that 5029 and 70013 are running independently to the WSR, passing Hungerford exactly an hour apart? I presume that's less disruptive than remarshalling them somewhere near Reading and running them together from there.