70 years of Rail Tours 1951 to 2021

50 years of Rail Tours 1951 to 2021

A fairly recent railtour and a rather unusual named one as well 'The Brexit Express' 30th March 2019
Hauled by 70000 Britannia T’n’T D1924
70000 Britannia
https://tinyurl.com/mzpwa6u4
https://tinyurl.com/yek9yvhy
https://tinyurl.com/bdfk73c9

D1924
https://tinyurl.com/y942s4kn

Neil
https://tinyurl.com/mzpwa6u4

 

50 years of Rail Tours 1951 to 2021

R.C.T.S. 'The East Midlander No. 7 Rail Tour' 9th May 1964

LMS & GWR front line express locos seen here on Swindon shed
46251 City of Nottingham alongside 7022 Hereford Castle Swindon shed 9th May 1964
https://tinyurl.com/2p8cph75

full collection starts here with
46251 City of Nottingham, at Nottingham Victoria!!!
https://tinyurl.com/4aesxkaf

Neil

 

9 May 1964 was the day that Ian Allan and the WR ran its Great Western High Speed Railtour and the RCTS ran The East Midlander No. 7 tour.

David Whittaker comments: The Western Region went to a huge amount of trouble to make this tour the success it was. It was to be the swansong of G W steam. Nothing was left to chance. The remaining Castle class locos were carefully put through their paces and the best chosen prior to the trip. Stand by Castles were stationed at all key points and specially selected best Welsh coal was provided for the tour locos, which were thoroughly prepared with boilers washed out and tender water tanks cleaned. Two firemen were employed on each loco. Sadly, this choice of high quality, very hot burning coal - and the high rate of firing - may, it is thought, have contributed to 4079's failure, as the firebars failed, leading to its substitution at Westbury by 6999.

LMS 6251 on The Midlander went to Swindon for servicing between legs of its tour, and was stabled alongside one of the stand-by Castles, 7022, with a driver and fireman aboard ready to jump into action. The Pacific had a loco inspector still in the cab although its driver and fireman had departed to the mess. After a while, the driver of the Castle shouted across, " Big enough bluudy engine you've brought, isn't it?" "Yes," replied the Midland man, "but we only need one!"