60163 Tornado Tours Sunday 21st June

Another 13 coach rake with a dead 67 - great to see that her tours are selling so well.

 

now with added pics of the return leg

http://simon71.fotopic.net/c1715328_1.html

 

In the first photo it looks like the safety valves have picked up the water.

 

does anyone know if she left victoria on time tonight, and if the timings are as published, ie 2050 arrival time at folkestone west

 

i think there was more it than that, when it was in the design stage the decision was made to build it so it wouldnt have any restriction over where it could operate except for the axle loading of course

 

Unfortunately the train ran through on the slow line at Swanley and took the crossover at a steady pace. A good crowd had gathered in the field just south - and if anyone on here was 'shushing' just before Tornado arrived it was the owner of the field who you were telling to shut up!

 

Links to a photo and a video of Tornado approaching Swanley can be found below:

http://craigrailpics.fotopic.net/p59092176.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvrcAbk0 ... annel_page

I agree with Bongoharry about it being unfortunate that Tornado took the slow line at Swanley. Although I don't think I would've got a very good shot of her passing at a higher speed while on the fast!

 

A shot from Guildford this afternoon...

http://ashleysmith355.fotopic.net/p59094334.html

 

About 5 down at Faversham. This had slipped to 10 down at Dover. I've attached a picture taken at Dover - it’s not as good as I was hoping for seeing as most of Kent was bathed in stygian dullness tonight.

Heard her come through Ashford, just over 15 down now.

I don’t know whether it was just the gloomy lighting, but I have to say I was rather un-moved this evening, especially as I had really been looking forward to seeing her.

 

The light was obviously better at Dover than in Thanet - she went through Broadstairs quite quickly but with very little fuss.

[attachment=0:h6vb3lky]P6212845f.jpg[/attachment:h6vb3lky]

 

Video now on youtube...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_oRX2R1_VA

 

A big thankyou to all involved with the luncheon tour. It was brilliant from start to finish and will stay long in the memory. We enjoyed the power of Tornado from the first coach behind the support coach. We had some great fast running on the outward leg (75mph through Winchester) and a tense slog up to Buriton summit on the return run. It still amazes me to see so many people turning out to see her pass. There was even somebody waving a Union Jack on one bridge we passed under! And she still gets cheers and rounds of applause as she passes through stations. Fantastic! The excellent run was finished with the sight of people queing up at Waterloo to have their picture taken next to her.

 

Hell of a load over Buriton on the return, (circa 600 tons), But I'm not sure why that would have got such a magnificent loco down to 8 mph at the summit?

 

I was lineside further down the climb near Chalton and there didn't seem to be a great deal of urgency about the climb. Certainly not the thrash I've experienced on other runs.

 

We could have been better climbing up to Buriton, but we didn't have the fire right. Steam was down more than we would have liked for the climb. We held around 40 mph up the 1in 150 section but speed dropped quite sharply as we hit the reverse curves at woodcroft where the 1 in 80 starts. I was a little concerned at first, but although the speed dropped down below 10 mph she seemed to be holding on Ok, and as long as she did not slip I got confident that we would get over.
I pushed her a little at the very top, we were at 70% cut-off, and paid for it with a slip right on the summit! Thats when the speed dropped right down to 8 mph.
Butch had had enough of the firing by then so we swapped over for the remainder of the journey.
The late start from Waterloo (again) helped us in a way by giving us a better run after Woking, except for the bank slip near Hook which is now 20 mph. We should have waited for the Poole/Portsmouthy train at Worting jnc but it had already gone. This gave us a clear run down to Eastleigh which we passed right time. The hold up at Farncombe was for two drunks on the line, although they had gone by the time we got there.

 

Thanks for the explanation Wayne, most instructive. I'll happily send you a pic of her on the climb to Buriton but sadly the light wasn't up to much.

 

Many thanks for the explanation Wayne.

With that load it wasn't the day to have problem with the fire! It was unusual to get much over 400 tons behind the tender in steam days when they were using that route as a diversion because of the electrification work on the Bournemouth line. Except for the Bournemouth Belle at about 450 tons.

By the way. I'm shortly adding a copy of my best ever down ACE run on the Bulleid thread. In the days when there wasn't a 75 mph limit!

 

Thanks for your account Wayne and thanks for the great trip. I've got a couple of pictures showing the effort you were putting in although you were not quite as black as Jeremy Clarkson! I will try and put them on the forum later.

Regarding Bulleid performance, my Father asked a guy timing the run how she was getting on. He commented "Not bad but not as good as a Merchant Navy"............

 

As promised here are the pictures from Sunday:

 

Performance wise we could/should have had a better day, but we did not have the chance to let Tornado looose like I had with Clan Line on the 23rd May. Too many signal checks and restrictions early on. Also (and i'm sure he he will not mind me saying this) Butch does not get on with Eastern loco's, so he keeps telling us. But he wanted to get on with her. It was his first trip on Tornado and was a bit unhappy with the trip down to Botley, so wanted to keep on with the shovell (we were due to swop round at Botley). i know how he feels because its the same with me with Western loco's! We probably try to hard rather than do it natrualy. I have been up Buriton quicker, but not by much. Its a fair old slog with a load like we had, just under 500 tons, and I do not think i've been over the top with a train anywhere near that load doing more than 25/30 mph.
Not taking anything away from the loco, she's a very strong machine, and will look forward to more trips with her.