34028 and going Main Line

According to SLL, the next scheduled rail tour for 34028 is on 11th November - RTC's The Armistice Steam Express: https://www.railwaytouring.net/ase-11-11-25
Too early for timings yet.

 

I wonder where they will try to take coal as it's getting on for 200 miles round trip on 5 tonnes of coal.
Cheers, Neil

 

Presumably it's comparable with the trips Clan Line regularly does with the Belmond trains. Does anybody know how they manage for coal?

 

Quite a few of the 'main line' Bulleids have acquired extended coal bunkers, presumably on the grounds that water stops on tours are well established practice and Bulleid tenders mostly have plenty of it, whereas coal stops are a nuisance. Off the top of my head, 34027, 34067, 35018 and 35028 all have extended bunkers, from prior or current mainline work. With the WC-style 5500 gallon tenders, the giveaway is the bunker extending beyond the end of the tool tunnels, whereas the two MNs appear to have had the whole lot extended for a more subtle revision.

 

Never having been to Sheerness (only as far a the Swale Bridge on a different tour) what is the access like? Outline timings show a break there of 45 mins or so. Of course NR may have other ideas.

 

Fairly level access from memory when 45596 did it a couple of years ago. However, I felt there wasn't a massive amount to detain one beyond looking out for the SS Richard Montgomery and staring across the estuary, so 45 minutes seems about right for a quick leg stretch.

 

Access isn't bad, but leave your car on bricks, to save the locals having to do it for you....

 

There were several different versions of Bulleid tender, on MNs the 6,000 gal tenders had short bunkers, the 5250 gal a bit longer and the 5100 gal tenders longer still. The configuration of rear ladders, vacuum cylinders and shape of the filler caps also varied. There was one unique tender, the self weighing tender rebuilt in 1962 to resemble a stretched 5250 gal version with a water capacity well over 6,000 gal.The first two tenders had front filler caps in the cab, a good idea in theory as the fireman wouldn’t have to climb up on the back of the tender but any water surge with heavy braking caused them to burst open and flood the footplate so they were quietly removed after a few years. Clan Line’s original 6,000 gal tenders now resembles the 5250 gal version but without the longer wheelbase, the actual capacity is about 5750 gal owing to the intrusion of the air pump into the water space. 34067 is coupled to an ex MN 6,000 gal tender.
The story of Light Pacific tenders was possibly even more complicated when you add the rebodied version into the mix. This was a result of post war steel shortages when some tender bodies were produced using thin 3/16th thick steel.
MNs successfully worked through to Exeter on a tender full of coal with the ACE and its back working the Exeter - Nine Elms goods.

 

RTC's The Armistice Steam Express - Tuesday 11th November 2025
RTT Timings -
WCRC Southall to London Victoria ECS: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service...1/detailed
Outward leg as far as Sheerness-on-Sea: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service...1/detailed
Sheerness back to Victoria (via Canterbury East and Ashford International): https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service...1/detailed
ECS back to WCRC Southall: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:U69996/2025-11-11/detailed