Vintage Trains 2026

You may well still get your 45 miles, nobody has been able to give me an explanation beyond 'operational reasons'. Given the shocking path down behind the all stations stopper, in the event didn't miss much!
Scotsman is in place at the front for the return, hopefully can be opened up a bit for the return.

 

It's the same for final the return. I captured you at Stratford Parkway and it was all very pedestrian from the front end, obviously trying not to gain on the service in front. Another problem is the long sections between signals. I think it may just be too busy to run around on a Saturday night at Snow Hill.

 

Top speed of 44mph on return, hope you improve on that, majority of running low 30's.
More of a 'Shakespeare Saunter' than express.

 

My shot of 60103 charging through Wood End with the return leg of today's 1st "Shakespeare Express" excursion.

 

Confirmed by at least two railwaymen, the view tender first is not good enough. Unable to see signals on last Saturdays workings so no tender first running. That was the "operational problem"

 

Well some footplatemen in Aviemore would agree with that..
Thanks for the explanation.

 

So nothing to do with being limited to 45mph when the tender is leading?

Peter

 

I also heard this during the week. Also safety concerns regarding the driver not being able to have clear sight of most platforms when tender first due to most of them being wrong side when tender first. Crowded platforms, lack of sight, etc and throw in the signals issue. Makes perfect sense.

 

Trust me, on the timings today 45mph was an aspiration, not a limit!!

 

Exiting Wood End Tunnel.

 

This is an honest review, it isn't meant to be negative towards those who organised today who did a great job.

I booked today's trip as I had never travelled behind Flying Scotsman before on the mainline, indeed my only run was limited to the Didcot demonstration line. I must admit I have avoided 60103 due to the chaos that surrounds the loco - crowds and commercialism are not my thing.
However, when this trip was announced I thought £80 for a blast on the Shakespeare Express wasn't bad value, especially given the publicity made much of mainline speeds. I must admit I assumed a standard Shakespeare timetable (including the Chiltern line in the return). The idea of FS hitting 60-70mph was indeed much more exciting than a 25mph trundle. The opening post on this thread also indicated no diesel involvement - win, win! So it was a booking admittedly with some assumptions on my behalf, that I thought would balance out the usual Scotsman madness.
What materialised was quite different to above- some my fault, clearly some 'creative' advertising, some operational..
So today has given mixed feelings. I agree with much of what @Sidmouth said above. This was exceptionally well organised by VT. The staff were excellent today. It was VERY well attended.
However, I can't escape the fact that 50% of the planned steam mileage disappeared with zero explanation from staff. The timings behind a stopper each way were shocking, which meant it was never going to get up to 'mainline speeds', indeed a lot of the return run was at around 30mph. There is no escaping the fact, this has ended up by far and away my most expensive steam tour ever at £83 for 25 miles and just under an hour's steam haulage!!
In an effort to be pragmatic, I was clearly not the target audience today. Everyone else seemed to have a great time and if some new steam enthusiasts are born and VT gets lots of new customers, then clearly job done. I suspect a fair number didn't even clock they were not steam hauled out (maybe that's why VT kept schtum..)
But for me, today wasn't the real deal and I do have buyers regret. £80 can get 2 days steam gala action. A full day out with Tornado isn't a huge amount more, I think I will enjoy that much better next month!
Conclusion, I should have linesided this one..

 

It boils down to this: there were too many specials to allow the train to be turned. So slow plods behind the frequent setvice trains were inevitable. But these trains were well filled and most customers were happy so it was unquestionably a success. I don't see any argument against that.

Regarding the details and alternatives, hindsight is a wonderful thing.

But it does seem the reverse running issues were underrated and the advertising was exaggerated.

Maybe the only realistic way to run a fast steam-only train would be something like the Shakespeare schedule allowing time for the loco or train to be turned (with a diesel pilot) in the layover time. There's something a bit like it on today's RTT as an inactivated 'Runs as Required'. It would have fetch a VERY premium fare or be exclusive to a a particular group.

 

An interesting week of action.

 

I guess what would've have been done 15 years ago, to negate the turning / tender first issue, would've have been to have put a Castle on the other end. Steam both ways, all smokebox first.
No doubt crews and costs dictate the 47 now.

The 30mph trundle wouldn't have been so bad had the advertising not so heavily lent on mainline speeds, clearly there was an aspiration there - but the operational reality was a lot different.