The London Explorer Sat 16th Oct.

Looking forward to seeing the Duchess in London again missed her last week, too busy on Bodmin Rly.

No times up yet but i see The PMRT site mentions around 11am arrival at The Cross.

Mike M.(70c)

 

I can't believe the duchess Is not allowed to stop at Nottingham? Surely each platform is not taken?

Is the duchess still starting from derby because of this pathibg problem?

 

Times up on UKSteam . Very generous 58 minutes for Grantham to passing Peterborough so should be at Connington waterstop early where I shal be .

 

Let's hope ghe sun is out on saturday morning for us all to get some good shots of the duchess. I think I am going to Attenborough rail station, theirs a good stretch of straight track thier and the duchess will hopefully get some good speed through the station.

Does anyone reakon I should go somewhere else?

 

6233 top 'n tail with 57.601 on rear, Attenborough 08:10.

Thanks to reporters. <BJ>

 

Up slow through Arlesey at 11:06.

 

Was going like the proverbial clappers through Offord! Can't show you any pictures at the moment, though; Fotopic's still on the blink!

 

Hi Ron , thought you might be at Offord . I went to the bank at Woodwalton for the first time and will go again! You can see all the way to the Connington waterstop so you can watch it blasting up the bank for several minutes .

Quite a popular spot with one chap travelling from Barnet and another from Lincoln .

Are you still planning on moving house ?

James

 

About 20 min late just north of Stevenage. Superb steam display as it came south along the straight from Hitchin. http://www.penguin-web-solutions.co.uk/images/6233_Todd's-Green_16-10-10_6716.jpg

30782

 

Reported on a gen group that the train was stopped just north of Hitchin for inspection. No other info than that but explains the delay south thereof.

 

There were a few people at Offord, in the field just to the north of the crossing. I did think about going out to the Woodwalton or Abbots Ripton area, but didn't get up in time!

Yes, we're still hoping to move, but it's all fallen through at the moment; the house we were hoping to buy might have a slight subsidence or settlement problem so we can't get insurance on it. So it's back to Rightmove...

In the meantime, as Fotopic is still off the air, if I can work the technology, here's a pre-view :



Gosh! It worked!!

Does anyone know what's happened to Fotopic?

 

My pic of duchess this morning on the approach to Sandy. Loco had just shut off to cross over to slow line before pic was taken, which was nice to give extra colour to shot on a very dull morning.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oli_g_15/5087147780/

Many thanks to the PRCLT who have provided such a great loco for us all to enjoy over the years. I wish them well in the ever nearing loco overhaul.

 

Any news on the duchess whereabouts?

 

Arrived London 30 minutes late.

Some staff started announcing that a points failure affecting platforms 9,10,11 before the tunnel was attributed to a "steam locomotive affecting the track" which delayed lots of service trains for upto 30 minutes arriving departing KX.. not quite sure how as 6233 arrived on Platform 1.

 

Through Sandy at 20:26. Running late but so are the locals due to a signalling problem somewhere. "The End 2010" chalked on the smokebox.

 

As previously mentioned all the local trains in and out of The Cross were about 25 mins down all afternoon

due to signalling problems . The empties left Ferm Park on time an and passed through Finsbury Park at 17.45

but were held outside until platform 1 was free about 18.35, the Duchess finally got away just before !9.00.

I hope passengers on board get home at a resonable hour.

Mike M. (70c )

 

I still can't put any pictures on Fotopic, but here's a video taken by the chap I was standing next to :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWoCpTFia7A

He also turned out to film the return trip hammering through St. Neots. It was an hour behind time at that point, but the driver seems to be hell bent on making up time!

Enjoy!

 

I was at Stevenage as the Duchess roared through on the down mainline. Wow! Not only did the loco carry "The End 2010" but also the chalked face of a sad person with tears rolling down his cheeks!

Trains on the down slow and fast lines came to a stand at Stevenage due to an incident ahead. Station staff confirmed that the Duchess has set off a hot-box detector just north of Stevenage and came to an abrupt halt. I suspect that the drill is to examine all of the coaches before proceeding.

This is yet more bad press for steam on the ECML following the recent problems with poor coal on 60019 and the Duchess. I waited at Stevenage for more than 30 minutes and nothing on the down main moved and trains must have stacked up behind. I can just imagine the Network Rail chappies rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect of hammering yet another nail in the steam coffin on the East Coast Mainline.

A sad end for a fabulous locomotive.

 

A couple of weeks ago, I heard a somebody (possibly a signalman) saying that if a steam loco sets off a hot-box detector the official instruction is that it should be ignored (as the heat from the firebox can cause this). If this person was right, then somebody wasn't following instructions today.