The Devonian - 4th June

Thanks No 7 for the update and nice to have a view from the train - as you say the locations of the fires seem odd in all the circumstances but if the wind in Somerset is anything like that in Dorset today it would not take a lot to set a fire going that would spread quickly with the wind's assistance. Sadly it is a fact of life in this day and age that if there is a risk of fire then the "authorities" are very likely to insist on mitigating that risk and we should accept that with as much good grace as we can muster. It is not the tour operators fault as some comments seen elsewhere seem to suggest. Sad I know and I would have been disappointed if I had been travelling today but a fact of life. DH

 

Given the diesel, I'm not sure what was the point of dragging 6024 through Devon and back and putting extra wear and tear miles on its bearings etc. May as well have taken it off at Taunton with POB and run light back to Barton Hill?

 

Spare a thought for the 6024 loco crew, they would be as much disappointed as anyone else in the circumstances - no fun for them hey as they would prefer to doing the work, that I'm sure, especially as one of them travelled from the North West to do the job.

 

Steam locomotive hauled trains have been running throughout the south in the past few weeks without one single lineside fire. Recently Bittern ran to and from Bristol with a bigger train that todays with no problem. Indeed, only a couple of years ago 6024 hauled the Torbay Express during one of the hottest and driest spells for many years and certainly hotter and drier than today and not a hint of a lineside fire. So it doesn't all add up. Was the spark arrestor fitted correctly? Did some idiots start the fires?

Nunney Castle on the GB1V tour ran all the way from up North to Bristol in hotter and drier weather than today, and a heavier train, with not lineside fires.

My own view is that, assuming the spark arrestor is fitted correctly, today's 2 fires were a fluke and NR's over reaacted big time. Based on this decision, it is highly unlikely that any steam tours will run without diesel assistance for the forseeable future unless the heavens open up.

There is no point moderators stuning the contributions on this topic as it something that everyone wishes to express a view. I am no different.

Let's hope than tomorrow, common sense prevails and the booked steam loco heads the TE without hitch and certainly without a box.

 

The mods are not censoring the topic, in fact personally I am contributing.
However there is a thread dedicated to diesels on steam tours for general conversation on the topic,

http://railways.national-preservation.com/showthread.php/27457-Steam-Tours-And-Diesels./page16

anything unique to this trip should be here in this thread.

But for anything juvenile, the mods have a special place just for those comments.

 

Just to advise you that in the NR Control each and every day a detailed weather forcast is obtained so that potential problems can be seen in advance. Now this could be strong wind, heavy snow, heavy rain etc......Now a combination of lack of rain, tinder dry ground and strong winds could lead to a huge huge problem if there was a lineside fire. So based on the weather forcast and the tinder dry conditions that is why NR control made their decision.

And if every one here was in that office you too would make exactly the same decision.

So no NR did not "over react big time"

 

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I don't understand why some people are being so critical of NR in the case of 6024 yesterday. They gave the train the benefit of the doubt by letting it start from Bristol without assistance. Surely, after two line-side fires started immediately after it passed, despite the loco being driven in a fairly restrained fashion over easy gradients (as reported above by No.7), it is no surprise that the shadowing diesel was added to the train?

I was as disappointed when the 57 turned up on the front of the train as everyone else yesterday. However, I hadn't paid for a ticket and just have to accept that this is a risk of my hobby. I feel sorry for the passengers on the train, for the hard working support crews, and for the stewards who have to explain the situation to the passengers. I also understand the anxiety of those who have booked tickets on trains in the next week or so.

Anyone who has walked in the countryside lately will be aware of how hard and dry the ground is everywhere. I went to Whiteball yesterday morning and then to the WSR. The ground is parched, with large cracks in the soil. The vegetation is thin, dry and not as green as it should be at the start of June. The evidence is all around. We've had a drought spring and it is taking the countryside a long time to recover.

 

Absolutely agree. For NR to have failed to take action once they were aware of the risk (as demonstated by the previous fires) could well have rendered them liabile, or at least led to them incurring a shed-load of costs in dealing with any claims.

Just as an element of Murphy's law though, guess what the weather's doing in Plymouth at the moment...

 

Probably the same as it has in Bristol virtually all day. <BJ>

 

Has anyone else heard that the King failed after this run?

 

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You have a way with words Jane !! Good to know.

 

Steam dreams are now saying she was failed at the weekend?

 

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I know RTC were using her at the weekend but the guy at steam dreams said that the king had failed, they wernt sure of it would be fixed in time for Saturday. the net result is that saturdays run may now be with the Blue Streak.

 

UKsteam.info is showing 60019 for next Saturday, but I don't think it was ever changed to show 6024... Either way, this discussion would probably be better in the thread for Sat 11th...

 

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Technically (eg on paper) a steam locomotive that has caused lineside fires is declared a failure or is quarantined by the operator because the required spark arrestor isn't doing its job properly. Similar things have happened before.