The Crewe Pool

Re: Dorset Coast Express, July - August 2011

I agree with you, Ralph, and I may have mis-remembered the "Crewe Pool" part. More likely that 45305 will work slightly lighter (or at least, less tightly-timed) jobs, such as SSE, Lakelander, Fellsman and Waverley. That would mean being based at Carnforth and/or York. I have to admit, I was hoping that 777 would be doing that this summer, having been displaced from the DCE, but I guess she has more route restrictions than 5305. Never mind, she'll probably earn more money and be put under less stress on the Wensleydale line.

Just a thought: UKSteam.info shows 44932 as one of the regulars on the Mersey Moorlander, so someone thinks a Black 5 can work a reasonable schedule over Ribblehead and Shap (southbound). I suppose a 5 would need banking out of Liverpool

Anyway, back to Dorset...

 

45407 has taken the 'York Yuletide Express' out of Lime Street before, so banking shouldn't be required.

(Beano has 'Edgcumbe' coming to Liverpool as well, surely no banking needed there either).

 

The crewe pool is the collection of main line engines based at crewe to work tHE SUMMER RTC trains
iN THE NORTH WEST

 

45305 arrived in Crewe last night and its out of Lime Street this Saturday

 

No worries there Ralph, we can usually tell the difference between the malevolant and the seriously misguided.
Bob

 

For Max noise and effect a 3 cylinder scot and a 4 cylinder castle (Plus a strain guage to settle the whose pushing/pulling who)

 

I heard on the lineside grapevine at the weekend that The Beano may be correct about 45305 joining the "Crewe Pool" this summer, after all. As usual, although my source has been right about such things before, s/he may not be privvy to all the facts, and there's still time for arrangements to change. However... If true, this raises some interesting operating problems. The three duties covered by these locos, The Scarborough Flyer, Cumbrian Mountain Express and North Wales Coast Express, have in previous years all been timed for 75mph class 7 or 8 locos, and have typically loaded to 12 coaches. To accommodate a Black 5, this year's schedules would need to be relaxed and the loads reduced, compared to last year.

The lightest of the three trains, both in terms of gradients and train-length, is the NWCE. It is also the only one that normally included a diesel banker last year, primarily to assist with shunt/release at Holyhead. If the timetable for this trip can be eased to allow for 5305's lower top speed and possibly slower acceleration, then this should be within her cababilities, though the diesel would probably need to assist when starting from Liverpool, and at least move its own weight leaving Holyhead.

As has been mentioned in other threads, there's a shortage of 75mph class 7 and 8 locos at the moment, and some reliability issues for a couple of the in-ticket locos, including Ollie (not running the DCE today due to "valve problems", according to another thread). It may be that securing a Black 5 is better than not having a 3rd loco in the pool at all, even if it does mean that some trains have to run with fewer carriages or with diesel assistance.

To attract the loco owners to sign up for a period of time, the tour operator needs to offer a certain number of turns - enough to make it worth while, not so many that their support crew runs out of volunteers. That's another thing - 70013 and 45305 are operated by the same group, the 5305LA. This has some advantages, provided that their support crew isn't spread too thinly.

Finally (and just my speculation, of course) it may be that, having dropped 777 (the third 5305LA loco) from the DCE roster, RTC have offered some work to 45305 as some kind of quid-pro-quo.

As I said earlier, there's a few weeks before the start of the high season - lots of time for things to change again! ;-)

 

A bit of head and chin scratching at Ely Saturday as there seemed, to me at least, no expert, a lot of oil sloshing about on Ollies motion. May be the reason for no show on the DCE. Or a symptom of a slight problem.

 

According to first hand information from onboard the Coast to Coast on Saturday, Compass Rail will be using one of the Crewe pool locos for their Monday Mersey Moorlanders during August.

 

No news yet, sorry.

If reports in other threads are correct, that Britannia is commited on the Wizzer until Tues 12th, and then working The Easterling on Sat 16th, then Ollie will be needed on the DCE next week (assuming she's fit) and possibly the week after. What's her first "Crewe Pool" duty? The CME on Sat 23rd July, IIRC.

Of course, if you believe RTC's advertising in the Bournemouth evening paper (reported in the DCE thread), then Ollie will be working the DCE for the rest of the month, at least. However, that doesn't make much sense since she's vacuum-brake only and that's the reason Sir Lamiel was dropped from that operation (so far as we know). If the air-brake requirement is correct, then RTC will want to get Britannia on the DCE sooner rather than later, in which case Ollie will be free to head north after next week's DCE, or as soon as the current repairs are complete.

 

all 6201 princess elizabeth tours on society website, she is down for most scarborough trips including the first & last, and also the first two crewe,manchester cumbrian mountain trips, 5305/70013 website doesn't so far indicate what tours there locomotives are working.

 

Looking at how many tours are on over that period, you'd expect 44932 or 46115, to be in the mix for the Mersey Moorlanders also?

I do fear that there are too many tours and not enough locos to meet the demand.