60163 Cathedrals Express 14th December

Times on uksteam..Anyone know why the route from Victoria to Brentford is via Kensington Olympia and Acton, rather than the usual climb from longhedge to clapham ?

I have to say slow route to Woking always looked mad, but understand capacity issues on the direct route.. but now we have a winding route to avoid the slow route.. The Slow route Which only has an infrequent service anyway !

 

Absolutely confounded by that route too. So much so I double checked when at work yesterday. But I can also confirm I also saw a light engine path leaving Victoria at the same time as the charter - implying banking assistance out of Vic but no diesel tagged on the back all day.

 

Quite dark at the moment but 60163 is in steam on shed looks like it needs turning still

 

could it be taking the alternate route as it is going via Guilford and Eastleigh?
In othe rnews i plan to see this engine at salisbury this evening (stupid school getting in the way of things!!!!), it is a shame that she is only stopping for 4 minutes though.

 

Have just left Guildford at 1100, 9 minutes late. Delayed waiting for a driver at Woking, who was coming up from Eastleigh.

 

Currently sat at Haslemere taling water. Not planned but tanker is in attendance.

EDIT, now leaving Haslemere 1132, 17'late

 

Many thanks for the updates - please keep them coming as they're much appreciated, especially since this tour isn't on the RailtourLive.

There's several places along the way where gaps have been built in, so I'm sure that she'll soon make up the time if the path is available. Wonder if the Hedge End water stop is needed still or if the Haslemere stop was in place of it, cos if it's not then that's 10minutes made up straight away.

 

I shall try, iPad battery dependant. I normally update Railtour live, but have changed my number so Glyn is looking into why I've not been able to update my profile.

Hedge end stop is still planned, just through Havant 16'L

 

It's time for me to hop it so I can get to Dunbridge to see you going by - just hope it doesn't rain, although it's starting to cloud over again :-(

 

Have caught up some time, having just left the Hedge End stop 5'L

 

Departed Eastleigh at 1253, 11 late again.

 

Just came to a very gradual halt near Alderbury Jc Summit, after slow running through dunbridge and Dean. On the move again now. No news yet as to why.

 

Code for RTL is t1214a. Unfortunately, it's on UKSteam as t1214b which might cause some confusion. Going well when I caught it climbing to Haslemere, no diesel in tow.

 

Still at Salisbury. Unspecified issue with Tornado but expecting to leave Salisbury at 1425

 

She was indeed running slow through Dunbridge, slower than Tangmere the other day (I won't go there) - she was going slow enough for me to get a grand picture, although I'm struggling with my new cam & ended up with a slightly out of focus piccy grrrrrrrrrr.

 

Left Salisbury 1430 hours

 

Return journey dropped back an hour, unable to get serviced and onto stock in time at Yeovil to get booked path. Now all back at Sherborne waiting for her to arrive

 

Signal been patchy as expected on this route. We left Sherborne at 1806, as the majority of the train had to join through 1 door. Servicing the loco couldn't be completed in time to meet the booked path, so we left an hour behind that followed by the boarding delay.

Just arrived at Gillingham at 1826, so around 75 mins down.

 

Pulled back 15 minutes - now sitting at Eastleigh East Junction

 

I think this route has been cursed for this week, with Tangmere's possible issues / unusual goings on at the w/e, and now Tornado's problems today. Any news on what the issue was at Salisbury? Thanks again for your updates through out today.

As you've been sat in it, I've been wondering where Eastney East junction is - where is it? Anybody know of any web resource that shows all these different junctions, good loops etc with map links. It would be a very useful thing to have. Thanks.