71000

Glad you think so. I was getting worried for a moment. [BJ]

 

A few clips of Britannia in action:

 

A photo from last Sunday's Duke of Gloucester Trust member's day. Here the Duke is seen on the turntable in light steam.
(Photo by Hayden Sands):

 

Here's how to do it with 9 and steam to spare!

 

Some brake issue had delayed departure from BTM, old age means I cannot remember what it was exactly or why the 67 needed to be taken to "resolve" that.
Of course something less high tech (Class 47?) would have not wanted a Ctrl-Alt-Delete when you tried to apply the power.

EDIT according to Six Bells Juction

Due to the failure of the air compressor on 71000, 67006 was coupled behind the loco at all times to provide the necessary braking assistance.

 

That Sir is a seriously thigh rubbing moment

 

Update on 71000:

Facebook

It shall be joining the LSL fleet on a 10-year agreement. Not sure if the link to FB works or not but can be found on the LSL page.

 

+1

 

Works fine for me albeit I do have a Facebook account.

Would be interesting to see the structure of these deals insofar as do the owners (much as with SNG as well) get paid per train she hauls or is there another process? There seems to be a very large fleet starting to be based at Crewe exclusively for Saphos, Statesman and Steam Dreams when, unless they are planning to hugely expand their calendar, there are only so many trains to go round, so unless income goes beyond just a £ per train fee its going to be interesting what happens in 7 years time when the next overhaul has to be funded.

Linked to the above I wonder what is happening with 6024 which seems to have vanished into a black hole about 18 months into its boiler ticket, with its supporting group being wound up?

 

Tricky, you want as much revenue out of your ticket as poss, but dont want to flog your horse. The LSL Stable is looking quite full , with plenty of cover for such, but expanding the program would also perhaps need more rolling stock ?

 

My thoughts exactly. When you read comment's (not necessarily on this forum) like "WCRC's loss is LSL's gain", I do wonder if that's really the case? Obviously it's nice to have a variety of loco's in your fleet, but surely (and especially when dining trains seem to be the core business) it's more important to keep the wheels of the home fleet turning with guaranteed work? Otherwise it's a bit like hiring 10 locos for a steam gala on a 5 mile branchline with only a few paths to fill???

 

Does that Facebook post imply it will not be working on the Steam Dreams programme, just Saphos, or is it just badly worded?

 

Am I the only one who sort-of assumed that The Duke would be based at Tyseley?

 

No your not, as I thought it was said a few years back (around the time 60007 was signed up to Saphos), that 71000 had a similar arrangement with Vintage Trains?

 

I’m guessing things have changed? TBH it sort of makes sense, VT have decided to go one way and ironically 71000 will end up back after its overhaul in Cheshire, strange how the wheel turns

 

Be good to see 71000 over Shap or the S&C again fingers crossed.

 

You do raise an interesting point in about how much mainline work there is to go about, I’ll counter it with what options do you have?
VT have laid their cards out on the table about their operations, and I believe they involve their own fleet and stock.

I’m going to be negative about 10A again but with the recent shenanigans can you really be rely on them to give you regular work?

What are we left with? That’s LSL, and much as I don’t think it’s a good thing for them to have a monopoly, I will say they seem to be a little more open to getting their toys out the box and sharing them with others on various heritage railway’s every now and then.

I won’t disagree with you on what’s happened to 6024 though.