Torbay Express 2016

I'm glad to report that 461oo was in steam at SPM this afternoon. <BJ>

 

Paths in for a thunderbird class 66 to follow today's TE in both directions from BTM to NTA (Heathfield branch) in case of issues with 46100

 

46100 'Royal Scot' passed through Flax Bourton with the Torbay Express at 09:27 running 3 mins late. The loco looked excellent and sounded very good. Let's hope that last weekends problem was a one off.

GBRf Thunderbird loco 66.732 (0Z29 out /0Z30 return) followed the charter approx. 5 mins behind. <BJ>

 

Appears all is well today according to RTT, Royal Scot got over Whiteball on time and has made it as far as Dawlish a minute down.

 

46100 earlier this morning : https://stephenleek.smugmug.com/Railwayphotos-1/Mainline-Steam-2016/i-cHTZkwC

 

35mph on entry to Whiteball tunnel, and 38 over the top.

 

What's par for a class 7 on load 11 over Whiteball ?, all my runs over it have been doubleheaded.

 

Couldn't tell you. We've just had a stonking return run over Whiteball. 60mph over the top on the final 1/115 section

 

Whiteball crumbled tonight!! 60.5mph at the summit with most of the climb completed in the low 70s and high 60s! 18mins 04 secs from passing Exeter SD to passing the summit.

 

Hopefully redresses the negative remarks made by some last week answering the critics in fine style.

 

My footage of todays Torbay Express.

 

Blimey. Even the Warships in 1961/2 would have struggled to reach the summit in that time. Generally, they were allowed 38 minutes Exeter to Taunton start to stop so Royal Scot would have been well within that time in 2016!!

 

Just had a look and 46100 did that section in 29mins 38secs. Having experienced her southbound over Shap she's turning out performance after performance!

 

Blimey O'Riley that is fantastic. When I worked at West Station box trains on Summer Saturdays were allowed 50 minutes between Exeter and Taunton and 38 during weekdays. Mind you, a summer Saturday could produce a WR mogul on 12 coaches and so every one of the 50 minutes would be needed!! Here is my beloved box and what, for me anyway, was the best signal gantry in the country in 1965 when I started there.

 

That really is the height of optimism from the operating dept!

 

My footage of her much improved performance. Seen at Yatton (Twice), Starcross and Tiverton Parkway. Enjoy.

 

Torbay Express 10th July 2016 The Sequel

Crab Buckets and lines duly packed (not), we set off for a day out in Dartmouth. The morning was damp, cloudy and showery but at least I found that the automatic wipers system on our new Astra actually worked. At BTM, just as we got on the platform, the Scot slipped badly trying to haul the stock forward to separate from the brake. The second attempt succeeded and the train vanished out of the station. While drinking lattes at Bonapartes, the train was surprisingly propelled back into Platform 6, not 8 as expected. The Scot was duly uncoupled and ran through the middle road. Shame as it took away the opportunity to record the Scot on the train running into the superb station.

The crew for the outward journey was Dave Proctor, erstwhile Driver; Steve Matthews, Fireman and the redoubtable Bob Hart, Traction Inspector. He knows a bit about Scots does Bob. We trundled out of BTM on time but almost came to a halt under the West Gantry against a green signal as the brakes didn't want to release fully. They did and we slowly accelerated to 28 through Bedminster and 30 through Parson's Street. The climb to Flax Bourton was noisy though we passed over the summit at a fairly pedestrian 42, the norm 50+. Hmmm. The Scot was opened up properly then and responded well, passing Nailsea and Backwell at 70 and Yatton at almost 73.

After the stop to pick up at WSM, we rejoined the mainline at 45 with speed picking up on the levels to 65 passing Brent Knoll; 70 through Highbridge; holding 72/3 until slowing on the approaches to Bridgwater passed at 67. Nothing really exciting to Taunton. It had been a bit of a muted run from WSM, nowhere near even time. I strolled down the front and found Steve on the driver's side. Chatted to Dave who had been firing. No real surprise but it was for a good reason - Steve was taking his 'driving test'. Dave told me the coal was Russian and was burning really well and seriously hot. So Steve was still in charge for Whiteball apparently, and with Bob on the footplate we were looking forward to seeing what the Scot was made of. On the post in this thread, DBC had hired in the GBrF Class 66 which was shadowing the train just in case the Scot played up again. There had been talk of it being in the rake, even coupled inside the Scot but DBC refused that, taking the risk and paying for the diesel's path.

Well we got our answer about how much of a risk it was early on as the Scot roared noisily out of the station and we'd got to 53 by Victory Road Crossing, par for the course. The racket from up front was accompanied by speed holding around 52/3 until the mile or so of 1 in 174/170 where it only fell to 50. The Scot picked up the customary 2/3 mph on the lesser grades for the mile through Wellington and we hit the mile of 1 in 90 at 52, speed falling to 45 at the start of the 3/4 mile of 1 in 86. Speed fell to 38 and the 3/4 mile of 1 in 80 to Whiteball Tunnel saw it fall to 34. For those who asked about Class 7s on Whiteball, the Brit with the same load was doing 33 into the tunnel on 13th September last year. So a good climb.

We didn't actually do anything exciting on the Exeter-Newton Abbot Section though the consistent speeds showed things were much better up front. St Thomas was passed at 40; the 'Exminster Challenge' failed to see speeds of 70+, passing MP198 3/4 at 68. Starcross was passed at 61; Dawlish 55; Tiegnmouth (Slowed) 29; Newton Abbot itself at 38. The climb of Kingskerswell was a bit muted. We hit the start of the 3 miles+ of 1 in 110 at 41, speed falling to 25 at the summit. The short sharp quarter of a mile after Torquay posed no problem, 40 down to 47.

We were interested to find out how the Dartmouth Railway crew would cope 'second time around' and the answer was brilliantly. We passed the start of the mile and a half of 1 in 71 at Goodrington at a little over line speed and came onto the almost half mile of 1 in 93 at 23, accelerating to 25 as we started the final mile of 1 in 60 into Churston. Unlike last week speed only fell slowly to 22 over Hookhills Viaduct and we drifted into Churston at just under 10 (the line limit). The return was every bit as good. Despite a slip they got the Scot into Greenway Tunnel, a mile into the 1 in 66 at almost 23 and topped the 1 in 75 at 19. An excellent climb.

The crew joining us at Paington was Vince Henderson, Driver - who brought it back last week; Matt Hunt, the most recently passed out foreman on DBC's books, with Tommy Rees as TI. Unlike last week the Scot roared into the bank from Paignton, topping the 1 in 91/418/57 section at 28. We drifted through Torquay at 28 and with a tremendous racket from the front only dropped to 24 at Torre after the mile of 1 in 56. We accelerated up the almost mile of 1 in 73 to top the summit at 27. A good climb. The run around the coast was much better than last week with speeds around 64/5 held until the slowing for Teignmouth. This was a proper run and as we came off the Warren at 57 Vince really cracked the Scot open. Starcross was passed at 68 with speed picked up to and held at 70/71 on the level. Exminster was passed at 70 with a max of 73.

Exeter was passed at 41 and then the Scot was really opened up. We passed Cowley Bridge at 53; Stoke Canon on the 1 in 217 at 65 and on the gentler climbs of I in 343/435/243/219 speed was held in the high 60s. We came off the short level section over Hele and Bradnich Crossing at 74 and reached almost 75 at the top of the mile of 1 in 523. Speed was held around 75 and we were getting showered with numerous bits of coal in the 3rd coach as the Scot roared up the bank. Cullompton was passed on the 1 in 284 at 75, a speed held onto the mile and a half of 1 in 155. Speed fell gradually to 70 but increased back to almost 75 on the 1 in 324 down into Tiverton Junction. The mile of 1 in 216 was met at 73 and had only fallen to 72 through Tiverton Parkway. The short I in 242 was topped at 72 and we hit bottom of the 2 1/4 mile at 1 in 115 to the summit at 70. Despite the racket from the front, by a mile in speed had fallen to 66, and fell to 61 over the final mile to summit. Any run that hits the summit at 60 is a good one.

We dived into the tunnel at 63 and maxed at 77 down Whiteball, arriving in Taunton 28 mins 27secs from Exeter. For comparison, The Brit on a very good run on 13th September 2015 took a minute longer. The Exeter-Whiteball Summit times were: The Scot 18m 6s; The Brit 18m 45s. Back in the day 20 minutes was the 'target' from a standing start from Exeter.

I had a chat with Vince at Taunton as he was also last week's driver. He couldn't really explain the difference in performance. He said Matt had done a brilliant job firing and said it was as "hot as hell" on the footplate as the coal burned so fiercely. The Scot had just put the power down so much better on the day, and more importantly, consistently when 'asked'.

We didn't do the Taunton-Bristol last week but were told the run to Uphill was better this week. We were looped outside Taunton to let an HST through. A noisy start saw speed reach 64 by Cogload; 74 by MP156, and we held 71/2 on the levels. Bridgwater was passed at 73, a speed held for the next 4 miles. Speed dropped to 70 around Highbridge but rose back to 73 a mile later. Speed didn't fall below 70 until Uphill was in sight. Taunton-Weston took just under 31 mins, 5 due to the branch.

We got robbed of the Flax Bourton Challenge. After coming off the branch at 29 we accelerated noisily and rapidly to 63 at Huish LC and 71 through Yatton. We were holding 70 when the brakes kicked in and speed fell to 35. We'd caught up with the Paignton-New Street Cross Country that was running 4 late. Vince still 'had a go' and the noise from the front was seriously loud. Speed rose on the I in 334 to Nailsea, passed at 47, and continued to rise on the 1 in 334/387. We roared into Flax Bourton tunnel at 57 and topped summit a further mile or so of 1 in 200 later at 59.

So a very different day out with the Scot. There used to be a car 'modder' called 'Demon Tweeks' in the '70s. I think the LSL boys must belong to the same genre if all they made were a few 'adjustments'!

Special thanks to DBC for taking the hit on the 'shadow' '66. It wasn't needed but a superb day could so easily have been ruined if caution had ruled their thinking.

We're looking forward to the 3rd run on the 24th as we didn't get to 'do' Somerton and Bruton on the return.

 

Footage of the Scot on the 'Torbay Express' yesterday. Captured at Whiteball, Goodrington, Paignton and Cockwood Harbour.

 

My first Torbay yesterday and what wonderful run back to Bristol it produced. For consistant fast running I can't think of much to match the run. It was silly grins on all our faces as 46100 gave a run to remember. Difficult in the first coach to talk over the roar from the front. Not to be forgotten! Steam on the main line not what it was? Nonsense.

 

Magical. It does beg the question of what was wrong with 46100 last Sunday. I guess a bit of fine tuning by the support crew put things right. Don't forget that 46100 is a Class 7 locomotive and capable of great runs with 10/11 coaches. What I find most inspiration is that Sunday's run was achieved WITHOUT A DIESEL TAGGED ON THE BACK, albeit shadowing the TE. Let's hope that this is a trend that continues.