Vintage Trains: Mayflower to Plymouth - 27/09/24

Not being funny but you could be driving at 10mph following a wide load but the speed limit could stiĺl be 50mph. [BJ]

 

My footage taken at all the usual places; Whiteball, Rattery, Hemerdon and Stoke Canon. A top effort from everyone involved in the tour.

I hope you enjoy the video

 

Splendid!! Very well captured at some great locations, very enjoyable. many thanks for sharing.

Cheerz,

Alan.

 

Two clips from me

 

Some photos of the steam legs of the tour yesterday. Thanks to all who operated and supported, I feel very fortunate to have been able to see this one.
Storming up Whiteball.


On the sea wall near Parsons Tunnel.


The return leg seen alongside the Exe at Powderham.


Flying along at Stoke Cannon after the stop at Exeter

 

Cockwood Harbour on the return.

 

From what I saw on the day the crews were as follows-
Outward
7029 Andy Taylor driving and Simon Horobin firing.
5043 Alastair Meanley driving and Sam Perry firing.

Return
7029 Alastair Meanley / Andy Taylor driving and Simon Scott firing.
5043 Kevin Cronin driving and Sam Perry/Simon Horobin sharing the firing.

 

Well done to them all. A fantastic effort throughout the day. <BJ>

 

Heres my video of the day..
Just like to add well done to everyone involved in making it a wonderful day. Well done indeed.

 

Line blocked at Dawlish/Teignmouth since 4pm today. The weather gods were smiling. Delighted it went so well and hoping that the numbers added up for Vintage.

 

Stunning. <BJ>

 

A novelty - a report of a splendid day out with Tyseley's Castles

Seven not go to the Rockfish in Plymouth by steam..

The Mayflower Friday 27th September 2024

It has been a bad year for supporters of proper steam hauled excursions on the mainline. Think there have only been 4 if you count the two day run to Plymouth as 2. No point looking at RTC, Saphos and Steam Dreams. At least the latter don't have Mk2 'coffins' for travellers. Nice to see 60007 ran diesel free on the North Wales Coast a week or so ago but that was a multiple day thing for Steam Dreams.

The Shakespeare Expresses are too short to be of interest to us so despite not being big fans of double headers, The Mayflower was probably going to be the last proper steam hauled excursion train of 2024. In a Wetherspoons or 2 at Monday Club, members of our travel party had a think about it and basically we decided to travel which meant we booked our usual 4+4 'Safe Space' in Tourist Class. Bit surprised it was running on a Friday but as the timings trickled through the paths looked OK apart from Uphill Jn to BTM on the return journey. We intended getting a train from Newport to avoid rush hour Bristol. Once booked we were looking forward to a proper steam hauled day out with the expectation of a good dinner in good company at the Rockfish in Plymouth for the 6 or possibly 7 of us.

The best laid plans....

John and Judith returned from a fortnight in Madeira with a long standing friend on the 23rd and on the 24th John rang to tell us that mosquitoes had taken a liking to both the ladies. Judith was suffering badly and was unlikely to be able to look after their dogs to let John come out to play. He confirmed on the 26th that Judith was spending most of the time in bed so neither could travel. Two down. He also told me that Phil from Bridgend was in bed suffering the after effects of the new Respiratory Vaccine. Three down. What next? Fortunately John from Lisvane confirmed he'd passed his FTR so we'd be a party of 3.

We left the cottage at 0630 to get to Newport just after 7 to hopefully get a space in the station car park. That worked well though cost £11.15 for the day. The 0740 Portsmouth Harbour was on time, a 165 coupled to a 166. GWR promised these commuter trains would be reconfigured to 2+2 seating. They'd been in for a refurb and had new seats etc but are still in the Commuter Configuration of 3+2 with few tables. What a joy for those passengers going all the way to the harbour. We got to Temple Meads at 0817 and enjoyed a good big breakfast at the Knights Templar just around the corner. John came over on the later train and we met him on the platform.

RTT told us the train had been delayed at Westerleigh Jn but arrived into Bristol East Yard 2 minutes early. The loco change was made and 1Z20 left 3 minutes late for Platform 6, the perfect platform to run in 'away' from the curve where locos on the Torbay Expresses and Royal Duchy used to depart. There was a late running LDS-PLY Cross Country Service that should have left P6 at 0946. We were due in at 0944. Go figure... The XC was running 27 down and not due into the station until 0957. We would have been long gone by then as we were due to leave at 0949.

A station announcement told us to go to P12. Steam can't use P12 locomotives would be running towards the very tight curve of the platform. P6 and P10 have the right profile. Our Senior Driver Andy Taylor saw P12 on the board contacted Control to tell them steam was banned from P12. Their solution bizarrely as to send him into P15 that is very like the profile of P12. We were told to make our way to P15 and I was intrigued to watch the locomotives run in. We saw 7029, lead loco, crawl in at 5 mph with Andy watching the clearance carefully. I had a close look at the platform edge and no kidding the clearance was barely an inch. All we could assume was the signaller in Control had no idea what 1Z20 was other than a Class 1 Unadvertised Express. The platform had been used on Royal Duchys previously but on these trains the locomotive and POB set back from the west and was hardly 'on the platform'.

The consist was 11+POB, a decent load for a double header though when we did double headed castles on similar trains in the 1990s we took load 13 with the two single chimney castles 5029 and 5051; very different to a pair of double chimney 4 row superheated castles as we had today. Alan took note of the carriage weights and with a full trainload of passengers I estimated the train weight to have been close to 470 tons. Close to 320 passengers in 5 full TSOs. Who'd have thought it!!

We found our tables in Coach E, 8 back on the outward run. On board 'Big Al' stopped to say hello. As we were short on numbers and he had an aisle seat on the 'wrong side' for mileposting, we were only too happy for him to join John and I on the 'timing table'. Diana, the Bear and his minder occupied the estuary side table, her favoured side that was also better for the views over the Devon Banks. 7029 led with Andy Taylor on the driver's seat; Alistair was on the driver's seat of 5043. Both locomotives looked immaculate as always.

This report concentrates mostly on the timings and speeds. Very few have been posted this year which is hardly surprising as there have only been 4? genuine steam hauled trains on the mainline this year.

The outward

After the earlier signalling farce, we left 25 down. No real acceleration and looking forwards as the train was on a right hand curve we saw why. We had a red signal on Bristol West's Gantry probably as we were close to that pesky late running XC to Plymouth. We got underway again 28 down. Not a rapid start on the 440r and through Bedminster at 31. By Parson Street speed was up to 42.3 with sound drifting back nicely to Coach 8. We passed mp122, just after the old Long Ashton Station on the 234r, at 54 and it got a bit noisier on the 180r to Flax Bourton 'Summit' that we passed at 58.3. Rapid acceleration down the 200f got us to 70.4 at the sight of the old station, and down the 334f we roared through Nailsea and Backwell station at 74.5. At mp128 3/4 we hit the long level track section at 72.5. Andy didn't seem to be in a hurry as we ran through Yatton at 70.2, still 25 down. Speed remained just in the low 70s over Huish LC but increased to 74.3 over Puxton and Worle LC. Better.

We clattered across Worle Jn at 75.3 but Andy let speed drop to 72 across Uphill Jn, now 21 down. It began to look like Andy was intending to 'miss out' the Taunton stop, services permitting. Mileposts were difficult to pick out in the encroaching undergrowth. We passed mp139, lev, at 72.9. after a short 845r to Brean Rd and a bit of 712f, mp140 was seen and passed at 73.6.back to level track for the next 11 miles. We passed mp142 at 74.5; mp144 at 73.5; Highbridge at 73.7 before the brakes came in close to mp147. Too close to a preceding train and speed fell to 34.2at mp147 3/4. Signals green with Andy not in a hurry. We passed mp150 at 57.9 and roared through Bridgwater at 66.6. Bit of 256r where we heard a bit of noise as speed held at 66/7. Back on the level we passed mp154 at 72.8; mp155 at 73.9; mp156 at 73.1, off the level, on a short 327r. We were 20 mins down but as we had a booked 15 minute stand at Taunton we hoped we'd be allowed through.

We crossed Cogload Jn, 527f, at 73; passed mp160 at 70.9 before the brakes came on for Taunton approach. Think there was a platform restriction for us through P2 as speed fell to 20. We were 4 down on our booked departure time and were given a green to continue to Whiteball. Elapsed time for the 45 miles from BTM to TAU was 48m 24.2secs; even time when the stop at the West Gantry was taken into account.

We left the station with lots of smoke and noise and got to 40 by mp163 3/4; then passed mp164, Fairwater Yard where the climb began on the 322r at 43.9. None too steep on the lower part of the climb. After a mile of 724r we passed under Norton Fitzwarren Footbridge, at 60. Onto the mile+ of 369r at 62 and off it at Victory LC at 65. Good stuff. Over the close to a mile of 203r speed rose noisily to 64.7. we passed Bradford-on-Tone LC, short 222r, at 65.4 and passed mp168 3/4, after a mile of 174r, at 62.3.

We climbed the mixed grades 667r/171r/850r/lev to pass mp170 at 63.9 and more noisily passed Wellington, mp170 1/2, 288r/133r at 65.8. This is usually the spot where we hit the max for the climb - and was today - as the mile+ of 90r starts here. We lost 6 mph to this section and passed mp171 3/4, 90r/86r at 59.2. At mp172 1/2, the gradient changed to 80r, 56.8. It got really noisy in the cutting and we passed mp173, 80r/127r, with the tunnel entrance in sight, at 53.9. The castles blasted into the tunnel at 54.2 and after the 127r though it, left at 56.5. We passed the summit, mp174, 203r/212f at 57.3. Good, strong climb. Elapsed times were: Taunton at 20 to the tunnel: 11m 24.48s: to the summit at mp174, 11m 38.61s. Down the 115f to a max of 69 at mp177; then eased through Tiverton Parkway, 53.5. and let run down into Tiverton Loop, the old Junction Platform for our water stop only 2 minutes down. Very professional driving.

The pair of Class 20s passed us while we were in the loop. Signal turned green at 1204, 2 early. We passed mp179, lev, at 21 then down the 155f speed rose to 49 at mp180; 66 at mp181, to 76 at mp184. After a mile or so of 523f/292f we crossed Hele and Bradnich LC at 76.7. Then there's falling grades with short rises and level bits to Cowley Bridge Jn. We passed mp186,313r, 74.8; mp187,243f, 76.6; mp188,343f, 77.3; mp189,271r, 74.9; mp190, 217f, 77; Stoke Canon LC,217f, 77.6. The brakes came in on the approach to Cowley Bridge Jn, 300f, 56. We passed through Exeter St Davids at 30.5 and the Panel Box, mp174, 286r, at 33.9. Nothing exciting for a while; St Thomas was passed at 48; City Basin Jn, 60; new Marsh Barton Station, mp196, 63.9.

Out into the country now and the run to Exminster, hopefully to pass the site of the former Signal Box at 70+. We passed mp197, 1070f, at 68.6; mp198, level, 69.3; and mp198 3/4, Exminster, at 68.7. Bit disappointing really. Back to level running for a while now. We passed mp200 at 64.1; mp201, 59; then the brakes came in and we rolled through Starcross at only 31. Thoughts were a platform restriction as there was no service train close by. Nice acceleration then and we passed mp204 1/4 at 56.8; bit slower through Dawlish Warren, 54.8 and disappointingly we rounded the curve towards Dawlish being eased at only 38. Through the station at 32.8 then a speed pick up through the 5 tunnels to 47. Nice acceleration past mp208 1/4, level, 53.1 and noisy through Teignmouth, 55. Then we surprisingly drifted down to 10 mph by mp210 3/4 as we'd caught the Exmouth-Paignton all stations that had been held at the Warren for a late running PAD-PNZ service. So a bit of a trundle towards Newton Abbot, passed at only 30. Not good as Dainton Tunnel is only just under 4 miles away with the fearsome bank on tight reverse curves to climb.

Nice and noisy getaway and by mp215 we were running at 49.5. We passed the site of Aller Jn Box, mp215 1/4,502r, at 52.5. We didn't get the fierce acceleration we expected. We passed mp215 3/4, the start of the serious climb, 98r, at 56. That was the easy bit. Onto the serious climb then and we passed mp216,57r, at 54.6. with three pairs of eyes milepost hunting. The track is a series of tight reverse curves that increases the drag on the train. These are the quarters, gradients and speeds to the tunnel. An excellent and very noisy and smoky climb with squealing wheel flanges on the curves.

Mp216 1/4,57r, 54.6; mp216 1/2,71r/46r, 49; mp216 3/4,46r/56r, 46.1; mp217,41r,42.4; mp217 1/4,41r/38r, 38.2; mp217 1/2;36r/44r/84r, 32.9; mp217 3/4,84r, 32; tunnel mouth right in front of us; Dainton Tunnel, 84r, 32.

Time from Newton Abbot to the tunnel was: 5mins 10.4secs; Mp215 to the tunnel: 3mins 37.35secs. Any speed of 30+ into the tunnel is seriously good, as is under 4 minutes from mp215.

One bank out of the way with the more difficult one to come, Totnes to Tigley and Rattery. The first milepost we found on the way to Totnes was mp219, 55f, 52. We timed mp220, level, 51.9. it's all level track then to Totnes Station. No great pickup; mp221, 54.8; mp222, 54.8. Over the river Dart and green signals. We roared through Totnes middle road noisily with whistles blowing and lots of smoke at 59. Just outside the station on a right hand curve, the line steepens dramatically at mp223, lev/to 66r, 55.1. The next milepost we saw was mp224; 71r/47r, 51.5. Reverse curves and fortunately a dry cutting. Plenty of noise as we passed mp224 1/2; 50r/56r 44.6. onto mp225; 57r/52r, 37.4. Seriously steep; mp225 1/7; 52r, 37.4; and then just after the Church Steeple came into sight, Tigley, the site of the old Signal Box; with reverse curves, mp225 1/2; 52r/74r, 35.9.

Not a summit but easing grade to 90r for 3/4m; mp226, increased speed to 38.4; mp226 1/2; 95r/65r - the sting in the tail; 40.5 and a noticeable slip. Sadly for we timers we saw no other posts until mp227 1/4, lev, 40. Missed mp227 but had a minimum speed of just over 38. Over Rattery Viaduct, lev, 42.6, close to mp227 1/2; 200r, 42.9. This led onto 1 1/4m at 131r, from mp227 3/4; 43.7 to Marley Tunnel, mp228 1/4ish, 43. Intermediate posts not seen or missing. Climbing wasn't finished yet but much gentler gradients through Brent and we passed mp228 3/4; 380r, 46; mp230; 123r/243r, 51.7; over Aish Emergency Crossing, 243r, 51.8; crossed Glazebrook Viaduct, 400r, 52 and over a mile averaging 165r, climbed into Wrangaton Tunnel at 54 and passed mp232, the summit, at 54.9. good run 'across the top'. Think the track speed is still only 60.

It's pretty much all down to Plymouth then. We crossed Bittaford Viaduct, lev, 61.9; passed mp234, 295f, at 61 then braked quite hard for Ivybridge, 295f, 49. We almost drifted across Ivybridge Viaduct, 150f, at 40 . Speed rose to 60 just after Blatchford Viaduct, mp237 ish and we ran down to pass Hemerdon Siding at 58. Three pairs of eyes tried to spot the posts going down Hemerdon for the return up the fearsome 2 miles+ of mostly 42r. We found 5 of the 8 and hoped we'd get them on the return. From mp244; 77r, 41ish, there's a nice climb to Mutley. We crossed Lipson Jn, mp244 1/2sih, 83r, at 36.6. No posts seen but the 83r ended at mp245 1/4 where it steepened to 72r, 28.2. lovely sound reverberating around the cutting as we entered Mutley Tunnel at 23.2. we arrived into Platform 4 at Plymouth North Road at 1331, 7 minutes early.

Elapsed time from Tiverton loop was 86mins 14.2secs; Exeter St Davids, 30mph pass to North Road was covered in pretty much 71 minutes. We'd hoped for nearer 60 minutes but the late running EXM-PGN and platform clearances prevented that.

Dinner at the Rockfish

Alan didn't come to the Rockfish with us so we tasked him with finding out who was firing on the outward run. Sam Perry and Simon Horrobin, the usual firemen was the answer and they'd done their usual excellent job of feeding the big green locomotives' fireboxes.

John rushed out and got us a Taxi. Always slower for me as I have the GPS and clipboard to pack away. We were in the Rockfish by 1400. Disappointingly their Bar that has barrels of beer in the walls was closed for the year. No real ales or even an interesting bottled beer. Worse was no fresh fish other than plaice fillets and whole mackerel. They'd been very busy since 1200 and had sold all the fresh catch. Such is life. We browsed the menu and decided to share a Mussels starter and a Monkfish Scampi starter. The latter is pieces of monkfish tail in light breadcrumbs. They don't do New Zealand Wines so we weren't optimistic of the European wines. No Sauvignon Blancs so we sampled the French Sauvignon. It was pleasantly drinkable so we ordered a bottle.

The starters were an excellent quality, though a few mussels hadn't opened so shouldn't have been served. If mussels don't open put them to one side. For mains all three of us ordered lightly battered Norwegian Hake with their legendary triple fried chips, as many as you want, and chef made tartare sauce. The hake was superb as were the chips and tartare sauce. Wine glasses empty so we ordered a top up carafe. Meals consumed and time passing we turned down desserts but did have coffee. After paying with a decent gratuity for very attentive and excellent service we wandered to the Taxi Rank in the square. None in sight and none for 30 minutes. Apparently some football team were at home. Thought it was a 1930 kickoff.

It was just after 1530 so we had to walk. There was quite a strong headwind but we intrepid 75 year olds and the slightly younger John battled them and were on the platform by 1615. The locomotives and POB were still in the servicing bay alongside the road with the stock still in Platform 4. It was still locked. We watched the locomotives leave the bay and drop onto the stock close to our booked departure time.

The return

Kevin was on the Earl for the return run; Andy was still on Clun at the head of the train though it was mentioned that Alistair was on the footplate too. On the platform I chatted with a number of fellow regular travellers with RTC. Like us they'd only done a couple of railtours this year. RTC/WCR have made it a market for a different clientele. Had a chat with Ralph (Tom) who stewards on RTC trains. His pallour had definitely taken a turn for the pale after travelling so many miles in those dreadful Mk2 coffins!

Back to the train. The Castles whistled up and we left some 7 minutes down. Not a problem. We were expecting a speed around 30 at Hemerdon Summit and the mid to high 30s into Dainton Tunnel as it was a fine if windy evening with dry rails. A cautious slip free start on the 264r; then up the 109r to Mutley Tunnel, 8.6. Once out of the tunnel, Andy and Kevin set about reaching 60 by River Plym Bridge. Down the 83f we passed mp245 at 34 and by Lipson Jn, mp244 1/4ish speed had risen to 50.2. The castles roared over Laira Jn, just after mp243 3/4 at 58; and then over the Plym at 61. Better was to follow and by mp242, 660r/111r, we were charging along at 64.1. We missed mp241 3/4, the start of the 41r but saw the ivy covered mp241 1/4, 41r/47r, 49. Getting louder by the second as the Castles dug in. We passed mp241, start of the 42r, at 45.4; then mp240 3/4, 40.2; missed mp240 1/2 then got mp240 1/4, 28.6 and mp240, 28.6; mp239 1/4, 24.7 and then the climbing summit under the bridge just past the change of Gradient Post at 26.6. Didn't look quite right but that's what the GPS showed. Slowest speed 24.7, lower than we expected. Elapsed time from North Road was 10 mins 44.4 secs. Rarely get a sub 11 minute climb.

We soon picked up on the 197f to pass Hemerdon Sidings at 35.4 and mp239 at 44.6. The line climbs gently 'across the top' and we were expecting speeds in the mid 50s. Didn't get them. We passed mp238 1/4,166r at 45.9; crossed Slade Viaduct, mp237, level at 46.3; Blatchford Viaduct, 515r, 47.8; mp236, 568r, 48; crossed Ivybridge Viaduct, 150r, 40.6; then slowed for a platform clearance through Ivybridge Station, 295r, 33.2. over Bittaford Viaduct, 122r/lev, at 39.4 and Wrangaton Summit at 49.

All down grade to Totnes then. We crossed Aish Emergency Crossover, 243f, at 49.7; through Brent, 909f, at 49.8; Marley Tunnel, mp228 1/4, 501. Shadows were grim and we missed the posts until mp226, 90f, 56 and Tigley at 58. Brakes on and we passed mp224, 71f, at 58.4. round the curve into Totnes then, level, 55.3. From here our crews needed to build up speed on the 3 miles of level track to the approach of the tight reverse curves with ever steepening gradients to Dainton Tunnel.

We passed mp222 at 57; mp221 at 53and mp220 at 56.7. Climbing started at mp219 3/4, a gentle 260r, 57.7. We missed mp219 1/2; got mp219 1/4, 105r/steep 55r, 55.5. Both locomotives were working hard it was seriously noisy up front. We also had the accompaniment of screeching flanges on the reverse curves. We passed mp219, 55r, 51.4; mp218 3/4, 65r/then seriously steep 38r, 47.4; mp218 1/2, 38r/43r, 41.1; mp218 1/4, 43r/37r, 41.1; mp218,37r, 32.9 and 'barked' into Dainton Tunnel, 130r at 31.6. Good climb that. Elapsed time from Totnes to the Tunnel mouth was 5mins 47.65secs.

All down grade to Aller, mp215 1/4, 48.3. No platform restriction through Newton Abbot, lev/289f, passed at 53. Under the road bridge, mp213, 27f, 56.3; mp212, lev, 61.6; mp211, lev, 62.2; mp210 1/2, 62.6 then didn't see any posts for the mile to Teignmouth, just after mp209, lev, 54.6. we passed mp208 1/2, lev/173r at 52.7 and ran through the 5 tunnels in the 50s. We accelerated to 57.7 through Kennaway. Going and raced through Dawlish Station, lev, 58.9 and along the new and old sea walls at 61. We rounded the curve and passed mp204 3/4, 320f/lev at 61.6 before blasting through the Warren, middle road, lev/409f at 62.1.

Missed a lot of posts on the run to Exeter. We passed Cockwood Harbour, lev, 62.5 and really roared through Starcross, lev, at 64.3. Back in the day it was common to run on the level to Exminster in the low 70s but we didn't today. We passed mp201 at 63.7; under Powderham Foot Crossing at 65, the max we got. We passed mp199 at 64.1; mp198 3/4, Exminster, at 64.3. used the GPS' odometer to find mp198, 63.2; mp197, 61.7; mp196, Marsh Barton Station, 50. We climbed up the 181r to City Basin, 39, slowing; passed St Thomas at 30.6 and arrived in St Davids 64 mins 26.8 secs after we left North Road. Hoped we'd get a sub 60 minutes but not to be.

Went down the front to chat with Kevin and Andy. They hadn't used that much water and Kevin thought they could have gone non-stop to Bristol. Clun had slipped a few times as it had on the outward. None long or serious, but The Earl was faultless as always.

We left about a minute late following a Cross Country service that was soon well out of our way. We passed mp193 3/4 after Red Cow LC at 14.2 and mp193 1/2, 515r/lev at 23.8. Good pickup and a noisy 40.9 at Cowley Bridge Jn, 300r. The sun was down and the shadows difficult for mileposting but we did well on the lower sections of the almost 20 mile climb to Whiteball Summit. Nothing like as steep as the South Devon Banks, but a good test of firemen. By mp192, 620r, we'd got to 48.7 and were soon into the low 50s, crossing Stafford's Bridge Viaduct, mp191 1/2ish, 620r, at 52. We roared across Stoke Canon LC, mp190 1/4, 217r, at 59.8and broke 60 at mp190, still on the 217r. Gradients averaged around 375r for the next 4 miles to mp 186, 534/lev, 64.9 and we crossed Hele and Bradnich LC at 66.4. would have expected 70+ here.

Mileposts were getting more difficult to find but front and rear sighting got us quite a few for a while. We passed mp185, 523r, at 65.6 and held around 66 to mp183 over changing gradients between 292r and 824r to mp183, 33r/212r, 66.1. Nice and noisy from the front. We passed mp182, 316r, at 67.5 then Cullompton, lev/284r at 67.5. Mileposting was going better than we expected. The 155r commenced at mp181 1/4 - we missed that one; but at mp181 speed was 66.6. by mp180 it had fallen back to a noisy 65. We roared through the old Tiverton Junction, 324f, 66 and used the falling grade well to hit 68.3 at mp179. Then we lost the posts until mp178 1/4, 216r, 68.6. the castles roared through Tiverton Parkway, 405r, at 68 and then we lost the posts until mp176, 1/4 mile into the steepest part of the bank, the 2 miles+ at 115r to the summit.

By mp176 speed had fallen to 65 and it fell steadily to 59.6 by mp175. A mile to go and very noisy as we passed mp174 3/4 at 59.3; mp174 1/2 at 58.4; mp174 1/4 under the trestle bridge at 58.1 and mp174, the summit at 58.1. We entered the tunnel, 127f at 61.9. Bit disappointed at that with a pair of double chimney Castles and load 12. Time elapsed from EXD to the summit was 21m 42s; to the tunnel 21m 55.6s.

Not much interested in the run down the bank but the GPS recorded a max of 76 around mp172, 86f. We passed mp170 3/4, 90f/133f, at 65.3 and Wellington ish, mp170 1/4, lev/850f at 63.3. speed oddly fell to just above 60 down the 174f, 490f and 222f at Bradford-on-Tone LC, 59.3. down the 203f at 58ish to Victory LC, 369f, 57.3; then under Norton Fitzwarren Footbridge, 724f at 53.6. Speed was checked to 19.3 through the platform at Taunton. Decent acceleration down the 311f/604f to the M5 overbridge close to mp161, 66.6 and we passed mp160, lev at 69.1. down the 572f to Cogload Jn, 70.3 and to 73.7 at mp156, lev, the last milepost we picked out.

Alan used his RPS printout to find us reference points for the rest of the journey, mainly over bridges with the nearest 1/4 post included. Under bridges were impossible to pick out. First over bridge was at approx. 154 1/2, lev, 71; next was the M5 OB at 152 3/4, 340r at 68.4. Then we blasted through Bridgwater, lev, at the obligatory 70; in the past more often 75. We were on mile after mile of level track. We crossed over Huntspill, mp147, at 71.5; through Highbridge Station at 71 and held that through Brent Knoll. Andy eased off then on the approach to Uphill Jn, lev, lowest speed 28. We crossed the junction, mp138, lev, at 40. It looked good for a fast run to Flax Bourton and onwards as we accelerated over level track to 67.8 across Worle Jn; raced through Worle Station, lev, at 64.9; but not to be as speed fell back by Huish LC, mp132ish, lev, to 39.5. got a bit noisy then and we passed Yatton, mp131ish, lev, at 48.

A check on RTT showed the Weston-super-Mare to Severn Beach All Stations was running 8 late. We were always going to run behind it but wouldn't have got as close until Parson's Street if it had been on time. We were scheduled to take 32 minutes to cover the 16 miles from Worle Jn to Temple Meads. It got a bit noisy climbing to Flax Bourton Tunnel, 200r, 46. Only timed the stations after, Parson Street, level, 24.5 and down the 440f through Bedminster at a dire 9.8. We finally rolled into Temple Meads Platform 5 at 2003, 5 minutes down.

It was an excellent day out bank climbing with Tyseley's Castles. The Mk2s and Pullmans with opening toplights are what we want for Steam Hauled Trains and we hope the CDL fitting goes well.

The service trains were in a bit of a mess and our first train back to Newport and Cardiff was the 2021 TAU-CDF that was behind us so we had time to watch the Castles leave the station for St Philips Marsh Depot to water the locos before they set off for Tyseley. Long day for the crews.

The 800 was on time. I made the mistake of dropping down onto the seat as if it was the Mk2. Ouch!! Hate those trains but it got us back to Newport at 2055. We had an uneventful 40 minute drive home.

Many thanks to Michael and all at Tyseley Loco Works for letting the Castles loose on a proper steam hauled train using their excellent Mk2s, Pullmans and the Mk1 FO over the South Devon Banks. The load was a good test for the locomotives and they performed impeccably all day. The crews, our drivers, Andy, Alistair, and Kevin were excellent as always; as were the Firemen, Sam and Simon who fed the beasts well all day, providing all the steam needed. The filming showed how well they did. Still looks incongruous, the BR Castle 7029 with a Collett Tender and the ex-GWR Castle 5043 with the later Hawksworth tender.

Thanks to all Vintage Trains stewards, Buffet, Catering folk and guard(s) who did a good job all day.

Thanks to Network Rail for letting us out on the busy South West Mainline on a Friday. We were only let down by a bit of poor signalling at Temple Meads in the morning but that had no real effect on the day.

With no more proper steam in 2024 we decided to go on a couple of VT day trips. We're going to book the 16th November Blackpool Illuminations train to have a run behind Bahamas; and we've already booked the 4th December White Rose to York with a Castle. That's 4 days after our 50th Wedding Anniversary. That makes us sound really old. Hopefully the class 47 will have 2 quiet days.

 

Thank you for a wonderful report - Sakina and I really enjoyed our day and it was good to catch up with you and Diana at Plymouth.

 

An excellent report as usual Mr. Shireman, thank you. It's sad that your write ups are so infrequent due to a lack of pure steam and the use of mk.2 coffins. <BJ>

 

Excellent report, thanks. This could go in the 'People' thread, but I'll leave it here...

 

Thank you all for the wonderful vids and shots. Makes my eyes water thinking I was part of that run, relishing every moment from carriage 3 on the return. And thanks to Michael and all at VT (and the WCR crew) for laying the ghost of Hemerdon to rest.

 

Well, what a fantastic day out it was - a stunning achievement by the Tyseley team to conceive, resource and execute a trip like this!

It was much appreciated that the timings from Bristol TM allowed us to travel by train from/to Cardiff. That was always a bugbear with RTC’s Royal Duchy trips which, running on Sundays, required travel to Bristol by car.

Speaking of the Royal Duchy, isn’t it time there was an incursion into Cornwall by a Tyseley Castle or two? Possibly a two-day trip…

 

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