VT - Shakespeare Express 2026

Commercial reasons I think. They sold tickets for the ECS working from Birmingham to Worcester for those who wanted to go to the diesel gala at Kidderminster behind a Class 37.

 

Sorry, I meant in terms of the steam sections. I was at the Jewellery Quarter for the return and they were running comfortably early and the 37 just roared in to action. They certainly wasn't trying to save water/coal as the Castle was opened up nicely. This is just my observation from recent trips.

 

Quite a clever move from VT to add a shuttle for the diesel gala on their ECS run. Just a shame on the steam legs the 37 is more active than just taking its weight.

 

The section from Snow Hill to Stourbridge had a lot of speed restrictions for the Castle, which were very tight with the times, as can be seen with the morning run losing time consistently.

The 37 shoving in between the restrictions allowed for better acceleration to ensure we had a better chance of keeping time and not causing delays.

The evening run we ran early from Snow Hill in order to mitigate this, and even going early we only arrived 2e at Stourbridge.

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I think 7029 is on the Shakespeare Express tomorrow

 

5043 today, 47773 the assisting diesel

 

Does anybody know why the Stratford -bound services have been running through Moor Street platform 2 rather than the usual (and booked) 1?

 

37240 doing the honours again on the Shakespeare