Z48 - 10th May 2014 - A Tribute to The Great Western Railtour

Approaching Whiteball Tunnel

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5029 was doing 77.1 mph there

Don

 

Thanks Al

Another fantastic performance from that honorary class 8 King!

I said I couldn't do both but I was still very pleased with 5029. What was the actual time from passing Taunton to stopping at BTM? Did it beat 5029's 37 mins 24 secs?

Don

 

I thought that sort of thing was compulsory? Or did the rules change?

Tom

 

Two great reports on what sounds like another legendary run from the Magnificent Earl and her crews. Two great days for GWR steam in preservation.

 

Oh I don't think that's fair, I thought the coffee at the GWS was quite acceptable last time I was there. I'm sure Brunel would have thought it a lot better than Swindon's...

 

Yes:

MP128.75 to FB Tunnel in:
5029 3 min 59.48 seconds (Average 74.0 mph)
5043 3 min 59.20 seconds (Average 74.1 mph)

Both pretty good!

Add my thanks to all involved in a great trip yesterday.

 

My effort from yesterday, more sedate than other videos but still thought id share

 

5043 put in a super performance but it was not a clear run. Approaching Marley Tunnel we were checked with brakes reducing speed to the mid 20's. Did we catch signals? According to the timetable the HST running ahead of us should have cleared Totnes by that point so it was surprising.

Also we slowed to 37 mph through Tiverton Parkway. We had green signals and the check was followed by a vigorous recovery to the summit. Given 5029 was not checked through Tiverton, and I can't remember any other run having a restriction at that point in the past, can anybody explain?

 

Is it me? The video seems to go blank (with sound) from around 1:40 to 3:05.

 

Do you have any times for the Western in the morning ? Through Lapworth ?

 

This is not quite accurate. Approaching Marley the on board control team asked us to slow a bit pending confimation that the London HST in front had departed Totnes. That is why we effectively ended up trundling along through Marley Tunnel, which gets very hot and steamy at that speed. It must be remebered that the signal section there is avery long one that goes all the way nearly to Totnes. We got confirmation of the HST departure on the east end of the tunnel and then allowed speed to build up on the descent from Rattery, holding it in check once we reached line speed.

With regard to Tiverton, your signal sighting needs a little improvement as we caught a couple of yellows which is why the brakes went on. That was due to the fact that we had actually caught up the London as he was a little slow getting away from Tiverton Parkway. Once he got away he had time to stop at Taunton and then clear Cogload before we go there. That is why we got slowed and 5029 didn't.

As usual along with the driver and fireman, tribute has to be paid to the on board team from FGW Andrew Pennington and Jon Godden and especially to Network Rail's human encyclopedia of their men and resources in the west country, Tim Maddocks, who apparently spent most of the journey on the phone liasing with various signallers and controllers. Altogether yet another great team effort.

Regards
Bob

 

thank you for the look out, was fine before loading up, il see whats happened, cheers

 

Bob,

Many thanks for taking the time to reply. I assumed the Marley event must have been because of the HST but it seemed a long way off, now I know! As for Tiverton, I got my head to a window as quickly as I could after the breaks went on and the next signal I saw was green but obviously those at the front have a big advantage!

Can I add a thanks to your on-train catering staff: they did a brilliant job. I normally travel in standard so I'm not used to the premium service yesterday, they had a lot of people to look after and the service was friendly and timely. Really good job, even my wife was impressed.

Thank you.

Nigel.

 

Sorry no. I was mainly typing up my notes from 5029 during the down journey! I did note it seemed to be running well though.

 

here is my video of 5043 departing plymouth at https://www.youtube.com/user/keyhamtrain/videos?sort=dd&view=0&live_view=500&flow=list and photos at http://keyhamtrain.weebly.com/ hope you like

 

I was one of those fortunate to be able to ride on both trains and thoroughly enjoyed both days (apart from a very short night in bed in between), so I add my thanks to all concerned. The several checks between Bristol and Hinksey on Saturday, particularly our not being allowed to run straight through Swindon in the expectation of reaching Foxhall Junction before the HST behind caught us up, were only minor disappointments, and understandable on a busy main line railway. Better to have had those in between some spells of good fast running than to have plodded along at a lower speed all the way.

 

My estimate of the two checks gives a time lost of 5.3 minutes. It's only an estimate but call it 5 minutes and that gives a net time of about 125 minutes which would have been under even-time!