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

Now re-uploaded and fully working .....I hope

 

Absolutely, it's a tribute to VT that they've taken the time and effort to build up this relationship over the years, the fruits of which are always clear to see when they stage a prestigious run such as this, and the other "non-stoppers" in the past. Wish I could have been on board, but was great to see, passing Taunton and at Temple Meads, and to read about and see the videos of here, : )

 

Nigel

Yes we caught a yellow, we put the brakes on, it went to green (which is probably what you saw), but you have to be aware that the next one may be yellow as well if it is caused by a train which might be departinmg from Tiverton Parkway, and so it proved with the next a yellow, followed by a green as the HST got away from us, as we started to get to grips with recovery!

As for the on train catering, I am sure that Ben will probably read this and pass it on to his catering team, but I shall draw his attention to your kind comments, I think that the catering team had a more than normally stressful day on Saturday, for as well as serving meals in premier, they were trying to cope with the demands of some 128 passengers in club, some of whom were making excessive demands for constant supplies of tea and coffee. Quite a challenge! Anyway glad to hear that your wife was impressed always a good performance indicator!

Regards
Bob

 

Bob / Ben,

Without wanting to labour the point, she wasn't so impressed with catering on some other high-speed steam runs! Given premier class had a lot of people on board with stopwatches, GPS, cameras etc. the staff were very understanding, which is not always the case with other tour companies

My sons were also on-board yesterday, the younger on will be 63 in 2064, he is hoping to be the driver of the train to celebrate the 50th anniversary of 10th May 2014.

Nigel.

 

Is it possible to summarize the trip in one word…not a chance – I could start with just “Brilliant” or “Superb” but that would not do this tour justice.
From the outset of the tour being announced; I knew that this was a tour not to be missed – this was very much a once in a lifetime opportunity (for me at least!) to relive a tour that first took place in 1964 and wow Vintage Trains with assistance from all parties certainly delivered.

This was a tour par excellence that delivered exactly what was intended and indeed hoped for.

Vintage trains have undertaken to build a relationship with FGW and this was very much in evidence for this tour (backed up with Bob’s comment (post 114) earlier in this thread) so a huge thanks are due especially to these people for allowing this to happen – two local services were held to allow us to pass and the following cross country service that was due to pass us (originally when we were due to be looped at Dawlish Warren) ran a few minutes late but was still able to make a right time arrival at Bristol.
To make this happen though our train needed to be running well enough and with the Earl expertly driven by Ray Churchill and equally fired by Alistair Meanley (thanks for signing my timing sheet guys - you made my day!) ensured that this was never going to be in doubt.

I’m not going to duplicate the actual running as “Big Al” has already commented on this (see post 100) far more succinctly than I ever could!

There were also a number of personal touches that made this day one to remember - with the gathering of people who were on the original 1Z48 tour from 1964 to the carrying of the drivers name plate of the late William (Bill) Rundle to name but two.

So a new record was created and I for one am just glad to be able to say that I was on this trip and witnessed history in the making and want to extend a massive Thank-you to everyone who played a part in making this tour and day as special as it was.

Phil

 

Nigel

Not sure how much help and guidance I can give on that aspiration. 2064 will get me to 113 and Alastair will be 85 so we will both be a bit past doing much I guess. All I can suggest is that he gets down to get involved and starts learning. It is all then down to whether he is good enough to achieve his ambitions. Fifty years ago I was 13 and I had this pretty unrealistic dream of running a steam locomotive works........

Regards
Bob

 

Phil;

Thanks for the kind comments and we much appreciate them.

With regard to the driver's nameplates, it would have been difficult for you to see from one side on the platform but we actually had one for Bill on the fireman's side and another for Harry Roach on the driver's side. We also had there Bill's younger brother Phillip who was also a Laira fireman in his younger days. Bill was undoubtedly a very good fireman and Phillip always had the view that he lived in his brothers shadow. He once told me the story of being spare one day and getting put with a driver several links above. "What's your name" - "Phillip Rundle" - "you any relation to that Bill Rundle?" - "He's my older brother" - " Well if you're half as good as he is you'll do". As Phillip said "I've had that all my life".
We had for long hoped that Bill would have been with us on Saturday and it was entirely likely that we would have taken him with us on the engine. Regrettably he died a few short months ago, and so we thought that it might be a nice thing to take Phillip who has always struck me as having been somewhat envious that Bill had the good fortune to fire the '64 train. We did so and when he got off at Bristol I told him that it might have taken him 50 years but he had finally got one up on Bill and knocked 3 minutes off his record! Despite the sadness of losing Bill it raised a smile!

And spare a thought next time you pass through the woods at the top of Hemerdon, Bill's ashes are scattered there - it was apparently one of his favourite places on the line.

Bob

 

On the matter of "good 'uns and bad 'uns", and at the risk of going slightly off topic: In Holcroft's book "Locomotive Adventure", he recounts a series of trials with the Wainwright E1 (the "Maunsellised" Wainwright 4-4-0) on the Dover boat trains. Maunsell wanted to see the effect of putting spark arresting gear in the smokebox, so they ran a series of trials with carefully measured coal and water consumption of modified and unmodified locos. They put an observer on the train to measure the normal things in a log (passing times, speeds, p/way and signal checks) and Holcroft himself rode on the footplate, making notes about the way the loco was handled - regulator and cut-off positions, use of the injectors, boiler pressure and water level, and the way the loco was fired.

Each run used the same loco, and the same crew. Bear in mind as well that they were top link crews, doing the job day after day with many years of experience.

Without going into the exact detail, what is immediately striking is how much variability there was from run to run, even with the same loco and crew each day. There was lots of variation in boiler pressure in particular, and the crews adapted by running slower up the big hill out of London and then letting the loco run on the other side, or going harder up the hill and then coasting more on the flat, as appropriate and as the steam available allowed. A lot seemed to be down to variability in coal, even though the trials were run from two wagon loads of supposedly the same coal from the same colliery: the second wagon seemed worse (dustier etc). Nonetheless, unavoidable checks excepted, the crews pretty much ran to time each trip.

Which is just to say that the there is a lot of variation in performance possible even with the same loco and the same crew on the same duty - never mind different locos. What strikes me about these two runs of two different castles is not whether "X" is better than "Y" up hill or on the flat; rather it is the opposite: just how consistent the performance level was! Which if nothing else is a credit to the respective crews and the condition of the two locos.

Tom

 

My footage of 'The Anniversary Limited' and 'One Zulu 48', featuring 5029, 5043 and D1015. Locations featured are Langport Viaduct, Rattery, Hemerdon, Whiteball, Shrivenham, Dainton, Yatton Foot Crossing, and Dauntsey Bank.

 

Brilliant footage - a great record of two fabulous days. I saw someone filming in the corner of the field towards the top of Dauntsey as the Earl roared up the 1 in 100 at over 70mph and was disappointed that nothing had appeared online (passing the same spot in an HST this evening brought it all back to me), so I'm thrilled to see your excellent footage of the most exhilarating display of power that I've experienced in ages. Goodness only knows what that machine could do if fully extended (though the Pride of Swindon gave us a hint or two). Thanks for sharing - superb!

David

 

Thank you very much It was an absolute joy filming these two runs.....despite nearly getting mowed down by the wind several times!

 

My video from Friday and Saturday. Friday's footage features 5029 at Stoneycombe, Newton Abbot and my favourite shot of the day at Tiverton Parkway. Saturday's video is of D1015 at Dainton, Totnes and Hemerdon (two cameras), and 5043 at Hemerdon (two cameras), Worle (two cameras) and my favourite shot from the 10th, speeding past Newton St Loe:



James

 

Really enjoyed reading about the two brilliant "Z48" trips and watching the superb videos. I can't help thinking that if 5043 can run for mile after mile at around 75mph on the level on 17% cut of and just on the main valve, what speed could she have achieved if she'd been opened out further?

The 75mph maximum speed is rigidly adhered to. It's a pity that this has to be. Everyone knows that 5043 is a "flying sewing machine", just like 7029 was in 1964.

Common sense says that pathing steam trips would be easier if the traction inspector was able to use his judgement and, if conditions on the loco were right, higher speeds into the 80's, 90's and maybe the magic 100mph could be allowed.

5029 is now on top form and looked well capable of exceeding 75mph by some margin. 5043 seems capable of over 100mph.

Surely the time will come when locos of proven mechanical reliability, such as 5043 (and from this performance, 5029) will be allowed to run, on occasion, at really high speed?

 

Just for information (and this is not a statement about the capabilities of either set of footplatemen - they all did an excellent job), whilst I can't comment on the specific manning of last weekend's two trips, generally only DBS steam workings have a traction inspector on the footplate to oversee proceedings. That said, many conditions have to be met before a temporary lifting of the 75mph limit can be made as on last year's Bittern trips. Perhaps we should count our blessings, after all back in the seventies steam was nominally limited to 60mph - we've come some way since then. As an aside, I can recall one of last weekend's locos doing a bit over 75mph on the last trip of a well-respected, now deceased EWS (ex Nine Elms) steam man. I'll say no more on that except that I have no doubt that both these engines are more than capable of reaching much higher speeds should they ever be allowed to.

 

I imagine the loco owners would also want to have a say in what speed their locos ran at. Plus those who maintain them.

 

All senior drivers employed by WCR are Traction Inspector trained. in fact Ray Churchill was a Traction Inspector for EWS before he left and moved over to WCR I have a video of him as Traction Inspector on the old Dawlish Donkey's along with Paul Burns driver and Geoff Ewans fireman.

 

Yes and often very nominally! (And that lasted quite a bit later than the 70s.)