Flying Scotsman

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Discussion

RichB

51,434 posts

283 months

Saturday 21st May 2016
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Running approx 3-4 mins late, should pass Maidenhead a approx 09:18/09:20
http://realtime.fm-online.co.uk/train/U59987/2016/...

Edited by RichB on Saturday 21st May 09:11

rs1952

5,247 posts

258 months

Saturday 21st May 2016
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Near Lavington at 1105 this morning running about 5 late:


Saleen836

Original Poster:

11,061 posts

208 months

Saturday 21st May 2016
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Westbury Station approx 11.15 this morning......



TommoAE86

2,659 posts

126 months

Monday 23rd May 2016
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I saw this on Saturday coming through Dunbridge where I was having lunch at the Mill Arms right next to the station, was quite good for my brother who has this as his favourite train of all time smile cue lots of dashing outside whenever the barriers came down.
Great that this train is generating so much interest, hopefully will spark a bit of interest in the young who will want to keep our current steam lines open, the Watercress Line is the closest one to me smile

(Will probably need my coat/flak jacket but I had a treat too as the Class 47 is my favourite locomotive!! :O )

rs1952

5,247 posts

258 months

Monday 23rd May 2016
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TommoAE86 said:
I saw this on Saturday coming through Dunbridge where I was having lunch at the Mill Arms right next to the station, was quite good for my brother who has this as his favourite train of all time smile cue lots of dashing outside whenever the barriers came down.
Great that this train is generating so much interest, hopefully will spark a bit of interest in the young who will want to keep our current steam lines open, the Watercress Line is the closest one to me smile

(Will probably need my coat/flak jacket but I had a treat too as the Class 47 is my favourite locomotive!! :O )
There is plenty of interest amongst the younger generation in heritage railways, and indeed there has to be for them to survive. I am probably one of the youngest people who managed to get around the country taking photographs of the last years of steam, and I will be 64 in a month's time!

In case anybody is interested, I have two related albums on Flickr - the end of steam on the Southern Region 1967 https://www.flickr.com/photos/93122458@N08/albums/...
and the more general End of BR steam 1968 one: https://www.flickr.com/photos/93122458@N08/albums/...

The best camera I had in those days was a Kodak Instamatic and the photos had to be scanned from prints because the negatives vanished donkey's years ago That may explain some of the poor quality, and also the fact that there was a 14/15/16 year old lad standing behind the thing at the time wink

As regards the class 47s, or Brush type 4s as they were called pre-TOPS, they were introduced in 1962, now 54 years ago, and the fact that some of them are still running says something about the design quality and suitability for the job.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_4...

TommoAE86

2,659 posts

126 months

Tuesday 24th May 2016
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What an excellent collection of pictures. My grandfather taped a lot of train programmes when we are younger and we still have them at our parents and I must get them put onto DVD before the tape degrades.

For steam I really appreciate a Battle of Britain Class for it's design and style: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SR_West_Country_and_...

O/T Yup have read the wiki of the 47, it does speak volumes for how useful it is, saw one huffing freight through Winchester recently.

Edited by TommoAE86 on Tuesday 24th May 13:20

Vocal Minority

8,582 posts

151 months

Tuesday 24th May 2016
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Looks rather of it's time, but very smart

TommoAE86

2,659 posts

126 months

Tuesday 24th May 2016
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Will make one last comment as we seem to have swerved from the thread meaning. My "golden era" is when the whole network was running with class 20's-55's, especially the BR Blue or Largo Logo liveries.

Getting back to great steam engines, could the Mallard ever be taken out again? Or the Duchess of Hamilton (Coronation class), the final one my brother has an oil painting of is 9F 92220 'Evening star' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BR_Standard_Class_9F...

Vocal Minority

8,582 posts

151 months

Tuesday 24th May 2016
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Well Mallard was restored to working order in the 80s and last used in 1987. So everything is long expired and it will be in need of a refit.

Not sure why the will isn't there to do it though.

RichB

51,434 posts

283 months

Tuesday 24th May 2016
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anonymous said:
[redacted]
English Electric Type 3 for us older chaps wink
p.s. what's body snatcher? confused

rs1952

5,247 posts

258 months

Tuesday 24th May 2016
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anonymous said:
[redacted]
Here's a point of view that will probably be unpopular but I'm used to that on PH, especially in NP&E smile

It is also relevant to the thread.

Flying Scotsman was knackered. That's why it cost a king's ransom to restore and put back on the road. It first turned a wheel in February 1923 and is now 93 years old.

Be it cars, buses, lorries, planes, railway locomotives or any other piece of machinery, the older it gets the more needs to be spent on keeping it going. The newest "heritage" (ie. not new-build) ex-BR steam locomotives are the 9Fs which date from 1958-1960, and most of them are considerably older.

How many of them will still be economical to repair in 50 years time?

Personally I feel that some new build is essential to keep heritage railways going for the next 50 years. It could be argued that many of the new build projects currently going on (such as the Patriot, Cock of the North and 4709, to just pick some examples) are something of an indulgence, but they will still be able to be used on heritage railways, albeit in hardly more than light steam for the loads they will be given.

The 82045 project, and possibly 6680, are another matter entirely. The standard class 3 2-6-2Ts were introduced for fairly light branch line work at exactly the time that branches were either closing or being dieselised, but they would have been ideal for heritage railways had any survived. Locomotives like 82045 will be perfect for heritage railways and, when built, will be at least 60 years younger than all the eminently suitable veterans currently in use on the job.

PS - I am not fundraising for the 82045 project but I do think that its a bloody good idea smile

rs1952

5,247 posts

258 months

Tuesday 24th May 2016
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anonymous said:
[redacted]
I was around as a teenager when the first preservation schemes started to be talked about (except for the Bluebell - I was eight when that started operations in 1960 smile )

In the mid-1960s the Railway Press, and especially the Railway World for some reason, was banging on month after month after month in its editorials saying that there were far too many preservation schemes being mooted and they were all going to stifle themselves through lack of funds and potential passengers. "One in the south - the Bluebell, one in the north - the Keighley & Worth Valley" they seemed to consider was sufficient for the nation's heritage railway needs.

Time has not proved them right - not even a bit right.

The UK population seem to have an unquenchable love affair with heritage railways, especially steam ones. Perhaps it started with fathers who were around at the end of steam in the 60s feeding their kids with Thomas and Ivor the Engine in the 70s and 80s, kids who are now taking their own kids to heritage railways, with their kids kids just about to start taking their kids. Themed galas, especially WW2 ones, seem to go down well with a wider audience. Heritage lines that conveniently have other attractions in the area (Torbay & Dartmouth, North York Moors, North Norfolk as examples) also attract custom simply by being in the area where holidaymakers go with pocketfuls of cash that they want to spend before they go home.

There is also a fairly large market for heritage diesels. One or two people I know are deeply involved with them mainly because, being a few years younger than me, they remind them of what the railways were like when they were at that impressionable age. Even exclusively or mainly diesel heritage lines (Dartmoor and to a lesser extent the Mid-Norfolk) are doing quite well for themselves. I'll wager there will be people about in the future who want to preserve HSTs and class 159s.

Whatever it is, most heritage lines that I can think of are doing good business with no signs of that business tailing off any time soon.

You might just as well argue that we've got too many museums and people will tire of them wink

TommoAE86

2,659 posts

126 months

Tuesday 24th May 2016
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rs1952 said:
There is also a fairly large market for heritage diesels. One or two people I know are deeply involved with them mainly because, being a few years younger than me, they remind them of what the railways were like when they were at that impressionable age.
That's exactly why I'm a massive fan of the 47's they were the ones that I saw when travelling by train when younger, closely followed by HST's, 37's and 51's.

rs1952 said:
I'll wager there will be people about in the future who want to preserve HSTs
There was the HST celebration at the start of month, I think there are people already there.

rs1952 said:
and class 159s.
I'm not sure I can see the attraction personally, but if I am a fan of the 47 etc then they will be out there smile

rs1952 said:
Whatever it is, most heritage lines that I can think of are doing good business with no signs of that business tailing off any time soon.
Hurray biggrin

RichB

51,434 posts

283 months

Tuesday 24th May 2016
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TommoAE86 said:
That's exactly why I'm a massive fan of the 47's they were the ones that I saw when travelling by train when younger...
I grew up in Ealing and as a kid can remember the Torbay Express & Bristolian thundering through behind Carmarthen Castle, Pendennis Castle and perhaps even Kings although I don't specifically recall those. Later the real thrill was an occasional double headed Warship or Western. I am afraid Brush Type 4s are a tad modern wink

rs1952

5,247 posts

258 months

Wednesday 25th May 2016
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Completely off-topic, but never mind smile

anonymous said:
[redacted]
Whilst many reopened railway lines and stations do far better business than originally anticipated, some don't. Take Melksham as an example.

The station had been closed as part of the Beeching cuts in the 1960s but the locals campaigned for its reopening, succeeding in their quest in 1985. The trouble was, there were apparently a lot more people prepared to campaign for the station’s reopening than there were people actually prepared to use it, and British Rail (as it was then) ended up with a white elephant on their hands. Attempts have been made from time to time to increase train frequencies, but the same old problem of a lack of bums on seats has meant that they have been subsequently reduced again. Wiltshire County Council found some funding to subsidise a 2-hourly service for four years, and we are currently about half way through that period. What happens when that funding stops in 2018 or so is anyone's guess.

And the less said about Sinfin the better... wink

There are currently two buses a day on Sundays and Bank Holidays only between Cheltenham and Stratford via Winchcombe. The Monday to Saturday services only run between Cheltenham and Willersley. Not only that, but the buses that do run are subsidised by the local councils.

Whilst I have no doubt that the Gloucestershire Warwickshire would generate some additional tourist traffic if they opened throughout, the local traffic potential doesn't even warrant an unsubsidised bus service, let alone a train.



Gareth1974

3,408 posts

138 months

Wednesday 25th May 2016
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anonymous said:
[redacted]
I once saw Virgil Tracey inside Lady Penelope.

K50 DEL

9,227 posts

227 months

Friday 27th May 2016
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rs1952 said:
Near Lavington at 1105 this morning running about 5 late:

You have a coordinate or OS grid Ref for that spot, exactly the type of shot I'd like to get tomorrow

rs1952

5,247 posts

258 months

Friday 27th May 2016
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K50 DEL said:
rs1952 said:
Near Lavington at 1105 this morning running about 5 late:

You have a coordinate or OS grid Ref for that spot, exactly the type of shot I'd like to get tomorrow
Hello Derek long time no speak smile

Its on the Cheverell Road off the A360 between Potterne and Littleton Panel

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.2908467,-2.01923...

SPR2

3,182 posts

195 months

Saturday 4th June 2016
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Not the best of mornings.!

Edited by SPR2 on Saturday 4th June 14:01

chonok

1,126 posts

234 months

Monday 6th June 2016
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Can anyone please point me in the direction of a reliable timetable for the Flying Scotsman?

I believe that she is coming through my local station on Wednesday (Wrexham), but can't seem to find any definite confirmation of the route.