175 years of the Great Western Railway

[Mojo]

http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Content.aspx?id=4772

2010 marks the 175th anniversary of the founding of the Great Western Railway.

First Great Western is helping to celebrate this important anniversary by joining with rail industry partners to organise a number of special events across its network during the year.

Working with Vintage Trains Limited the first of these events takes place on Saturday 17th April and involves two thoroughbred GW performers, the Castle class steam locomotive and the High Speed Train.


Travel from the West Country

On Saturday 17th April passengers from the West Country will be able to travel up to London on a special High Speed Train charter service. On arrival in the capital the passengers will change trains, on to the first non-stop steam-hauled express passenger service between London and Bristol since the early 1960s.

At Bristol passengers will be able to rejoin the special High Speed Train service and return to the West Country.

Passengers travelling in Premier Dining will be able to enjoy a Great British Breakfast on the special High Speed Train en route to London, a 3-course roast lunch on the steam service to Bristol and a high tea on the special igh Speed Train back from Bristol, including Champagne, gammon steak or poached salmon, followed by a cream tea!

Travel from London

Passengers from London and the Thames Valley area can also take part in this event too!

A special High Speed Train charter service will run non-stop from London Paddington to Bristol where passengers will transfer to the steam train making its way back to London on the first non-stop steam-hauled run between Bristol and London since the early 1960s.

Passengers travelling in Premier Dining will be able to enjoy a 3-course lunch on the special High Speed Train en route to Bristol, including a selection of cold meats, poached salmon, followed by banoffee tart or West Country cheeses! On the way back from Bristol Premier Dining passengers will be served a 3-course roast dinner on board the steam train.

Book your tickets now

Passengers wanting to book tickets should call our partners Vintage Trains on: 0121-708-4960 and look on their website www.vintagetrains.co.uk for more details.

The fares for each train include travel on available connecting First Great Western services from designated First Great Western stations. Book early to avoid disappointment!

 

[FlyingScot]

You know what's dissapointing? The rainhill trials are 180 this year and nobody has taken notice.

 

[37401]

Im waiting for the diesel hauled stuff, 50s on the sleeper anyone :P

 

[SouthEastern-465]

Looks interesting.

 

[mumrar]

My Uncle works with Vintage Trains and has said that the steam 'Bristolian' is being made possible by some revolutionary thinking at West Coast Railways. WCRC are hoping to convert and trial a Mk1 GUV or BG (whichever one is a guards Mk1 with no passenger seats) to be a water carrier. This will replace the role of water troughs, because the demand on water for high speed always outstrips coal. This will be used along with GWR double chimney Castle loco 5043 'Earl of Mount Edgecumbe' to complete two non stop trips. These are going to cost around £130 with the chartered HST on the non steam leg of you journey. Whilst I appreciate that Rainhill has it's 180 year anniverssary, we always seem to give more importance to ones which are made up by quarter, half or full centuries. Speaking of annivarssaries and FGW, I'm hoping to get some photos of HSTs at the Severn Tunnel next year, for the Intercity 125 and 125 year old coinciding. It's a shame there's no 125 speed boards within that area, maybe Photoshop can help me out with a montage there?
If this water carrier is successful I imagine it will be used a lot by WCRC and copied by others. It will reduce the need for stops in sidings and calls to the fire brigade etc. I'd imagine a Mk1 could easily accomodate 2 or 3 tenders worth of water, so you're running with 4 tenders possibly. They may need a little section for coal too. It'll make it harder to get more than one photo of a steam charter, like the traditional Appleby stop on the S&C, but it should make timing and pathing more viable versus the timetable of a functional railway. Interesting times indeed.

 

[2030720310]

My Uncle works with Vintage Trains and has said that the steam 'Bristolian' is being made possible by some revolutionary thinking at West Coast Railways. WCRC are hoping to convert and trial a Mk1 GUV or BG (whichever one is a guards Mk1 with no passenger seats) to be a water carrier. This will replace the role of water troughs, because the demand on water for high speed always outstrips coal. This will be used along with GWR double chimney Castle loco 5043 'Earl of Mount Edgecumbe' to complete two non stop trips. These are going to cost around £130 with the chartered HST on the non steam leg of you journey. Whilst I appreciate that Rainhill has it's 180 year anniverssary, we always seem to give more importance to ones which are made up by quarter, half or full centuries. Speaking of annivarssaries and FGW, I'm hoping to get some photos of HSTs at the Severn Tunnel next year, for the Intercity 125 and 125 year old coinciding. It's a shame there's no 125 speed boards within that area, maybe Photoshop can help me out with a montage there?
If this water carrier is successful I imagine it will be used a lot by WCRC and copied by others. It will reduce the need for stops in sidings and calls to the fire brigade etc. I'd imagine a Mk1 could easily accomodate 2 or 3 tenders worth of water, so you're running with 4 tenders possibly. They may need a little section for coal too. It'll make it harder to get more than one photo of a steam charter, like the traditional Appleby stop on the S&C, but it should make timing and pathing more viable versus the timetable of a functional railway. Interesting times indeed.

It was originally trialled for, and used by, 6024.

 

[kestrel]

Im waiting for the diesel hauled stuff, 50s on the sleeper anyone :P

if you can get one that works and cleared for the mainline possibly ;o)

 

[Sun Chariot]

2030720310 - re: your idea: "I'd imagine a Mk1 could easily accomodate 2 or 3 tenders worth of water, so you're running with 4 tenders possibly".

A gallon of water weighs 8.33 lbs.
There are 2240 lbs in a (imperial) ton.
So just the weight of water, in a 4000gal tender (such as Stanier's Princess Coronation), is approaching 15 tons.

A BG weighs in at 31 tons unladen; and, if you've got three 4000gal water tanks inside it, you're running a 76 ton coach.

Whilst one internal water tank sounds perfectly feasible, I think three water tanks in it would make for high centre-of-gravity; and "interesting" stability.


That all being said, WCRC deserve a pat on the back for the BG-tender idea.

 

[mumrar]

if you've got three 4000gal water tanks inside it, you're running a 76 ton coach.

Whilst one internal water tank sounds perfectly feasible, I think three water tanks in it would make for high centre-of-gravity; and "interesting" stability.

I think it was me who mentioned that, 2030720310 quoted my post. But to answer, I don't see all of the TEA tankers tipping all over the network and they have a capacity of around 70 tonnes of volatile fuel and oil, much more need to ensure that never tips. If you avoided the cylindrical tank storage design of the TEA and had something trapezoidal with a wider bottom dimension than the top, the centre of gravity would be better. I think TEAs are permitted to run at 75mph (anyone have the facts please?) and that's all mainline steam is permitted too, so I can't see why anything should raise issues. They may need to drop two coaches off any record attempts traditionally undertaken with 13 though, it'd be a bit of a hanicap.

 

[Sun Chariot]

Good points, Mumrar. Trapezoid tank would certainly control the c-o-g.

My thought was that, whilst the likes of 100ton bogie tankers do that job perfectly, I'm not certain that the Mk1 coach-frame has the load-bearing capability.

But I'll leave that to the engineering experts - I'd love to be proved wrong!

This makes up for my woe, at being abroad when the S&C "Help For Heroes" and this year's "Great Britain" tours are taking place.

 

[2030720310]

I think it was me who mentioned that, 2030720310 quoted my post.

Yeah sorry guys, my comment was only a comment on the insight given!!

 

[37401]

if you can get one that works and cleared for the mainline possibly ;o)

Ok giz a min just got to win the lotto first lol

 

[Vulcan]

Good points, Mumrar. Trapezoid tank would certainly control the c-o-g.

My thought was that, whilst the likes of 100ton bogie tankers do that job perfectly, I'm not certain that the Mk1 coach-frame has the load-bearing capability.

But I'll leave that to the engineering experts - I'd love to be proved wrong!

This makes up for my woe, at being abroad when the S&C "Help For Heroes" and this year's "Great Britain" tours are taking place.

Then why not dress up a redundant TEA with Mk1 style bodywork?

EDIT - I'm not suggesting that you do this yourself Sun Chariot, I'm just throwing the idea out there for general discussion / shooting down.

 

[royaloak]

A BG has a max load of 10 tonnes evenly distributed so about 2600 gallons, so it wont effect the CoG at all, I think this is a really good idea.

 

[moonrakerz]

It was originally trialled for, and used by, 6024.

What happened to that thing ?
I took this photo almost 3 years ago and have seen no mention of it since.
Mind you, it did look pretty b****y ghastly in that form !!

 

[mumrar]

Mind you, it did look pretty b****y ghastly in that form !!

And the award for understatement of the year goes too..............

 

[Stuart Galbraith]

I often wonder about the viablity of putting some of the water points back at some of the stations. When Tornado stopped at Kemble last year (I think it was Thames Tornado?) it halted at Kemble for more than 10 minutes to allow a 158 to pass through on the single line to Swindon. I think after that it was due to stop for some time at a siding in Swindon to take on water.

Where it stopped was exactly the spot where the water point used to be in steam days. (I wouldnt be surprised if the pipework is still there under the platform) .Why not ask Network Rail to put them back at certain places? I accept this requires extra maintenance, but its not like Steam Haulage is getting less common on the national network.

One other thought, if the GWML IS electrified, then perhaps its worth looking into seeing if its worth building a Collett or Hawksworth tender with a coal pusher?

 

[matt]

What happened to that thing ?

It is now at the West Somerset railway. I'm not sure if 6024 society stilll own it or not.

 

[Sun Chariot]

We're only a week away; does anyone have provisional timings for the Up and Down services? Nowt showing yet on UK Main Line Steam info page

Thanks in advance

 

[matt]

We're only a week away; does anyone have provisional timings for the Up and Down services? Nowt showing yet on UK Main Line Steam info page

Thanks in advance

The tickets have been sent out so I expect times will become available on uksteam soon.

 

[Sun Chariot]

Thanks Matt - indeed they are - decent times for shots in both directions.

And, if the Icelandic volcanic ash hangs around at high altitude, Earl of Mount Egdcumbe's return east will be silhouetted in a rather impressive magenta sunset background...
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Bugga

300-mile round trip, delays on the M4 thanks to mile after mile of roadworks

And got trackside to the idyllic village of Stephenton (west of Didcot)

Only to see fire two engines attending to trackside fires left by Earl of M.E.

So The Bristolian had passed mere minutes before I got there. Pants.

 

[Daimler]

Thanks Matt - indeed they are - decent times for shots in both directions.

And, if the Icelandic volcanic ash hangs around at high altitude, Earl of Mount Egdcumbe's return east will be silhouetted in a rather impressive magenta sunset background...
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Bugga

300-mile round trip, delays on the M4 thanks to mile after mile of roadworks

And got trackside to the idyllic village of Stephenton (west of Didcot)

Only to see fire two engines attending to trackside fires left by Earl of M.E.

So The Bristolian had passed mere minutes before I got there. Pants.

I sympathise, having decided to go and watch it come through at Didcot, only to hear a whistle (20 mins early) as I was walking through the subway (I caught a glimpse of it as I reached the platform).

It was flying along, though...

 

[burton agnes]

Well, for any one thats interested we were on the up Bristolian yesterday. Not sure how long it will be before the smile goes of my face!!
Departed Bristol at 17.02 following avoyager to Parkway, and then the fun began a non stop run with big green signals and making time up all the way.
Straight through Swindon, up the main line from Didcot straight through Reading on the up main through Slough and straight into Platform 1 at Paddington.
117 miles in 109 minutes.
Just awesome.
Thanks to all involved.

 

[Stuart Galbraith]

I arrived about 10 minutes early at Chippenham to see it, and was surprised to it it just entering the station! On the return journey I made sure I got to my vantage point over the Foss way to get a photo, and from my reckoning it was on time, which I thought was pretty good after climbing the 1-300 gradient.

Excellent performance all round. They did the old company proud.

Incidentally, there were rumours on the GWR elist Swindon rerouted a HST to the slow lane to give 5043 a clear road.....

 

[burton agnes]

No... Swindon dont do that!!!
In fact it was the boys at Reading that did it.
Yep 5043 signalled straight up the main line from Didcot, and straight through Reading on the up main through line, meanwhile a departing HST turned left from platform 5 on to the up relief, and we carried merrily on the main line up through Slough and into platform 1 Paddington.

Oh......I still havent lost my grin!!!

 

[matt]

The HST had issues with its brakes I beleive hence it being put on the slow but still good to let the Castle run on the fast line.

 

[Stuart Galbraith]

No... Swindon dont do that!!!
In fact it was the boys at Reading that did it.
Yep 5043 signalled straight up the main line from Didcot, and straight through Reading on the up main through line, meanwhile a departing HST turned left from platform 5 on to the up relief, and we carried merrily on the main line up through Slough and into platform 1 Paddington.

Oh......I still havent lost my grin!!!

Can you imagine what those on the HST must have thought being overtaken by a 70 year old Steam locomotive?

Quite right of course.