'The Swanage Belle' Steam Excursion

[grh]

Hi all,

Went to photo and watch the 'Swanage Belle' today with 44871 + 30777.

Weather not to special, so pics a bit drab.


ANYWAY, does anyone know why it was running nearly 1 hr late into Swanage and why it exited late as well.
Wonder if the railway will be in trouble for late release??

Graham

PS Tornado to Swanage 16 June!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[pinkpanther]

AFAIK the outbound got stuck behind a unit with failed doors at Brentford. The return was delayed as a result of the late arrival of the outbound tour.

 

[455driver]

PS Tornado to Swanage 16 June!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tornado was rescued after failing today (31/05) at Canterbury by 66018 sent from Ashford. It left Ashford 136 minutes late.

 

[paul1609]

Hi all,

Went to photo and watch the 'Swanage Belle' today with 44871 + 30777.

Weather not to special, so pics a bit drab.


ANYWAY, does anyone know why it was running nearly 1 hr late into Swanage and why it exited late as well.
Wonder if the railway will be in trouble for late release??

Graham

PS Tornado to Swanage 16 June!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Myself and a group of friends were on the tour.
Departure from Waterloo was on time but we were badly checked by signals even before Clapham Junction which we passed 3 down. Then at Brentford we came to a stand for 17 minutes due to a 455 with a door problem in front. At Staines the station stop took about 7 minutes due to the number of people joining, the crew also had trouble releasing the brakes. We arrived at Woking around 30 mins down. We then stood in the loop just past St Denys for what seemed an eternity before eventually arriving at Swanage about an hour late.

The return departure had by the time we arrived at Swanage already been put backby 20 mins. However Sir Lamiel was obviously the better of the 2 engines and we arrived back at Waterloo only a couple of mins late.

Neither performance was particularly memorable even though at least on the return control did seem to be doing us a few favours and putting us out in front.

 

[rogACE]

Tornado was rescued after failing today (31/05) at Canterbury by 66018 sent from Ashford. It left Ashford 136 minutes late.

glad to see the swanage belle ran all ok albeit a wee bit late...
saw the black 5 go thru ken olympia 0800ish on her way to pick up pax.

re above post from 455driver, slight correction...
tornado was taken off the 2nd leg of the excursion but was not rescued by 66018,
the class 66 took the coaches and passengers on from Canterbury.

tornado went on her own, in light steam, with support coach to hither green via whitstable and chatham.

 

[jl747sp]

I too went to see the Swanage Belle away from Staines yesterday , many steamers pass through and sometimes stop here and all come and go without incident but the 31st May departure was something special -it firstly refused to move despite emitting copious amounts of steam and black smoke it sort of inched forward then fell back , a number of times. Was the loco not powefull enough we thought as discussion grew amongst the bank holiday crowds?

Finally she was off ,rather slowly we regulars thought, before coming to a halt a short distance beyond the platform on the points dividing the Windsor and Egham routes-oh no we thought-but after a more steam and smoke emissions she crept away over the river-would she make it to Swanage !!

What was wrong?

 

[grh]

Hi all,

Many thanks for the info.

The return journey by 30777 I saw go through Holton Heath station, just a few mins down the track from Wareham. It was working hard and prob about 55-60mph. A great sight. Shame about black 5.

Is black 5 44871 having problems???

 

[paul1609]

I too went to see the Swanage Belle away from Staines yesterday , many steamers pass through and sometimes stop here and all come and go without incident but the 31st May departure was something special -it firstly refused to move despite emitting copious amounts of steam and black smoke it sort of inched forward then fell back , a number of times. Was the loco not powefull enough we thought as discussion grew amongst the bank holiday crowds?

Finally she was off ,rather slowly we regulars thought, before coming to a halt a short distance beyond the platform on the points dividing the Windsor and Egham routes-oh no we thought-but after a more steam and smoke emissions she crept away over the river-would she make it to Swanage !!

What was wrong?

As a preserved railway fireman I could tell you but......

 

[jl747sp]

Now Paul ,you can't tempt a fellow with a parting throwaway like that-tell all!