What are these pathing issues that seem to bedevil Spitfire at the moment?
I think the problem is that the "provisional timings" Spitfire put up are idealistic, but the "confirmed ones" turn out to be nowhere near the provisional ones in many cases.
For example, I think the Birmingham-Edinburgh via the West Coast had provisional times off at 05:xx, arrival to Edinburgh at 12:00, mini tour departs at 12:15, and back to Birmingham at 23.xx.
So, that's already pushing it in terms of a long day and what is tolerable to normals. I suspect - like the Crewe-Fortwilliam one, Network Rail could offer an 04.xx off Birmingham and a 00.xx arrival on the return.
Pathing any charter up the WCML Northern section is a nightmare, any one I've done has generally included a 50 minute pathing stop at Lockerbie loop, and again at Beattock.