Some of you may have already seen this on Gen etc!
Last night, 43065 and 43187 coubled back to back hauled the 1A40 'Up' beds from Penzance to Bristol TM!! This is becasue 603 had a saftey system fault (TPWS IIRC) meaning it was a no-go. As a last resort, Laira sent down the 43s, with them providing traction and the 57 DIT providing the ETS for the coaches. Originally, it was planend for the 43s to do the whole run, however it was later dicided at OOC to put anothr 57/6 on the back of the 1C99 'Dwn' beds and then take the loco off at BTM (the sleepers 'meet' there, and thus meanign the 57 can take the Up beds onwards to Padd.
I wasnt gonna miss this for the world! And after much discussion and updates on RailChat, me and my dad deciced to go for it.
We got there at 0150, went to see the duty manager and asked his permission (BTM is closed at nights, so permission needs 2 be sought - lucky i know alot of the staff on BTM ). He said yes , so we went onto the platforms and waited for the 'Dwn' to arrive. She did, with 57602 at the helm and 57604 trailing on the back! PSB routed her into 7 - and we where on 9/11 so we where in the right place
Got some shots of that one:
Then hung around abit longer till the 43s came in. Didnt get a very good vid of them arriving as the sorta 'snuck up' on us, but oh well, no big loss.
43065 was leading with 187 backed onto it, and 57605 DIT. She was routed into 5 under the trainshed. We crossed over and went to the end of 5 to get sum pics of the formation. Twas a very odd sight indeed. Apart from another guy with a video camera on 3, we where the only photters there.
Got some shots of it before they uncoupled the P/Cs from the 57 etc. Meanwhile, 57604 had been unhooked from the back of the Dwn Beds and that buggered off at 10 to 3. The '43s' then got the road and went off to the 'marsh', making a hell of a smoke screen as they left. tryed to get a vid, but for sum reason, my camera wasnt co-operating, and it neva recorded :? but oh well. After the 43s had cleared the station, the 57 was started and ran out of BTM and back in onto the front of dead 57603.
After theyd been coupled, the driver changed ends and awaited the RA. There was one complication when one of the staff got a phone call from the Shunter at OOC saying he didnt think that '604' had enough fuel to get back to Paddignton *DOH!* but after grabbing a bardic and diving in the engine room, it was determined that they did have enough, so panic over! I took a few last shots of the formation before switching to Video mode and getting a decent vid of the duo leaving.
Chatted to the Dispatch etc a little while and thanked the DM before he showed us to the gate and we walked back to the car. Got in the door at a few minutes to 4 hock: hock:
So that was my fun morning! :roll:
Crikes, im totally wasted. Only got about 2 hours sleep in the end, but it was worth it!! I saw only one other enthusiast was on the oppositie platform, but he seemd to dissapear as soon as the train arrived, and i think he had a video camera :?
Hope you like the pics, theyll be up on my fotopic a little later, along with my videos on google. I think im one of the only photters with pics of this RARE occurance, so this is an exclusive! 8)
Ta, Sprog \m/
Last night, 43065 and 43187 coubled back to back hauled the 1A40 'Up' beds from Penzance to Bristol TM!! This is becasue 603 had a saftey system fault (TPWS IIRC) meaning it was a no-go. As a last resort, Laira sent down the 43s, with them providing traction and the 57 DIT providing the ETS for the coaches. Originally, it was planend for the 43s to do the whole run, however it was later dicided at OOC to put anothr 57/6 on the back of the 1C99 'Dwn' beds and then take the loco off at BTM (the sleepers 'meet' there, and thus meanign the 57 can take the Up beds onwards to Padd.
I wasnt gonna miss this for the world! And after much discussion and updates on RailChat, me and my dad deciced to go for it.
We got there at 0150, went to see the duty manager and asked his permission (BTM is closed at nights, so permission needs 2 be sought - lucky i know alot of the staff on BTM ). He said yes , so we went onto the platforms and waited for the 'Dwn' to arrive. She did, with 57602 at the helm and 57604 trailing on the back! PSB routed her into 7 - and we where on 9/11 so we where in the right place
Got some shots of that one:
Then hung around abit longer till the 43s came in. Didnt get a very good vid of them arriving as the sorta 'snuck up' on us, but oh well, no big loss.
43065 was leading with 187 backed onto it, and 57605 DIT. She was routed into 5 under the trainshed. We crossed over and went to the end of 5 to get sum pics of the formation. Twas a very odd sight indeed. Apart from another guy with a video camera on 3, we where the only photters there.
Got some shots of it before they uncoupled the P/Cs from the 57 etc. Meanwhile, 57604 had been unhooked from the back of the Dwn Beds and that buggered off at 10 to 3. The '43s' then got the road and went off to the 'marsh', making a hell of a smoke screen as they left. tryed to get a vid, but for sum reason, my camera wasnt co-operating, and it neva recorded :? but oh well. After the 43s had cleared the station, the 57 was started and ran out of BTM and back in onto the front of dead 57603.
After theyd been coupled, the driver changed ends and awaited the RA. There was one complication when one of the staff got a phone call from the Shunter at OOC saying he didnt think that '604' had enough fuel to get back to Paddignton *DOH!* but after grabbing a bardic and diving in the engine room, it was determined that they did have enough, so panic over! I took a few last shots of the formation before switching to Video mode and getting a decent vid of the duo leaving.
Chatted to the Dispatch etc a little while and thanked the DM before he showed us to the gate and we walked back to the car. Got in the door at a few minutes to 4 hock: hock:
So that was my fun morning! :roll:
Crikes, im totally wasted. Only got about 2 hours sleep in the end, but it was worth it!! I saw only one other enthusiast was on the oppositie platform, but he seemd to dissapear as soon as the train arrived, and i think he had a video camera :?
Hope you like the pics, theyll be up on my fotopic a little later, along with my videos on google. I think im one of the only photters with pics of this RARE occurance, so this is an exclusive! 8)
Ta, Sprog \m/