Class 458 Juniper railtour

[theblackwatch]

I suspect that Mr Farrow and Mr Watts, would do rail tours to Ludgershall if the line were to close.

Mr Farrow has been there on a couple of occasions in recent years. Myself and 33056 enjoyed a Christmas Lunch while traversing the branch back in 2011. Unfortunately, tours to MOD locations were put on hold after the horrific events at Woolwich in 2013.

 

[37038]

Same as power station railtours were stopped after the daft greenpeace action at Cottam (was it there).

Jarrow branch in Newcastle and Wilton FLT on Teesside have recently lost traffic whilst Sunderland South Dock has reopened after something like 10-15 years. Time is ripe for a north eastern bash methinks (although Jarrow is dud)

 

[STANDISH]

E-mails to Mr Farrow, Mr Watts and BLS with your suggestions. No passenger train been to Wilton since the early 1990's.

 

[James Wake]

According to Newsletter 148 that UK Railtours have emailed me, there are 8 Standard Class seats now available, I would suggest if you want one, try calling UK Railtours, that's what it says on my newsletter, sorry if it is wrong.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
And it is now on Real Time Trains
http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/Q40606/2015/05/23/advanced
http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/Q40608/2015/05/23/advanced
http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/Q40607/2015/05/23/advanced

 

[Kite159]

Was hoping for a non-stop run through Bournemouth & Guildford, at least I can clear Southampton Central & Basingstoke for having non-stop runs through

Hopefully with timings confirmed, tickets will be sent out shortly

 

[cactustwirly]

Just recieved my tickets. Regarding the free connection with SWT, do I just show the ticket to the guard?

 

[antharro]

cactustwirly - Mine turned up this morning too. I figured I'd just show the guard. However I wonder if there's a limit on this - for example, could I travel up from Weymouth or Portsmouth for free?

 

[Kite159]

Just recieved my tickets. Regarding the free connection with SWT, do I just show the ticket to the guard?

I did that on the last SWT tour I went on, I would imagine there is a memo of some sort which gets passed around telling the guards that there is a SWT charter and so passengers on said charter have free connecting travel

 

[SpacePhoenix]

Might be worth PM'ing @Monty who is a SWT guard

 

[causton]

As it says "Valid on SWT services connecting with this charter" I can't see why they wouldn't accept it!

 

[cambsy]

I have tickets for the Juniper Factor Tour, Can i use the free connection on the 05.10am from Exeter St Davids,due Waterloo 08.49am, and how soon after tour gets back to i have to get train back, thinking of getting the 18.20 to Exeter.

 

[Thewanderer]

Pictures from today's UK Railtours "The Juniper Factor" from London to Poole via a few locations in between are now online.

Click the picture for the full collection.

 

[cactustwirly]

Here are my Photos:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/124815061@N05/sets/72157653263519046

 

[hassaanhc]

Here are my photos from the day: https://www.flickr.com/gp/97628863@N06/5Dq9Z3

Must say that I really enjoyed the day . Passengers were well behaved, save for some immature homemade window posters right at the beginning :P.

Regarding the air conditioning failure in DMCO 67706 that I briefly mentioned in the 458/5 thread, after Haslemere it was noticed by the crew that the air conditioning was not working in the whole coach. So those areas where it was not working had the emergency window hoppers opened .

Massive thanks to South West Trains and UK Railtours for the day Now we need one for the Class 455 next year before they get new motors .

 

[Kite159]

Very good day in the sun, but that bogie on the leading coach of 014 is quite noisy

First time storming through Woking at @ 85mph on the up slow, and also first non-stop runs for Guildford, Basingstoke & Southampton Central for me

One of the other passengers sat on the opposite table had a GPS speedo and the set topped out at around 92 mph

 

[atomicdanny]

Some nice pictures , I took some myself although mine probably won't be on flickr for a while - I'm a bit behind in updating my flickr page - although I see myself in this picture (the red top - coca cola top - walking away from view with backpack on the left middle)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/97628863@N06/17394817123/in/album-72157652920902668/

A link to what i took, not really that good though to be fair. (anyone should be able to see these) - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10155577838540007.1073741857.544015006&type=1&l=4616946afc

 

[Juniper Driver]

Thanks for the pics.As already stated I saw the set at Hook up slow as I passed down main on 159005+159102.The 458's looked great in the Sun @ Poole.

 

[SpacePhoenix]

Had the unit been repainted for the tour? The paintwork looks clean enough that it could have just come out of wherever they do the painting

 

[Monty]

Just thoroughly cleaned as far as I know.

 

[455driver]

One of the other passengers sat on the opposite table had a GPS speedo and the set topped out at around 92 mph

I am sure with your allegations of speeding a download will be taken to check it out, can you post the place and time this speeding took place as it would save management having to trawl through the whole trip, there is a good snitch! :roll:

 

[NSEFAN]

I am sure with your allegations of speeding a download will be taken to check it out, can you post the place and time this speeding took place as it would save management having to trawl through the whole trip, there is a good snitch!

Phone GPS isn't that accurate but I also saw similar speeds on my phone on the mainline. The units are rated for 100mph and there are sections of the route where this is a permitted speed.

So there's no need to be so touchy.

 

[455driver]

Phone GPS isn't that accurate but I also saw similar speeds on my phone on the mainline. The units are rated for 100mph and there are sections of the route where this is a permitted speed.

So there's no need to be so touchy.

The units are rated at 90mph.

 

[Sacro]

Phone GPS isn't that accurate ...

Could be accurate to within 0.1-0.5 MPH, I'm doubting a train's speedometer is that good.

 

[455driver]

Could be accurate to within 0.1-0.5 MPH, I'm doubting a train's speedometer is that good.

And your proof for this statement is?

Phone GPS can be out by 5-10mph easily, a trains speedo is regularly calibrated, how often is your phone calibrated?

 

[notadriver]

A very good signal is needed for an accurate phone gps reading which is unlikely from a rail carriage without specialist equipment. But according to most publications I've read the 458s along with most recent express EMU builds have 100 mph capability.

 

[Sacro]

And your proof for this statement is?

Phone GPS can be out by 5-10mph easily, a trains speedo is regularly calibrated, how often is your phone calibrated?

Admittedly not a manufacturer website
here's another one testing accuracy around a short circuit

A train's speedo could be affected by cant, wheelsize changes since calibration, I'm not sure how much heat expansion of various metal parts might affect it but it's certainly an issue with air filled tyres.

GPS doesn't need to be 'calibrated', that's the point of it, all it needs is 3 or more satellites, and it can be useful for it to have an accurate clock and occasional data collection so that it knows roughly which satellites are available.

 

[455driver]

But according to most publications I've read the 458s along with most recent express EMU builds have 100 mph capability.

They were built for 100mph but have been 'limited' to 90mph for many years now, even though the 'limiting' is probably nothing more than changing the maximum speed stickers in the cabs.

Edit-
It would have been nice if they could have let them run at 100mph for this tour so they could have had a proper send off.

 

[hassaanhc]

They were built for 100mph but have been 'limited' to 90mph for many years now, even though the 'limiting' is probably nothing more than changing the maximum speed stickers in the cabs.

Edit-
It would have been nice if they could have let them run at 100mph for this tour so they could have had a proper send off.

From Basingstoke to Millbrook we ended up following a late freight for Southampton MCT so even 90 wasn't possible, let alone 100 :P. We went from RT at Basingstoke to arriving 17 late at Brockenhurst. We'd thought that was the end of our booked stop there as we were booked 14 mins there, but still got 10 mins in P1 to let a Weymouth service go past. We did lose the booked 10 mins at Bournemouth though, only getting 2 to let people off, and got held outside while the split took place on the Weymouth.

 

[Monty]

They were built for 100mph but have been 'limited' to 90mph for many years now, even though the 'limiting' is probably nothing more than changing the maximum speed stickers in the cabs.

Edit-
It would have been nice if they could have let them run at 100mph for this tour so they could have had a proper send off.

100? I say ha to that, I doubt the remaining units could do a ton now. I've passed on a set of empties before between Weybridge and Waterloo on the main and the train nearly shook itself to bits doing 90.

 

[James Wake]

Very good day in the sun, but that bogie on the leading coach of 014 is quite noisy

Agreed, I was also in 014s leading coach, saw a few people I knew, but not many forum members. Was a good day, except the stickers on the windows in the morning. Personally, I preferred the c2c railtour in 2011, as there was more track that was rarely used by passengers, and cab rides were readily available.