Deltic Retro Scot II

[yorkie]

Congratulations to James Palmer and his team on running yet another successful railtour. The Deltic Retro Scot II yesterday was fully booked and ran within just a few minutes of being on time, throughout.

Also congratulations to Martin Walker and his team for restoring 55022 to be in such good order, back on both engines.

There are some good photos already of the tour, perhaps the best I have seen is this one.

The tour arrived in Edinburgh a minute early, but the way back was the most impressive, after a slight delay outside Edinburgh a storming run to Newcastle was achieved. A pause to allow a Voyager to overtake saw us catch it up at Darlington. The excellent run would have continued all the way to York if it wasn't for some planner who has no idea of the real railway needlessly putting us on the slow line, for nothing to overtake at all (and nothing booked to). But still it was an excellent run, and gave us all an idea (or a reminder!) of what it was like back when Deltics ruled the line.

 

[paul1609]

Sorry to have missed this one and I have to say having sampled West Coasts MK1 stock yesterday on my alternative appointment James is absolutely right to go with the Air Cons!

 

[4SRKT]

Sorry to have missed this one and I have to say having sampled West Coasts MK1 stock yesterday on my alternative appointment James is absolutely right to go with the Air Cons!

Surely it's not an all or nothing situation, and there has to be something in between that's more suitable for railtours than either grotty Mk Is or aircons? PV Mk IIs for example, or not-grotty Mk Is?

 

[theblackwatch]

Were these unsuitable? The fact that the train was full to capacity would suggest so!

 

[4SRKT]

Were these unsuitable? The fact that the train was full to capacity would suggest so!

Well, not 'unsuitable', in the sense that they have seats, doors and bogies. Opening windows would be better though. If the only thing on offer is aircons then people will gladly go on them. You can't infer from that that people wouldn't prefer something else though. Personally I won't go near a tour with aircons no matter what's up front, but that's purely my own decision and I'm sure all those on board had a great day.

I agree about the state of WCRC's Mk Is these days though.

 

[badger1badger]

we travelled in coach k - very nice indeed !

well done James- deffo go for these coaches again -

can anyone tell me where this stock would have run on mainline railways - correct me but is it the same stock as HST ?

Cheers

Paul

 

[yorkie]

The Mk2s were definitely used by XC. Not sure about the Mk3s, I'd assume West Coast originally but more recently Wrexham & Shropshire (there was a bit of a giveaway on the buffet car )

There were some MkIII vehicles in the train which are, internally, identical to those used in HSTs. If coach K was first class then I believe you travelled in a Mk3. (There are some slight technical differences, for example they have different electrical supplies).

 

[leewoods60019]

My very first railtour on this ! it was fantastic and i'm going on plenty plenty more! I've learnt a lot from you guys! and james palmer is awesome for organizing such a great event and to everyone else who organized it, it was traintastic :P carriages looked immense i thought they was going to be MK1 coaches. i'm not sure what your usernames who I was with yesterday but your all awesome

 

[yorksrob]

Many thanks to all concerned for an excellent railtour

I found travelling in the Mk 2's very nostalgic, having spent many a boozy night travelling around the cross-country network in them in the past. It has to be said, they seem a lot better maintained than when I remember them

 

[yorkie]

My very first railtour on this ! it was fantastic and i'm going on plenty plenty more! I've learnt a lot from you guys! and james palmer is awesome for organizing such a great event and to everyone else who organized it, it was traintastic :P carriages looked immense i thought they was going to be MK1 coaches. i'm not sure what your usernames who I was with yesterday but your all awesome

You met:

metrocammel (Mr Palmer himself)
yorksrob
yorkie
Andy
Class47
43094
142094
Max (steward)
theblackwatch (steward/desperate gripper )
90019 (in Edinburgh)
Mojo

Also, I should have said well done to Max and theblackwatch for their excellent announcements!

 

[leewoods60019]

cool cool, i can work out who you are :P lol
no offense or anything but the guy sat next to you had an awesome accent!
lol

 

[yorkie]

Given that we swapped seats and many people came to our tables that could be one of about 5 people But on the way back that'd probably be Mojo, and I am unsure what accent he has.

 

[leewoods60019]

cool so your the one that was giving me the thing about denby dale to sunderland ticket and how i could save loads yeh?

 

[rmt]

Congratulations to James Palmer and his team on running yet another successful railtour. The Deltic Retro Scot II yesterday was fully booked and ran within just a few minutes of being on time, throughout.

Also congratulations to Martin Walker and his team for restoring 55022 to be in such good order, back on both engines.

There are some good photos already of the tour, perhaps the best I have seen is this one.

The tour arrived in Edinburgh a minute early, but the way back was the most impressive, after a slight delay outside Edinburgh a storming run to Newcastle was achieved. A pause to allow a Voyager to overtake saw us catch it up at Darlington. The excellent run would have continued all the way to York if it wasn't for some planner who has no idea of the real railway needlessly putting us on the slow line, for nothing to overtake at all (and nothing booked to). But still it was an excellent run, and gave us all an idea (or a reminder!) of what it was like back when Deltics ruled the line.

The leg to Newcastle was awesome. But I loved the run up the S and C as well.

 

[yorkie]

cool so your the one that was giving me the thing about denby dale to sunderland ticket and how i could save loads yeh?

Yes that's right. I was originally told you were from Brighouse! West Yorkshire to Sunderland can be brought down to well under half the price simply by splitting at Micklefield/Church Fenton/Hartlepool. Our ticketing system is crazy, but fortunately the Fares & ticketing section here can prevent you being ripped off ever again!

 

[leewoods60019]

and half fare on top of that! would i buy the tickets for return so i return the route? or would i single each way?

 

[theblackwatch]

The Mk2s were definitely used by XC. Not sure about the Mk3s, I'd assume West Coast originally but more recently Wrexham & Shropshire (there was a bit of a giveaway on the buffet car )

There were some MkIII vehicles in the train which are, internally, identical to those used in HSTs. If coach K was first class then I believe you travelled in a Mk3. (There are some slight technical differences, for example they have different electrical supplies).

The First Class and Kitchen Cars (G upwards) were all Mk. 3 vehicles. Coaches H, J, K and L were Mk. 3b vehicles built in the mid-1980s for use on the West Coast Main Line and were officially called Pullmans - although in reality they differed very little to other loco-hauled Mk. 3 First Class coaches.

Of the two kitchen cars, 10202 (coach X) was actually built as a HST restaurant car and used on the East Coast Main Line as part of 254004 (it was numbered 40504). After a while in store in was converted to loco-hauled stock for the WCML in the mid 1980s - as mentioned there were major electrical differences between HST coaches and loco-hauled Mk. 3s, in addition the couplings were different and the HST examples had no buffers. The other RFM, 10246, was a WCML vehicle (built as 10014) until the Pendolinos came along and ousted the Mk. 3s from there.