Main Line Steam in Hampshire.

[Lrd]

That's not necessarily true - it depends what sort of a 'failed train' we're talking about. When an AC loco/unit brings down half a mile of wires on the WCML/ECML, it can cause hours and hours of heavy delays for huge numbers of people - and this happens depressingly often. It too might indeed be running ECS or light engine, and therefore merely be 'playing at trains', as you put it.

If an AC loco or unit was running ECS or light engine somewhere, this is more than likely going to be a much needed positioning move so said loco or unit can run in a revenue earning service. This happens every day, in an ideal world every stock move will be in a revenue earning service but this just isn't possible, unless you want to do maintenance on them in the termini instead of the depots.

No one *needs* a steam engine to run, it is just a hobby and should be kept off major revenue earning routes such as the ECML because people actually *need* these. Exactly as 4SRKT says, I would much prefer to take a steam train over the Settle + Carlisle instead of the dull ECML. If a steam engine needs to go over these routes then they should be hauled by something that is used all day, every day. Which also means that the loco doing the hauling, will be in a revenue earning service.

 

[GearJammer]

I could be wrong but i believe an ashpan was left open on one of the locos, which was the cause of the fires, so not a failure of the steam loco's, more human error, which can happen with any kind of traction.

Oh, incidently, im a trucker, and it annoys me when i get caught up in traffic on a motorway only to find a car and carravan has crashed, now my boss has 50 trucks, all can get caught up in these accidents, so going on the same argument should'nt non essential vehicle movements such as caravans be banned from motorways? No of corse not, and nor should steam be banned from major routes, its a daft argument, to say somebody is more important than someone else on any form of route is just ignorance.

 

[4SRKT]

I could be wrong but i believe an ashpan was left open on one of the locos, which was the cause of the fires, so not a failure of the steam loco's, more human error, which can happen with any kind of traction.

Oh, incidently, im a trucker, and it annoys me when i get caught up in traffic on a motorway only to find a car and carravan has crashed, now my boss has 50 trucks, all can get caught up in these accidents, so going on the same argument should'nt non essential vehicle movements such as caravans be banned from motorways? No of corse not, and nor should steam be banned from major routes, its a daft argument, to say somebody is more important than someone else on any form of route is just ignorance.

I agree with you about roads, but railways are not public access routes and therefore no comparison with roads, so it's not 'ignorance' at all. It is already the case that some traffics are more important than others on the railways, otherwise slow moving freights or ECS workings would be let out in front of HSTs etc if they happened to turn up first, which clearly they are not in order to ensure the smooth running of the timetable. It doesn't make any sense to compare road transport operations with railways.

Also, how can an ashpan being left open 'happen with any kind of traction'? I appreciate that you meant human error can happen, but given that steam locomotives are carrying large amounts of naked flames, the capacity for human error is much greater, and the potential consequences much more severe.

 

[45669]

Following the very sad incident in France last Sunday, last week wasn't a very good one for main line steam enthusiasts.

Nevertheless, the double headed combination of Tangmere and Britannia racing down the L&SWR main line this morning caused some encouraging resposes from by-standers on platforms as they sped through. A young lady at Fleet, certainly not a gricer, trainspotter or railway enthusiast of any kind, commented on what a fantastic sight, and sound, it was.

Anyway, if anybody can bring themselves to look at a couple of pictures, they're in the 'Strop Press!' Collection, here :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/train-pix/collections/72157627090322278/

See the Set dated 4th September.

This is the Collection where all the new pictures go for the first month or so to make them easier to find amongst all the existing pictures. They can also be found in the 'Main Line' Collection, here : http://www.flickr.com/photos/train-pix/collections/72157627155603462/

I do hope that at least some of you will find them of interest.

 

[4SRKT]

My father was at the NRM today and one of the volunteers working at the Rocket replica thing handed him a flyer for main line steam between York and Shildon (at £30 return a bargain BTW). When he saw that Sir Lamiel and Oliver Cromwell were in the pool of locos he said to the chap (tongue firmly in cheek) that he hoped they wouldn't set fire to the lineside. Clearly recognising the allusion, the volunteer guy suddenly got a bit embarrassed!

Nice pictures BTW. Where is that miniature railway? I really must make an effort to get on the Hythe Pier Railway some day.

 

[45669]

My father was at the NRM today and one of the volunteers working at the Rocket replica thing handed him a flyer for main line steam between York and Shildon (at £30 return a bargain BTW). When he saw that Sir Lamiel and Oliver Cromwell were in the pool of locos he said to the chap (tongue firmly in cheek) that he hoped they wouldn't set fire to the lineside. Clearly recognising the allusion, the volunteer guy suddenly got a bit embarrassed!

Nice pictures BTW. Where is that miniature railway? I really must make an effort to get on the Hythe Pier Railway some day.

I visited three miniature railways during our week away; the Eastleigh Lakeside Railway at Eastleigh, the Exbury Gardens Railway near Beaulieu and the Moors Valley Railway near Ringwood.

All fairly close together and well worth visiting if down that way.

Lots more pictures to be added to Flickr as time permits.

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

Following the very sad incident in France last Sunday, last week wasn't a very good one for main line steam enthusiasts.

Nevertheless, the double headed combination of Tangmere and Britannia racing down the L&SWR main line this morning caused some encouraging resposes from by-standers on platforms as they sped through. A young lady at Fleet, certainly not a gricer, trainspotter or railway enthusiast of any kind, commented on what a fantastic sight, and sound, it was.

Anyway, if anybody can bring themselves to look at a couple of pictures, they're in the 'Strop Press!' Collection, here :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/train-pix/collections/72157627090322278/

See the Set dated 4th September.

This is the Collection where all the new pictures go for the first month or so to make them easier to find amongst all the existing pictures. They can also be found in the 'Main Line' Collection, here : http://www.flickr.com/photos/train-pix/collections/72157627155603462/

I do hope that at least some of you will find them of interest.

What was the sad incident in France last weekend?

 

[Roylang]

What was the sad incident in France last weekend?

I guess it is a comment in relation to this http://railways.national-preservation.com/showthread.php/32449-241P17-Severe-Accident

Roy

 

[45669]

A locomotive driver had to be air lifted to hospital with severe scalding. It appears as though a steam pipe in the cab burst although I haven't seen any official announcements as yet.

Here is a report in a sort of English; it's a computer translation so not 100% accurate :

http://translate.google.co.uk/trans...urail.fr/unecto/communique_241p17.htm&act=url

If it helps, here is the original French version :

http://www.lafrancevuedurail.fr/unecto/communique_241p17.htm

Another report in French is here :

http://www.lejsl.com/faits-divers/2011/08/29/deux-brules-graves-dans-la-locomotive-241p17

The driver is likely to be in hosptal for some time. A very unfortunate incident.

 

[Spamcan81]

Hopefully the main line steam in Hampshire won't be like the main line steam in Yorkshire that has totally ballsed up the ECML this afternoon.

We may have been 'totally spoilt with main line steam' recently, but now it's time for main line steam to totally spoil today for hundreds of thousands of people, all so a bunch of old men can pretend the real world doesn't exist.

It's time this nonsense was banned from the main line, unless the operators are prepared to accept that if they cause miles of lineside fires and thousands and thousands of individual delay hours, then they must compensate all affected passengers, TOCs and NR in full. Even then, is it really worth the aggravation?

Complete and utter garbage. You may like to reflect upon the fact that while the fires were causing problems, further south an ECT IC225 failed at Peterborough and completely ballsed up the northbound ECML.

 

[45669]

... all so a bunch of old men can pretend the real world doesn't exist./QUOTE]

For the benefit of any old men in the bunch previously mentioned that might be interested, the last of the regular weekly Dorset Coast Expresses ran yesterday with Oliver Cromwell in charge.

Well, for most of the way 70013 was in charge. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on your point of view, a diesel thingy had to be be used for part of the return journey because there was only one real engine available and 'Ollie' had to work both ways.

I have put some pictures of the train passing through Fleet on my Flickr site, and this includes both the locos. - steam and diesel. Here's the link for anyone interested to see them. They're in the Set dated 21st September :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/train-pix/collections/72157627090322278/

This is the Collection where all the new pictures go for the first month or so. They are, however, also in the 'Main Line' Collection which is here : http://www.flickr.com/photos/train-pix/collections/72157627155603462/

I do hope that at least some of you find them of interest.