European Railroad Discussion > Great Britain XI

This set of pictures will be about a round UK tour. This year is "Great Britain XI". It usually goes up to Scotland, touches Wales,visits somewhere in the southwest and returns to London.

Yesterday was the penultimate day. The train started in South Wales with the "Black 5" 45212 on the front and, with a diesel on the rear for insurance, it came through the Severn tunnel. It dropped the diesel in Bristol and passed though Bath and Westbury to Castle Cary then down the branch to Yeovil Pen Mill and up to Yeovil Junction where there is a turntable.

In the meantime 31806 came out of Swanage smokebox first to Wareham where it reversed and ran to Weymouth. In Weymouth it reversed again and running smokebox first went to Pen Mill where it reversed again to get to the Junction arriving tender first.

GB XI was heading for Swanage and they wanted 31806 to lead into Swanage. Therefore they ran 31806 on the turntable and attached it to the train so it would lead to Swanage. THEN they turned 45212 and put it on the other end.

Leaving the Junction 45212 led to Pen Mill, 31806 led to Weymouth, 45212 led to Wareham and 31806 led to Swanage (in each case the leading engine was smokebox first).

A little more complicated than it need have been but then this was the first tour 31806 has been involved in having just completed an overhaul.

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More

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Now we move to Maiden Newton

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Still at Maiden Newton

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And the finale at Maiden Newton.

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I chased the GBIV with a friend from Scotland. Great fun. Note the matched passenger consist and lack of diesel assist. And access to very busy Network Rail mainlines. Just shows it can be done. No ban on special movements there. But go while you can. As is shown here, things can change quickly.

Very nice to see Southern U class 31806 out on the mainline, it has a secret history - it was originally one of Richard Maunsell's handsome but flawed River class 2-6-4Ts.

andersonb109 Wrote:
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>
> Great fun. Note the matched passenger consist and
> lack of diesel assist. And access to very busy
> Network Rail mainlines. Just shows it can be done.
> No ban on special movements there. But go while
> you can. As is shown here, things can change
> quickly.

Repeat post, rinse, repeat post. It is starting to get tiring!

andersonb109 Wrote:
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> I chased the GBIV with a friend from Scotland.
> Great fun. Note the matched passenger consist and
> lack of diesel assist. And access to very busy
> Network Rail mainlines. Just shows it can be done.
> No ban on special movements there. But go while
> you can. As is shown here, things can change
> quickly.

I am sure Hartington can supply specifics, but main line steam was banned in the UK for awhile.
Cannot remember if it was on BR or NR watch, but it happened.

I'm not sure I can offer a fully researched answer but I'll try.

British Railways sold the locomotive Flying Scotsman with rights to operate on the network. Later they completed their plan to remove steam from their operations and announced they wouldn't allow any more steam operations. The owner of Flying Scotsman invoked his contract and BR "made an exception".

Where I get a bit woolly is quite what caused them to change their mind and allow steam. I'm pretty sure it happened before privatisation and that therefore it was BR that did it.

Life is not always rosy however. uksteam.info lists all the planned tours. It's instructive to look back and see how many were cancelled because Network Rail couldn't provide paths or how many only get clearance in the last few days before departure. I fear this year may not be the best one - the timetable is usually validated and published 12 weeks in advance, if only to allow the sale of "advance" tickets. At the moment that window is 4 weeks and fragile.

There are other issues. One is fires. There are times when the fire risk is deemed "high" and Network Rail ban steam operations which usually means diesel haulage. Another is the use of diesels for insurance. I've never worked out a pattern. Happily the diesel is (almost) always on the rear of the train. That said there are occasions where no turning facilities exist at the destination and the whole train has to be diesel hauled back to a point where the steam loco can take a different route back to the originating point.

Can I just fill in a few gaps in your excellent explanation of the situation? Sadly, I am old enough to remember it all rather too well!

British Rail ran their last regular steam operation in August 1968, while Alan Pegler had been owner of the flying Scotsman since 1963, and it had been running after restoration since 1965. I have a feeling (I might be wrong) that other privately owned engines were not permitted to run on the mainline since sometime in 1966 or 1967, in spite of the existence of regular BR operations until 68. It was quite clear at the time that British Rail did not wish to promote the image associated with steam trains, and to try and put them behind them As being relics from the past.

I recall that Pegler's deal to continue running the Flying Scotsman expired after about five years and so there was a short period when no steam locos were permitted at all. At around the same time, a number of major preserved branch lines were beginning operation. However, it was not that long afterwards, in around 1971, that they relented to permit special trains over a few designated routes, including the Settle and Carlisle line, the Welsh borders route and a few others. All of these were identified as having tourist potential, plenty of capacity, and largely at that time mechanical signalling. While the engines were invariably private ownership, the trains themselves were generally (but not exclusively) promoted by British Rail via their special trains unit. This arrangement carried on throughout the 1970s and 1980s, often using the large BR collection of very high quality Mark one carriages, while privatisation did not occur until 1996. Predictably, many so-called "independent" operators went bankrupt while two or three large players rode out the financial storm, cleaning up as they went along.

Today, things are rather different largely because of the very high level of regulation involved, while previously diesel locos were unheard of on a steam train unless included for heating purposes. I believe it was quite early on that BR gave up maintaining steam heating for coaching stock.

However, we have now had almost 50 years of steam special operations, which in spite of the high rate of cancellations are, I still believe, a real credit to all those involved in putting them on.

Many thanks also for your wonderful pictures, much enjoyed!



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/30/18 23:38 by spflow.

4489 Wrote:
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> andersonb109 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> >
> > Great fun. Note the matched passenger consist
> and
> > lack of diesel assist. And access to very busy
> > Network Rail mainlines. Just shows it can be
> done.
> > No ban on special movements there. But go while
> > you can. As is shown here, things can change
> > quickly.
>
> Repeat post, rinse, repeat post. It is starting
> to get tiring!


On the permanent spin cycle.

spflow Wrote:
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> Can I just fill in a few gaps in your excellent
> explanation of the situation? Sadly, I am old
> enough to remember it all rather too well!

Whilst it is certainly true that Alan Pegler was operating Flying Scotsman under his old arrangement with BR until 1969, the locomotive which really breached the steam ban was King George V in 1971, by which time Flying Scotsman was on its ill fated tour of North America. KGV was based at a steam centre in Hereford, associated with Bulmers Cider and it was the rapport between incoming BR chairman Richard Marsh and Bulmers CEO Peter Prior which loosened the red tape sufficiently to allow Bulmers to operate a promotional tour in October 1971 using some purple pullmans hauled by KGV. That was repeated later in the month and again the following year. That proved that there was both a demand for steam and that steam did not interfere with or detract from the modern image BR was attempting to project.