Anyone going on the trips tomorrow?
--
Roland Perry

Roland Perry wrote:
Anyone going on the trips tomorrow?

I went on the first one today, departure was delayed for quite a while as
something went wrong .
I cannot confirm but the rumour was that Sarah Siddons lost or suffered
damaged shoe gear which had to be fixed.
Still the Sun was out and people seemed quite stoical and I personally did
not witness anyone getting the grump. The first train ran very close in
the slot of the 2nd and TFL created a later slot for the third.

As can be imagined there were many “ normals “ reaching for phone devices
to record what they were seeing
having been alerted by station announcements and I believe some from train
drivers as well.
Witnessed an act of consideration when the driver of an inbound service
train into Ealing Broadway platform 8 realising that a lot people were
still jostling to get some photos of the special on platform 9 stopped
short for a few moments so their view wasn’t blocked.

When the trips were advertised I initially baulked at the cost of a trip
but later thought what the eck and bought one, partly because the West end
of the District holds a lot of memories.
Today I looked down on a recreation ground near Turnham Green where 60
years ago I stood on top of a slide
to get a better view of a Steam train passing. The prefabs that used to be
there as well have long gone.


GH

In message , at 20:54:42 on Sat, 22
Jun 2019, Marland remarked:
Roland Perry wrote:

Anyone going on the trips tomorrow?

I went on the first one today,

I'm on the middle one today.

departure was delayed for quite a while as something went wrong .

Saw that on the wires yesterday. Hopefully whatever the fix was, will
last the whole weekend.
--
Roland Perry

Roland Perry wrote:
Anyone going on the trips tomorrow?

The Times report:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/mind-the-soot-tube-ride-to-the-past-n3fflhnjj?shareToken=ba4a2bbcd9ed7c9d0229bb423dde6 8bd

I'm curious why it didn't go on the original District line, through South
Ken and on to Whitechapel? The route they did use was largely overground
(indeed, on viaduct), and some near High St Ken was only covered long after
the original opening.

Recliner wrote:
Roland Perry wrote:
Anyone going on the trips tomorrow?

The Times report:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/mind-the-soot-tube-ride-to-the-past-n3fflhnjj?shareToken=ba4a2bbcd9ed7c9d0229bb423dde6 8bd

I'm curious why it didn't go on the original District line, through South
Ken and on to Whitechapel? The route they did use was largely overground
(indeed, on viaduct), and some near High St Ken was only covered long after
the original opening.


Too much risk of disruption to the main services of the District and Circle
if something went awry?

A good part of the route used is duplicated by the Piccadilly so could act
as a relief for ordinary travellers
if the District services got seriously disrupted, admittedly a hiccup
between Earls Court and High Street Ken
would be disruptive but that is a fairly short section.

I am not familiar with the stations at the Eastern end of the District to
know what Stations are suitable to stable a train long enough for it to be
rewatered , temporary tanks had been erected both at Ealing Broadway and
High Street Ken and while that is happening you need to allow for the smoke
to escape.
At High street Ken the position of the steam loco meant it was in the open
but even so there was some drift
and observing that while most normal travellers were interested in the
historic train in front of them to take photos there were some who by their
exaggerated actions in putting hands over nose and eyes did not appreciate
coal smoke, some oriental looking people even whipped a couple of those
face masks they often wear while cycling or walking etc.
While the previous specials on the Met did go further into tunnelled
sections it is nearly 5 years since Hammersmith and City 150 and I would
not be surprised to find the general publics attitude to being subjected
involuntarily to smoke has hardened a bit. It would only take a few
extremists to kick off that TFL the organisation that administrators the
emission zones then allows such a train to pollute through poorly vented
stations to spoil the party.

Like most Newspaper reports there is the odd gaff that the general reader
won’t notice or really care about,

Liverpudlians may well dispute the claim that London had the only
subterranean Railway in the world as the Mersey Railway was known to be a
smoky experience as well and was electrified a tad before the London
subsurface lines as people were preferring to use the ferries.

And the Times reported the Steam Loco lead on the Journey in and the
Electric out.
Completely wrong to what was planned and happened, not an earth shattering
mistake but just another example of something you do know is wrong making
you wonder what else is wrong about things you don’t know about.

Interesting comments by one of the passengers who reckoned the train was
more comfortable than modern ones, I thought the complete opposite, while
there was definitely an ambience that was interesting for a pleasure ride
the compartment on the Chesham set I was in was cramped and hot ,for HC
150 I got a place in the jubilee coach which was a bit more spacious but
still quite confining.

For everyday use on an intensely used railway the S stock is a much better
travelling experience.


GH

In message , at 08:49:38 on Mon, 24 Jun
2019, Recliner remarked:
Roland Perry wrote:
Anyone going on the trips tomorrow?

The Times report:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/m...e-to-the-past-
n3fflhnjj?shareToken=ba4a2bbcd9ed7c9d0229bb423dde 68bd

I'm curious why it didn't go on the original District line, through South
Ken and on to Whitechapel? The route they did use was largely overground
(indeed, on viaduct), and some near High St Ken was only covered long after
the original opening.

I'm sure it was a result of wanting to make as many trips per day as
possible. According to the steward in our carriage, there's a 10mph
speed limit approaching every station for this sort of train and the 2hr
return trip diagram (to include boarding and detraining) was plenty long
enough.

A longer trip would also have interrupted the normal service too much
(given the slow progress of the steam train).

We brushed shoulders with all three of the character-actors in that
photo, and there were a few more, including a Policeman, and of course
the band.

As for smoke-amd-smells, there was none, and one could be forgiven for
thinking they weren't burning coal at all (they didn't say). Plenty of
steam, and chuff-chuff noises, though.

The only part that wasn't in daylight was from Earl Court station to
outside South Ken. On the first half of the trip we stopped numerous
times in that darkness.
--
Roland Perry

In message , at 11:00:18 on Mon, 24
Jun 2019, Marland remarked:

At High street Ken the position of the steam loco meant it was in the open

But even the under-the-canopy engine in their shot of Ealing Broadway is
completely devoid of any smoke or steam.
--
Roland Perry

On 24/06/2019 14:25, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 11:00:18 on Mon, 24
Jun 2019, Marland remarked:

At High street Ken the position of the steam loco meant it was in the
open

But even the under-the-canopy engine in their shot of Ealing Broadway is
completely devoid of any smoke or steam.

They've found some condensing tanks?

--
Graeme Wall
This account not read.

Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 11:00:18 on Mon, 24
Jun 2019, Marland remarked:

At High street Ken the position of the steam loco meant it was in the open

But even the under-the-canopy engine in their shot of Ealing Broadway is
completely devoid of any smoke or steam.

At Ealing Broadway platform 9 as you know having used it was set side for
travellers on the special and a few others in connection with it, the
normal passengers were not deposited alongside down a stairway on to the
platform or off a service train on the other face of an Island Platform and
even at Ealing the canopy is nice and high ,same with Earls Court. That’s
why I used the term poorly vented ones rather than completely open,but
further East along the District main line how far do you have to go to
reach such a station able to turn around a steam special. Barking maybe
and that may have been too far to run more then one or possibly two round
trips.

The engine crew did keep the smoke emission to a minimum but on the trip I
did there was definitely some while doing the turnaround at High Street Ken
and a little at Ealing Broadway.
Perhaps there was not as much need to build up the fire at Ealing as Sarah
Siddons would be hauling the train out leaving plenty of time to put coal
on once clear of the canopy.

That you didn’t have any just means that conditions for your trip were
different than mine.

Anyhow , did you enjoy your outing?


GH

In message , at 14:33:20 on Mon, 24 Jun
2019, Graeme Wall remarked:
At High street Ken the position of the steam loco meant it was in
the open
But even the under-the-canopy engine in their shot of Ealing
Broadway is completely devoid of any smoke or steam.

They've found some condensing tanks?

I don't know what remediation they have, but my close-up video of the
loco arriving at Ealing Broadway has absolutely no smoke, and just a
small amount of steam escaping from the safety valves. No steam from the
traction gear.

Examples from this video (not mine, I wish he'd buy some image
stabilising software!) eg at 1:15, 3:20, a little smoke at 5:10, not
much at 11:45, 14:40, 16:30.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBK9Q9t03d4
--
Roland Perry