23 March 06 - Bristol Barton Hill
The loco today moved with the support coach from Tyseley to EWS's Bristol Barton Hill depot ready for the next 4 railtours.
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25 March 06 - The Red Dragon
The first rail tour of 2006 for 6024 turned out to be one of the finest demonstrations of power that the loco has produced in preservation and despite the weather was an excellent run. There were several testing climbs on this route and driver Paul Burns quickly got us on the move and over the first climb of the day, the 1 in 75 of Filton Bank. Despite adverse signals at the bottom the loco continued to accelerate its 12 coach load all the way up the hill. Checked prior to Severn Tunnel Junction, the loco arrived at Newport for its booked water stop only slightly down on schedule. Away on time from Newport, the tour arrived at Cardiff only to find a failed unit blocking our path to the Vale of Glamorgan line. After a 20 minute delay we were on the move again and while passing Barry were joined alongside by the Vale of Glamorgan Railway's tank engine running on their track. Soon past Barry the weather took a turn for the worse and as we headed to the next climb from Aberthaw power station up to St Athan a light rain was falling. Again the loco took the climb in her stride with only one or two slips and we were soon at Bridgend and back onto the mainline, running quickly up to Stormy sidings before the descent to Port Talbot and the next water stop. Here we had a crew change and Newport's Tom Rees took the regulator with Fred Lewis firing. A noisy restart stopped the local shoppers in their tracks and we were soon at our next booked stop at Neath. The rain had become very heavy now and the departure from Neath put us straight onto Skewen bank. The noise from the front end was awesome, reverberating off the house's and valleys as we stormed up the 1 in 83 hill before the run downhill to the avoiding line at Landore and then onto Cockett Bank. Speed restrictions here meant there was no run at the hill and as the loco returned to the mainline she slipped twice before coming to a halt on the 1 in 52 slope. A quick check to clear a blocked front sander, the regulator was opened to a thunderous roar from the chimney and the train began to move. In a truly fantastic display the loco showed her great ability to keep her feet in terrible conditions, not only lifting the 450 ton train away but then continuing to accelerate up the bank, through the tunnel and on our way. The servicing stop at Carmarthen took longer than expected, a knock on from the late arrival, time taken to turn, coal, water, find a dry cleaners, etc... With the rain sodden support crew on board the train departed about 40 minutes late. The East bound ascent of Cockett Bank again produced some sure footed climbing; just the single slip and we held time to the servicing stop at Port Talbot. Another change of crew, this time Geoff Ewans driving and some smart watering saw us claw back 15 mins and Geoff soon had us up and over Stormy bank, through Cardiff and into Newport only 30mins behind time. Again, quick servicing saw us gain back more time, and we headed to the last test of the day, the 6 mile climb from the bottom of Severn Tunnel to Patchway. The 1 in 100 slope was taken with ease and with a short signal delay at Filton we arrived into Bristol Temple Meads about 10 minutes late.
04 March 06 - Tyseley
With all the major jobs on the loco now complete, the day was spent mostly getting prepared for another season of railtours. There's plenty to sort out as we will be away from Tyseley until the 13th May (leaving on the 23rd March), when we'll be based in the EWS depot at Bristol Barton Hill, so we have to take all our consumables, etc with us. After a snowy start 6024 was pulled out of her shed into the sunshine (Click here) whilst Tim & Dave emptied the shed pit of ash (Click here) so that the bolier could be emptied into it for a final washout before the lastest turns. Even our Chairman couldn't resist the lure of some manual labour.! (Click here).