A huge shame that Network Rail's lack of maintenance in allowing branches to foul the loading gauge and clip the roof level brake 'butterflies' (partly putting the brakes on) brought this train to a stand. If the diesel had not been following this would have been far worse.

Great video, thanks for sharing, nice to see the drama I missed. 🙂

@TheSouthernerYTChannel

2 ай бұрын

Thank you

if, big if, proper Welsh steaming coal had been available (no such now) the smoke would not have been thick black & the heat would have been appropriate to this anniversary outing. With the embarrassment of butterfly valves or not. Nb: The southbound steam express services ascending to Whiteball tunnel on Wellington Bank were always ‘banked’ with a steam push from Wellington. My great uncle was Foreman Ganger on the section & lived in the Beam Bridge railway cottages (long since demolished) right next to the bank when I was a child. {That was a thunderous noise for a five year old!}

@paulcaswell2813

2 ай бұрын

I'm an East Coast man, and it would have been so easy to start laughing at the GW; however, I think it was obvious that 7029 had a tenderful of bug dust here. The fact that the loco ran at all with that stuff is a miracle.

@flashpoint8909

2 ай бұрын

Bad firing or bad coal or combination, the smoke should never be black, grey a healthy fire

Nicely captured. Regards, John

@TheSouthernerYTChannel

2 ай бұрын

Thank you

Nice video man! As usual threat content from the southerner

@TheSouthernerYTChannel

2 ай бұрын

Thank you

❤ TOP JOB ❤️

Great video and I assume u saw Steam to the West there too as he got a video of the same thing. I saw her depart Plymouth and she seemed fine

Good video :)

@TheSouthernerYTChannel

2 ай бұрын

Thank you

Good old brush 47s in an emergency !!

Sorry to say it looks like poor firing or poor coal, maybe a combination of both? A castle should not be smoking like that. Thanks for the video. Excellent! Edit : On reflection though the valves were lifting, so maybe the problem lay elsewhere?

@mikeburnitt403

2 ай бұрын

What was the maximum load for a Castle up Hemerdon bank back in the day, I will give you a clue, it was one less coach than on this train!

@12crepello

2 ай бұрын

​@@mikeburnitt403 Yes I know, but "back in the day" you would rarely, if ever, see a castle throwing out muck like that! Something was not right.

@iandocwra1169

2 ай бұрын

Indeed - read the comments for the reason instead of blaming the wrong things.

Heart in the mouth moment, I can relax now!!! Why no tail end charlie in the first place?? Nicely done Matthew

@Matty_1843

2 ай бұрын

Two reasons: 1. A big selling point for this tour was lack of diesel assistance, 47773 was supposed to follow the train without being attached to it all the way to London. I don't personally care about this, since assisting diesels are normally only there for shunting purposes and only push when they have to, such as situations like this one, as well as the diesels typically matching the train and being heritage locomotives in their own right, but there's a good amount of vocal people that do take issue with them being on there and it not being there ensures the Castle is completely unassisted to anyone who would otherwise doubt. 2. Even if this wasn't the case, the South Devon Banks have very strict load requirements for steam specifically because of situations like this. The Castle's maximum permitted load over the South Devon Banks unassisted is 9, which is what it has here, 7 passenger coaches + the GUV water carrier and Support Coach for 9 coaches total. It would've barely made it over the top anyway, dragging brakes were enough to make it stall. The 47's weight would push it over that unassisted limit.

@mikeburnitt403

2 ай бұрын

@@Matty_1843 I thought Castles were 8 coaches and Kings were 9?

@mikeburnitt403

2 ай бұрын

47773 was following the Charter just in case this happened, it was sorted very quickly with zero affect on any other operators services.

@Matty_1843

2 ай бұрын

Nope, Castles can have 9, that's the load 7029 has here. I think it's different depending on if it's a single or double chimney one, so 5029 might be limited to Load 8 but 7029 and 5043 can take 9.

@TheSouthernerYTChannel

2 ай бұрын

@bobingram6912 One of the selling points for the tour was the fact it would be unassisted over the Devon banks in both directions. Thankfully, Vintage Trains do keep their Class 47 nearby on excursions should something like this occur. Cheers!

I know how it feels!

@stevengrimshaw8072

2 ай бұрын

Love that reply

Hemerdon, wrecker of trains. What a shame, such a valiant effort but it was not to be, still excellent work for a 74 year old though👍

@iandocwra1169

2 ай бұрын

It wasn't the bank that did it, it was branches clipping coach roof level brake 'butterflies', partly applying the brakes.

@user-bq2go4hs3v

2 ай бұрын

My dad used to say one ton of. Coal to get up hemerdon bank

Looking at the black smoke that's not Welsh anthracite coal 🤔

@mikeburnitt403

2 ай бұрын

Where can you get Welsh anthracite coal these days?

I know that Hemerdon is a challenge but a class 7 loco with nine on should get up there fairly easily.

@iandocwra1169

2 ай бұрын

Yes, unless the brakes are applied by tree branches, then there is no chance.

Safety valves were lifting so what was the problem?

@Watermillfilms

2 ай бұрын

Once you stop on the steepest part of the hill you’ll never be able to get started with a heavy load. I guess.

@davidbailey533

2 ай бұрын

Two of carriages had dragging brakes caused by vegetation sticking out further back

@rodneycooperLMSCoach

2 ай бұрын

@@davidbailey533 NR ought to be ashamed of themselves. Saw entrance to Lime Street the other day and it looked like a jungle. Goodness knows how much longer those walls will last.

Wow! Stuck and only pulling nine coaches. Yeah! Wrong type of coal I expect.

@TheSouthernerYTChannel

2 ай бұрын

Rumours circulating suggest that lineside foliage caught the butterfly pressure release valves for the vacuum brakes on a couple of the coaches, causing a loss of pressure; enough to drag the brakes on the effected coaches.

@iandocwra1169

2 ай бұрын

Wrong type of assumption.

The drivers and firemen have not got the experience of learning the footplate as they did in steam days. No comparison with heritage rail driving or doing it part time.

@loco42041

2 ай бұрын

Nothing to do with footplate? It's to do with something known as Route Knowledge? Not enough.

@iandocwra1169

2 ай бұрын

How does route knowledge overcome the physics of brakes being inadvertantly applied, I wonder.

How long was the delay?

@TheSouthernerYTChannel

2 ай бұрын

Roughly 30 minutes

The cloud of black smoke is a clue as to what went wrong here!

@Gingeonrails

2 ай бұрын

Agreed… over fired

@TheSouthernerYTChannel

2 ай бұрын

Raising enough steam to lift the valves though

@user-cw9qn1nb2n

2 ай бұрын

And what we don't know is what happened in the 10 minutes before you see the engine. Was there a signal check further back that ruined their run at the bank? That could also account for it, because a Class 7 engine should be capable of taking 9 coaches up Hemerdon with little trouble.

@alastairmeanley5091

11 күн бұрын

The cloud of white steam at the safety valves is a clue as to what didn't go wrong here!

@user-cw9qn1nb2n

11 күн бұрын

@@alastairmeanley5091 Not necessarily. Engines stalling on banks often lift their safety-valves, because the boiler continues to produce steam, with no way of using it. You should know that.

LMAO