‘ROYAL DUCHY’ CUT SHORT DUE TO COAL SHORTAGE ON BRAUNTON

The steam section of the Railway Touring Company’s ‘Royal Duchy’ trip to Par was curtailed on September 2 because coal was not supplied for the return journey.

The trip was due to be hauled by ‘West Country’ No. 34046 Braunton (in the guise of No. 34052 Lord Dowding) between Taunton and Par in both directions, with a West Coast Railways Class 37 diesel rostered for the Bristol Taunton and return sections. However, the Bulleid ‘Pacific’ had to be taken off at Plymouth on the return leg owing to a shortage of coal in the tender and the Class 37 was called from Taunton to rescue the train. Peter Greenwood, spokesman for Locomotive Services Ltd (which manages Braunton) told Steam Railway that an expected delivery of coal at Par “never materialised”, adding that

No. 34046 would not have made it back to the West Somerset Railway (where it is currently operating between main line duties) with what was left in the tender. He added: “The train arrived at Bristol early, thus nobody was inconvenienced by a late arrival. We are most grateful for the speed with which West Coast Railways put the alternative arrangements into action.”

In a separate statement, LSL said that it “encountered logistical problems in receiving a fresh delivery of coal”. The ‘Pacific’ stabled at Laira depot and the South Devon Railway supplied coal for it to return to the WSR on September 3.

“My understanding is that it is the locomotive owner’s responsibility to determine the requirement for coal and no request was received from [LSL] to order coal,” Pat Marshall, WCR’s managing director told Steam Railway.

Kelly Osborne, operations director at RTC, said: “We are sorry for any disappointment our passengers felt due to the operational issues experienced on the ‘Royal Duchy’. We will be working closely with all parties involved to ensure that we do not have a repeat on September 16.”