Vintage Trains’ season off to a troubled start
Locomotive failures – including on flagship – and paperwork issues hit first tours
THE summer season for Midlands-based railtour operator Vintage Trains got off to an inauspicious start after the failure of its flagship steam loco GWR 4-6-0 No. 7029 Clun Castle, a ‘control’ issue, and then the failure and subsequent cancellation of a trip to Llandudno just two miles from its Tyseley base.
The discovery of a superheater header leak on Clun Castle just before a test run from Tyseley to Stratford-upon-Avon led to the loco being declared a failure, and a press launch special on July 29 was operated instead by Class 20 No. 20189 and
Class 47 No. 47773. These locos also worked a circular trip to Leicester on the same evening.
Control issue
The ‘Castle’ would remain sidelined for several weeks in August while repairs were completed. So for the first of the season’s ‘Shakespeare Express’ trips on August 1, No. 20189 partnered No. 20227, and again on August 8.
The same 20s were used on August 4 to haul the ‘Jolly Fisherman’ tour from Tyseley to Skegness. However, the trip was unexpectedly halted at Nuneaton as a result of the emergence of a ‘paperwork irregularity’.
Network Rail said the train could proceed no further, as there was no consist – which lists the locos and vehicles in the train – on the computer system
It was also discovered no one was providing a ‘control’ function. Every charter train provider partners with a licensed operator to provide the ‘control’ function and liaise with Network Rail’s national control as and when necessary. Exceptions to this are West Coast Railway Company and Locomotive Services Ltd, which provide their own control function.
Up to the previous weekend, the control had been handled on VT’s behalf by DB Cargo, but this agreement lapsed on August 2. At the time of the incident, even Network Rail’s Customer Releations Executive for charters still believed control was with DB Cargo.
Consequently the train spent more than two hours in platform 7 at Nuneaton as attempts were made to find a resolution.
In the end, Rail Operations Group (ROG), a previous provider of the service to Vintage Trains, agreed to the request and the Class 20s were allowed to resume their journey at 10.20, some 131 mins late.
Blocked platform
With Nuneaton’s platform 7 blocked by the charter, a number of eastbound CrossCountry trains towards Leicester were forced to use platform six, but no delays were incurred. Vintage Trains has confirmed ROG will also provide control for the remainder of its 2021 programme.
There was a further minor incident when an axle on No. 20227 triggered a ‘wheelchex’ detector north of Leicester – a device that measures the impact on the track – and the loco was subject to examination at Skegness.
The ‘Jolly Fisherman’ arrived at its seaside destination at 13.51, having reduced the lost time deficit to 72 mins. The return trip was incident-free.
Another seaside day trip on August 11, this time taking Nos. 20142 and 20189 to Llandudno on the ‘Saint Tudno’ Express, came to grief soon after leaving Tyseley. No. 20142 was making unexpected emergency brake applications and, after a number of these, the train came finally to a stand in the Bordesley loop having covered just 2½ miles.
Unable to troubleshoot the problem – which later turned out to be an electrical short circuit – the train was declared a failure and No. 20227 was brought from Tyseley to drag the train back. With no other loco available, the trip was cancelled and passengers sent home. Refunds were being arranged.
While a succession of bad luck like this is very unusual,
The RM has been made aware of criticism over a lack of communications to passengers waiting at Walsall and Wolverhampton during the time the train was being delayed at Bordesley, and also that VT’s social media pages failed to carry any updates.