Bit mixed, if I'm honest. Much pomp had been made, as the Scotsman was to 'start' its journey from my hometown, Cleethorpes Station, on Sat morning. Unfortunately, for the hundreds of people who turned up at half 5, there were a few promises made, which were not kept.
The plan: On platform 1, two carriages, with the Scotsman, netween 5.30-7.30am to then puff off, connect with the other carriages, and them steam out for its run. Unfortunately...
1 the Scotsman had
all of the carriages, we counted 8, connected. Clee station is not a long one, and an 'end of the line' station. Which end was the Loco? Yes, the FAR end, not he 'buffer' end. Meaning it was about 100ft
OUT of the station, you could see a thin sliver of green paint and some steam. Just. That was the view we all had, a small grey-white cloud!
2 Because of this one man (at least) sneaked past the barracdes, nipped up the line for a photo. This forced another regular service train to STOP. God knows what would have happened if the driver hadn't have realised, one squished train spotter. I am not saying this wasn't the man's fault - it
was - but it was precipitated by the poor placement of the Loco.
3 it left at 7.10, not 7.30 as advertised. Anyone turning up after then would miss it, which was a shame.
4 For some reason instead of being on platform 1, which is next to the old 1863 refreshment/waiting rooms/ticket office, now a very good train-themed pub, TWO whole rows of modern Transpennine engines blocked the view from the pub of the normally-empty station. The pub opened early especially for this monumentous event. If I didn't know better I'd say this was a malicious act! Instead the Scotsman and carriages were on platform 3.
I'm not making any criticism beyond what was
promised. I'm not saying 'no-one got to stand on the footplate' or 'you'd think they'd let you nick a nut or a bolt'
just wish we'd got to see her a bit better. Every other station thats he went through all got a great view, side, above, you name it, ironically, Clee should have been the best, stationary for a whole 2 hours, instead of... well, as they say, a picture says a thousand words...
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Topic: Steam loco (Read 3894 times)