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'Royal Scot' on Charter at Worcester 28 Oct. 2017.

Posted: 16:16 Saturday 28th October 2017
by TimBrown
A selection of photos taken of LMS 46100 'Royal Scot' working a charter into Worcester from Paddington Saturday 28 Oct 2017, some of these shots taken into the sun are a bit dark but the steam effects are a small consolation. 60103 'Flying Scotsman' was originally booked for this run, however 'Royal Scot' is a worthy replacement in my eyes with its purposeful chunky appearance. I am old enough to remember these locomotives charging through Tamworth Low Level at speeds of up to 80 MPH with trains as long as 14 coaches up and down the West Coast Main line between Euston and the North West in the 1950s and early 1960s.
28 October 2017 Shrub Hill. 105.jpg
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28 October 2017 Foregate Street. 120.jpg
28 October 2017 Foregate Street. 123.jpg

Re: 'Royal Scot' on Charter at Worcester 28 Oct. 2017.

Posted: 17:22 Saturday 28th October 2017
by Adam V
I was meant to be the Station Chargeman this afternoon but i booked the dqy off! Nice pictures though Tim.

Re: 'Royal Scot' on Charter at Worcester 28 Oct. 2017.

Posted: 09:39 Sunday 29th October 2017
by chason
Thanks for some excellent pictures of a fine locomotive, Adam. I particularly liked the one at Shrub Hill with the semaphore signals (although of course the loco would have been more familiar with upper quadrant, rather than those of the GWR lower variety!).

The picture with the lush weed strewn track at Foregate Street highlights the worst of todays railways. Even if they can't be bothered to get rid of them between stations, you would have thought that they could have done something about them between the platforms where they are so highly visible.

Re: 'Royal Scot' on Charter at Worcester 28 Oct. 2017.

Posted: 09:49 Sunday 29th October 2017
by Adam V
The infrastructure around the Worcester area is in a poor state. It's quite frustrating with the lack of TLC and investment.

As for the semaphores, we have definitely got them for another 8 years and probably longer.

Re: 'Royal Scot' on Charter at Worcester 28 Oct. 2017.

Posted: 09:08 Tuesday 31st October 2017
by chason
Sorry, Tim - just realised I thanked the wrong person for the Royal Scot photos.

They reminded me a bit of my trips to Shrub Hill in the late 1950's and early 60's to see The Devonian (Bradford to Paignton train) which used to call at around 2:15 pm I think. It was usually hauled by a Jubilee, the only named LM engines we used to see in the area.

Curiously, the northbound service travelled via Spetchley thus missing out Shrub Hill.

At least in those days there was never a weed in sight on the track!

Re: 'Royal Scot' on Charter at Worcester 28 Oct. 2017.

Posted: 17:59 Tuesday 31st October 2017
by TimBrown
chason wrote:
09:08 Tuesday 31st October 2017
Sorry, Tim - just realised I thanked the wrong person for the Royal Scot photos.

They reminded me a bit of my trips to Shrub Hill in the late 1950's and early 60's to see The Devonian (Bradford to Paignton train) which used to call at around 2:15 pm I think. It was usually hauled by a Jubilee, the only named LM engines we used to see in the area.

Curiously, the northbound service travelled via Spetchley thus missing out Shrub Hill.

At least in those days there was never a weed in sight on the track!
I can remember The Devonian running through Worcester very often with Patriot Class 45509 'The Derbyshire Yeomanry' or 45519 'Lady Godiva' in charge. A friend of mine says that he could always tell if a Patriot was on the train by the clouds of thick black smoke approaching from afar! They were not beautiful engines but had an abundance of character and ability to haul the heaviest trains unassisted up the steep gradients such as Shap and Beattock on the West Coast main line. Very much looking forward to seeing new build 45551 'The Unknown Warrior' on the main line sometime in late 2018 or early 2019.

I forgot to mention the brand new semaphore signal in the one photograph of 46100 'Royal Scot' passing the signal box, in previous submissions to this site I had erroneously reported it as a modern colour light signal, so any comments about modernisation of Shrub Hill infrastructure slightly exaggerated!

Re: 'Royal Scot' on Charter at Worcester 28 Oct. 2017.

Posted: 08:59 Wednesday 1st November 2017
by chason
Do you know I had completely forgotton about the Devonian being sometimes Patriot hauled although I still believe it was more usually a Jubilee.

I can remember the slightly odd difference in routing between south and northbound trains because my grandparents lived in Leeds and when I used to go and stay with them in the school holidays, I had to change at New Street on the way there but could come back direct to Shrub Hill.

Re: 'Royal Scot' on Charter at Worcester 28 Oct. 2017.

Posted: 11:20 Wednesday 1st November 2017
by Adam V
Regarding the signal that was replaced at the South end of platform 1A at Shrub Hill Tim, you originally would have been correct, it was planned to be a colour light signal along with the new one at Wylds Lane bridge. But when i returned from annual leave it turned out the be a semaphore. The 'new' semaphore arm came second hand from Banbury when it got re-signalled.

Re: 'Royal Scot' on Charter at Worcester 28 Oct. 2017.

Posted: 18:36 Friday 17th November 2017
by MattW
Great pictures. I agree about the state of the track etc though, its pretty shocking.

I'm still on the list to work for London Midland, so who knows I might be driving on it next year.