Steam Dreams: the Sunset steam express 10/5/2022

[Dave S 56F]

Just been looking on national preservation and Facebook mainline steam specials around the U.K. Its been said either due to a trespass incident near Redhill, a problem with the train crew not sure if on a service train or the steam dreams tour with 61306 mayflower or I hope not a S.P.A.D. has been suggested on facebook mainline steam specials around the U.K. by someone on there the steam dreams tour was heavily delayed at Virginia waters, And 2 or 3 service trains had to be cancelled and the Steam dreams excursion had to be sent back on the route it came out via Brentford with the diesel assisting on the rear of the train to drag train back to London Vic can anyone confirm anything on the sunset steam express tour who may have been on board the tour?

 

[dingdinger]

Just been looking on national preservation and Facebook mainline steam specials around the U.K. Its been said either due to a trespass incident near Redhill, a problem with the train crew not sure if on a service train or the steam dreams tour with 61306 mayflower or I hope not a S.P.A.D. has been suggested on facebook mainline steam specials around the U.K. by someone on there the steam dreams tour was heavily delayed at Virginia waters, And 2 or 3 service trains had to be cancelled and the Steam dreams excursion had to be sent back on the route it came out via Brentford with the diesel assisting on the rear of the train to drag train back to London Vic can anyone confirm anything on the sunset steam express tour who may have been on board the tour?

Seems like it was an operational incident (I.e. spad)

 

[Dave S 56F]

Seems like it was an operational incident (I.e. spad)

Seems like resignalling work has taken place at virginia waters and the driver wasent aware that a signal had been relocated so will this be investigated by R.A.I.B. I wonder I just hope it dosent result in a outright mainline steam ban if so.

 

[dingdinger]

Seems like resignalling work has taken place at virginia waters and the driver wasent aware that a signal had been relocated so will this be investigated by R.A.I.B. I wonder I just hope it dosent result in a outright mainline steam ban if so.

Yes there has been resignalling work

 

[43066]

Seems like resignalling work has taken place at virginia waters and the driver wasent aware that a signal had been relocated so will this be investigated by R.A.I.B. I wonder I just hope it dosent result in a outright mainline steam ban if so.

Do you know for a fact that the RAIB will investigate this?

They don’t investigate SPADs normally, unless there’s some factor making them particularly dangerous. A driver being unaware of a re-signalling simply points to a lack of route knowledge.

 

[43096]

Do you know for a fact that the RAIB will investigate this?

They don’t investigate SPADs normally, unless there’s some factor making them particularly dangerous. A driver being unaware of a re-signalling simply points to a lack of route knowledge.

I read the “will this be” as implying a question rather than a statement of fact.

 

[Deepgreen]

Thread title needs correcting to 10 May. A SPAD has been cited but I haven't seen it confirmed. Re-signalling per se should not result in this as a driver (and/or fireman on steam) should be looking out at all times for signals and anything else on the road ahead, but I wasn't there and can only speculate. It's a relatively low-speed section of line. I see no reason why a steam-based SPAD should result in a steam ban any more than an electric-based one would lead to their banning.

 

[Iskra]

Was this West Coast stock and crew?

 

[43066]

I read the “will this be” as implying a question rather than a statement of fact.

Quite right, I misread it this morning, in which case apologies to @Dave S 56F.

On the face of it unlikely to be investigated, even more unlikely to mean the end of steam on the mainline.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 11 May 2022 ==

Re-signalling per se should not result in this as a driver (and/or fireman on steam) should be looking out at all times for signals and anything else on the road ahead,

A resignalling *shouldn’t* result in a SPAD, as briefings should be given to crews signing the route. If the briefing is absent, or of insufficient quality, it’s not difficult to imagine how a signal no longer being sited where the crew expect it to be could lead to a SPAD.

Having large route cards including complex areas that are rarely driven over, lack of familiarly with traction etc. also won’t help with this of course.

 

[43096]

Quite right, I misread it this morning, in which case apologies to @Dave S 56F.

On the face of it unlikely to be investigated, even more unlikely to mean the end of steam on the mainline.

I agree it’s unlikely to be investigated unless they think there’s an underlying issue around route knowledge refreshing/communication of signalling changes - the Virginia Water area has been resignalled recently.

 

[43066]

I agree it’s unlikely to be investigated unless they think there’s an underlying issue around route knowledge refreshing/communication of signalling changes - the Virginia Water area has been resignalled recently.

The briefings are often surprisingly poor and of course the SWR metro network is also one one of the worst for short signal sections, following other trains etc. In fact I did the Royal Windsor trip myself last year and thought at the time it must be a real pig of a route to drive a steam loco on.

 

[Idiotic]

Remember this is West Coast Railways were talking about . It was indeed a spad at Virginia Water on the down Chertsey. The signal the SPAD occurred is the new starting signal on Platform 4.

 

[trainmania100]

Im unfamiliar with Virginia Water nor a driver but if the spad was on a signal in the station surely this would have been a rather obvious place to expect a red signal at danger anyway, if the previous signal was a single yellow?

Not that I'm certain it is a spad but given the abundance of memes all over Facebook pointing to spad that's what I assume...(example attached)