If anything, the Flying Scotsman (money pit) is probably more Police resource hungry!
Yes, but it's not otherwise at 99.99999999999% capacity!
No, its still rampant. The media also stlll almost invariably call the loco 'The Flying Scotsman' too!
What do we think the railway is for? Having spare capacity everywhere in case once a year there might be a royal train or other special is a waste of either money or capacity.
I disagree. By that logic, the United Kingdom painted A321neo means no one is too good to catch an easyJet A321neo.
Why?
How silly!
Why?
Yeah but sadly a helicopter (which is what they will end up using) isn’t
Didn't it used to be a thing? Along with a pilot loco running ahead (still the practice in some other countries).
A private train isn't exactly comparable to scheduled services (which I'm sure that the royals will continue to use). If anything a private train suggests that they are averse to mixing with the masses, though at least the trips to Kings Lynn dispel that.
It was two trains a year last year, let's not get over dramatic about the impact on DB Cargo.
I’ve witnessed the royal train for many many years, never once seen police on a bridge.
In my days with RES/EWS it certainly wasn't planned "as per a regular charter train". As a sort of Team Leader on charters I was the lowest form of life allowed anywhere near it, and then only if three other people were absent (and I had to have security clearance - which I passed!).
I lived next to the Leamside line a long time ago. Just before it closed, the royal train used it. We had noticed a police car at the farm crossing behind our house the day before. Then about half an hour before the light engine preceding the train came through a couple of plain clothes guys in an unmarked car were sniffing around the crossing.
It 100% happened when I witnessed it behind my house in the early 1990s. Can't speak for more recent times.
So nearly 40 years ago!
I was about to object and say is was only about 35 years ago
. Doesn't seem that long ago but indeed it is 
.Haha I did have to do maths in my head……but time certainly flies by.I was about to object and say is was only about 35 years ago
How many years are we talking? Because I'm pretty certain that it was a thing in steam days. No idea when exactly either practice ceased.
It certainly wasn’t a practice in use when I was involved in clearing stations in the last decade ahead of it, so with a more intensive railway it must have stopped in the 2000s.
I've a feeling that it would have been an economy made by BR
I wonder if that may be a side effect of post 9/11 heightened security making it less necessary?
Perhaps a risk-based approach. As I said, I certainly witnessed both the farm crossing being inspected the day before and about an hour before, and the the pilot loco ahead of the actual train.
What was the unlikely situation the fitters were there for?
Failure of the loco?
Obviously any kind of rolling stock issue that may arise , and cause potential disruption. My brother in law , for example was a Bescot based M&EE fitter , so he and his boss (the Area Maintenance Engineer) would take the depot van - carrying a wide range of tools and spares - and stand awaiting the call (it never came) - at say Nuneaton if a Royal was passing through the Trent Valley.
In 1986 47457 failed at Bishops Stortford when hauling the up Fenman with HM the Queen in an extra FK on the rear of the train. A Liverpool Street-Cambridge service was terminated at Bishops Stortford to provide the rescue loco which was 47577.
No, you’re right. It is very dated inside and potentially one of the reasons why it is being retired as the cost to bring it up to modern standards would be considerable.
