Resumption of steam following rain

[railfan99]

I am overseas and looking at www.metoffice.gov.uk that while showing an option for 'last 24 hours' don't seem to allow a drill down to individual cities and towns and thus to see how much rain fell in the last 24 hours, or indeed any day going back more than 12 months as the Australia www.bom.gov.au site allows. (Not that I'm suggesting latter is 'better', just 'different').

It may be defective searching.

Yesterday, southwest locations like Bishops Lydeard had some rain.

There's a fair chance of rain in parts of England today, and Scotland seems not as dry. Please correct me but areas like Sussex, Greater London and East Anglia may be driest.

With the major preserved railways that have temporarily switched to diesel locomotives and/or DRCs (diesel railcars), do you hold out hope that your favourite preserved line(s) will soon be resuming normal steam operations, and if so, when?

Given this is peak summer season for your wonderful heritage railways, I was saddened via the Blue Anchor railcam yesterday that the one train I saw - the second one on the down from Bishops Lydeard - seemed poorly patronised.

With the railcam's angle, it's never possible to look at the 'up side' of the cars (carriages) so typically, more are travelling than one can view. Mind you, on some other days when steam has been operable, WSR trains look to have been very busy.

 

[YorkshireBear]

KWVR returns to steam today.

 

[zwk500]

I am overseas and looking at www.metoffice.gov.uk that while showing an option for 'last 24 hours' don't seem to allow a drill down to individual cities and towns and thus to see how much rain fell in the last 24 hours, or indeed any day going back more than 12 months as the Australia www.bom.gov.au site allows. (Not that I'm suggesting latter is 'better', just 'different').

This website is good as well https://hydoutuk.net/current-conditions

There's a fair chance of rain in parts of England today, and Scotland seems not as dry. Please correct me but areas like Sussex, Greater London and East Anglia may be driest.

The UK needs more than a bit of a rain shower to lower the fire risk significantly. The ground, undergrowth and lots of the main growth is bone dry in the South East.

With the major preserved railways that have temporarily switched to diesel locomotives and/or DRCs (diesel railcars), do you hold out hope that your favourite preserved line(s) will soon be resuming normal steam operations, and if so, when?

I would expect railways to run steam as much as they feel they can get away with. However, this probably means that steam will be put on and then pulled again with quite short notice. A lot will depend on local conditions - I've been getting pictures from family in Sussex, Yorkshire and Northumberland and the difference in how green or brown the areas are is stark.

 

[railfan99]

This website is good as well https://hydoutuk.net/current-conditions

I would expect railways to run steam as much as they feel they can get away with. However, this probably means that steam will be put on and then pulled again with quite short notice. A lot will depend on local conditions - I've been getting pictures from family in Sussex, Yorkshire and Northumberland and the difference in how green or brown the areas are is stark.

zwk500, great reply. Please be assured that my prayers include that UK receives rain, and in reasonable quantity (but not severe floods).

 

[zwk500]

zwk500, great reply. Please be assured that my prayers include that UK receives rain, and in reasonable quantity (but not severe floods).

Haha, yes it's a difficult one. The ground is so hard that any bursts of downfall will simply wash straight over rather than sink in (as an Aussie im sure youve seen this flash flooding). In an ideal world we'd have a week of drizzle first to soften up the ground. But we do have a test match coming up so that should have at least 1 day of light but persistent rain.

Sussex received some rain this morning, not too heavy either, and where I am in the Netherlands had some rain yesterday and is noticeably cooler today tha the last 3 weeks.

 

[Ken H]

I am overseas and looking at www.metoffice.gov.uk that while showing an option for 'last 24 hours' don't seem to allow a drill down to individual cities and towns and thus to see how much rain fell in the last 24 hours, or indeed any day going back more than 12 months as the Australia www.bom.gov.au site allows. (Not that I'm suggesting latter is 'better', just 'different').

It may be defective searching.

Yesterday, southwest locations like Bishops Lydeard had some rain.

There's a fair chance of rain in parts of England today, and Scotland seems not as dry. Please correct me but areas like Sussex, Greater London and East Anglia may be driest.

With the major preserved railways that have temporarily switched to diesel locomotives and/or DRCs (diesel railcars), do you hold out hope that your favourite preserved line(s) will soon be resuming normal steam operations, and if so, when?

Given this is peak summer season for your wonderful heritage railways, I was saddened via the Blue Anchor railcam yesterday that the one train I saw - the second one on the down from Bishops Lydeard - seemed poorly patronised.

With the railcam's angle, it's never possible to look at the 'up side' of the cars (carriages) so typically, more are travelling than one can view. Mind you, on some other days when steam has been operable, WSR trains look to have been very busy.

Last 2 weeks weather anywhere - https://www.timeanddate.com/weather/usa/new-york/historic

 

[Ken H]

Haha, yes it's a difficult one. The ground is so hard that any bursts of downfall will simply wash straight over rather than sink in (as an Aussie im sure youve seen this flash flooding). In an ideal world we'd have a week of drizzle first to soften up the ground. But we do have a test match coming up so that should have at least 1 day of light but persistent rain.

Sussex received some rain this morning, not too heavy either, and where I am in the Netherlands had some rain yesterday and is noticeably cooler today tha the last 3 weeks.

Raining in N Yorks. Not heavy. But there are puddles.

 

[Flying Phil]

There has been light rain last night in the Northants/Leics region so far. It looked quite wet on the Swanage webcam this morning.

 

[ExRes]

Sussex received some rain this morning, not too heavy either, and where I am in the Netherlands had some rain yesterday and is noticeably cooler today tha the last 3 weeks.

Receiving rather than received, about an hours worth so far and hopefully more to come

 

[zwk500]

Receiving rather than received, about an hours worth so far and hopefully more to come

Good to know!

 

[xotGD]

KWVR returns to steam today.

Not fully. 85 being piloted by D0226.

 

[Paul Hitchcock]

Steam haulage never stopped on the IOWSR

 

[railfan99]

Haha, yes it's a difficult one. The ground is so hard that any bursts of downfall will simply wash straight over rather than sink in (as an Aussie im sure youve seen this flash flooding). In an ideal world we'd have a week of drizzle first to soften up the ground.

Is ground anywhere in UK really 'that hard'? It's difficult for me in the southern hemisphere to imagine this.

You only ever have brief bursts of 30 degree plus weather, even this year, and England (for instance) is not a desert like Australia's Gibson or Nullarbor, the USA's Mohave/others or the Sahara in Africa. In most parts of UK, there must have been a lot of subsoil moisture prior to any dry spell. Has it really not rained for many weeks?

Irrespective, delightful that some areas are experiencing rain. Hope it turns into steam (trains) soon.

 

[Ken H]

Is ground anywhere in UK really 'that hard'? It's difficult for me in the southern hemisphere to imagine this.

You only ever have brief bursts of 30 degree plus weather, even this year, and England (for instance) is not a desert like Australia's Gibson or Nullarbor, the USA's Mohave/others or the Sahara in Africa. In most parts of UK, there must have been a lot of subsoil moisture prior to any dry spell. Has it really not rained for many weeks?

Irrespective, delightful that some areas are experiencing rain. Hope it turns into steam (trains) soon.

Much of the pics n the press are fake. they are showing fields that have just been harvested. They will always be brown.

 

[Iskra]

Is ground anywhere in UK really 'that hard'? It's difficult for me in the southern hemisphere to imagine this.

You only ever have brief bursts of 30 degree plus weather, even this year, and England (for instance) is not a desert like Australia's Gibson or Nullarbor, the USA's Mohave/others or the Sahara in Africa. In most parts of UK, there must have been a lot of subsoil moisture prior to any dry spell. Has it really not rained for many weeks?

Irrespective, delightful that some areas are experiencing rain. Hope it turns into steam (trains) soon.

It has been dry all year and the winter wasn’t wet either.

Much of the pics n the press are fake. they are showing fields that have just been harvested. They will always be brown.

The South and East of the country is extremely dry.

I shared pictures of an extremely dry UK in the last fire risk thread, and I’ve now got a lot more from other parts of the country, but I won’t bore you with them!

Temporary steam ban imposed by N.R. due to the heatwave

Hi I'm just asking if anybody on rail forums may know otherwise, Has network rail decided to keep the steam ban on excursion charter trains this week until further notice although there has been a few days of persistant showers? I think network rail imposed it cos of the long spell of dry hot...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[zwk500]

Is ground anywhere in UK really 'that hard'? It's difficult for me in the southern hemisphere to imagine this.

You only ever have brief bursts of 30 degree plus weather, even this year, and England (for instance) is not a desert like Australia's Gibson or Nullarbor, the USA's Mohave/others or the Sahara in Africa. In most parts of UK, there must have been a lot of subsoil moisture prior to any dry spell. Has it really not rained for many weeks?

Irrespective, delightful that some areas are experiencing rain. Hope it turns into steam (trains) soon.

Have a look at the link in my first post - the topsoil in the UK is in severe moisture deficit.

 

[TheBeard]

Those recalling the Great Fire of the Yorkshire Moors in 1976 will understand the caution

 

[railfan99]

Have a look at the link in my first post - the topsoil in the UK is in severe moisture deficit.

Thanks. I'd only had a look at the link's first page, not realising there were more pages re topics such as simulated subsurface water storage conditions.

We are used to droughts in my nation: graingrowers had two years but 2020 and 2021, and so far 2022, east coast conditions have been excellent with plenty of rain. So don't give up hope for steam trains in the UK over your summer or early autumn.

 

[Mike Machin]

Is ground anywhere in UK really 'that hard'? It's difficult for me in the southern hemisphere to imagine this.

You only ever have brief bursts of 30 degree plus weather, even this year, and England (for instance) is not a desert like Australia's Gibson or Nullarbor, the USA's Mohave/others or the Sahara in Africa. In most parts of UK, there must have been a lot of subsoil moisture prior to any dry spell. Has it really not rained for many weeks?

Irrespective, delightful that some areas are experiencing rain. Hope it turns into steam (trains) soon.

Here in Hampshire the ground is really, really hard - I was trying to hammer some tent pegs into the bone hard ground yesterday but even with the biggest mallet we could only manage a few centimetres before they either bent or broke. It has finally rained here this morning, the first time since the first week in June. In fact, I bought a new electric car on May 31st and I have only used the windscreen wipers once!

 

[railfan99]

It's not ideal like 'drizzly' rain but pleasing that as you wake up at 0600, much of southeast/southwest England appears destined for high amounts of the wet stuff today, 17 August 2022. This will help to ensure railways like the first heritage one, Bluebell, and West Somerset Railway can operate forthcoming Steam Gala Day(s) with that motive power. Thank you God!

Famine or feast, but not in between.

 

[DelW]

You only ever have brief bursts of 30 degree plus weather, even this year, and England (for instance) is not a desert like Australia's Gibson or Nullarbor, the USA's Mohave/others or the Sahara in Africa. In most parts of UK, there must have been a lot of subsoil moisture prior to any dry spell. Has it really not rained for many weeks?

In Surrey, we had fairly normal rainfall until early June. Since then, we've had a couple of thunderstorms at the end of June, and a light shower in late July, and that's been it.
This afternoon, we had about 15 minutes of very heavy rain, and a couple of hours of moderate rain, which has helped, though it hasn't fully refilled my garden water butt.
Today was the first day of the Lords test match against South Africa. Rain stopped play at 2:15, got steadily heavier, and play was abandoned for the day at 4:30.

 

[railfan99]

Yesterday, the West Somerset Railway had one of its two sets operating with steam 7828 'Odney Manor' as the loco.

Terrific.

 

[zwk500]

Yes, a lot of the short-term risk will have eased given the rainstorms earlier this week. Page 2 of this report is fairly clear: https://assets.publishing.service.g...d_river_flow_summary_10_to_16_August_2022.pdf

 

[Runningaround]

Much of the pics n the press are fake. they are showing fields that have just been harvested. They will always be brown.

How are they fake then? A harvested field is a dry field with plenty of material that can burn. Are the flames burning a harvested field any less real than ones burning one not harvested?

 

[Ken H]

How are they fake then? A harvested field is a dry field with plenty of material that can burn. Are the flames burning a harvested field any less real than ones burning one not harvested?

no. but ariel photos of brown fields just show the land had just been harvested, not a drought.

 

[zwk500]

no. but ariel photos of brown fields just show the land had just been harvested, not a drought.

And yet, a good portion of the land *is* in drought.

 

[2192]

Didn't Henry the Green Engine get bricked up because he refused to pull trains in the rain?

 

[Runningaround]

Thanks. I'd only had a look at the link's first page, not realising there were more pages re topics such as simulated subsurface water storage conditions.

We are used to droughts in my nation: graingrowers had two years but 2020 and 2021, and so far 2022, east coast conditions have been excellent with plenty of rain. So don't give up hope for steam trains in the UK over your summer or early autumn.

We also had a couple of days that where the temperature broke 40, a level never before recorded, just because you live in a desert doesn't mean others don't suffer in drought.
Running steam trains for fun is a so insignificant to the country as a whole that stopping them for a few weeks or months to stop a few hundred acres of valuable food producing land is more than worth it.
It's just like the Canadians saying ''we live in a country covered in snow most of the year, why do you close down with a few inches''? It because its rare and we don't build up huge resources in anticipation for something that might happen.

 

[DelayRepay]

Around here in Bucks we hadn't had any real rain since the Jubilee Bank Holiday weekend. We had a little bit when the July heatwave broke, but nothing that made much of a difference. The fields may look brown due to the harvests, but nobody has harvested my garden, the verges by the road or the parks, and they're all brown too. Even the trees look like they're wilting and some have started to shed leaves due to the lack of water.

We have had some rain over the last few days, but everything is still very brown, and my garden is dry and rock hard - I know this because I tried to fork the lawn yesterday so the moisture can get down into the soil.

On the bright side, we have another Bank Holiday next weekend, so at least three days of persistent rain are guaranteed!

 

[YorkshireBear]

no. but ariel photos of brown fields just show the land had just been harvested, not a drought.

How does that explain the grass fields, non agricultural, which haven't been cut all year in Yorkshire being yellow/brown when usually lush green. I also saw this with my eyes not in the paper?