Few phots of the Spitfire tour from Taunton to York which as you have probably read elsewhere was a farce, after waking up at 0355 we boarded the tour for the 0522 departure, both 37516 & 37676 powering. By Bristol P'way 516 had sat down and it was decided 47851 would be ran round to the front. 516 & 676 were ran round each other and the duff put on as train engine. However 851 then failed to provide any heat, we set off with 37676 leading and powering, 516 dead in the middle and the duff on the train and strumming, despite not being able to hear any noise of the 37 at least we still got some mileage in. The Harrogate loop was caped so the duff could go and fuel so we headed into the city with rumours that the return would be 851 solo. Back at the stn 676 brought in the stock and shut down and 851 was in position for the near 7 hour rtn trip. If it had not been for the fact that most of my stuff was in Taunton travelodge I would have gone straight home on the next available train but it was so had to rtn with the duff. Engines fail, its life. Just annoying that 37676 could not join the 47 on the rtn, as well as the fact we had not got heat and of course the normal thing of some coaches not having light although it may have been sorted on the rtn. Full credit to Jo though who was in coach A and talking to people, from what she said and our coach steward told us their had been phone calls being made to try and sort something up until just before we left York, shame when Spitfire get so much stick for stuff they cannot do anything about. Only thing that was a little annoying was the fact it took from a visit just after leaving Taunton until after B'ham to get anything breakfast wise from the buffet, were told to come back in 15 minutes a few times, eventually camped out in the buffet from Worcester and got some stuff after leaving Brum, may have been a delay with the EH being lost I dunno, may seem a minor thing and me just having a moan but being up from 4 and not getting anything to eat until 10 is a little aggravating. Thanks to Spitfire for the their efforts anyway, be back again Nov 21st & Nov 28th!
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