GCR 78019 @ Buckfastleigh
Blue skies around, but still not where we wanted them. This was the 30-minute late running of the second day for unknown reasons. At least is was the Standard 2 which is not one of our favourites and was running tender first for the light.
Then things started to go wrong. As I mentioned earlier they have to stick to the sequence of trains (rather than the timetable) in order not to mess up, for there is virtually no free space to make extra shunting movements. Neither are there free platforms for releif. The 30 minutes delay of this train should not have been a very big problem, as long as the sequence of trains had been unaffected and with a bit of enthousiasm delays could well be decreased over the day. We left this spot for the freight we saw earlier at this location: www.flickr.com/photos/siccodierdorp/7406996030/in/photost... . Much to our joy the sun came out and stayed out at this beautifull spot and was exactly in the right position for the freight.... but no train came untill.... the train from the other direction (Totnes) came back, much to our surprise. The freight thus hadn't departed for no apparent reason (at least no reason can be found with which it would been making operations easier without running the freight). Well dissapointed (for ruining a possible classic shot) we concluded that the freight must have been cancelled, but at least they would have cancelled the Buckfastleigh - Staverton shuttle as well, would they?? It must have been, because without the freight gone, there was no room for it at Staverton. When we walked back from the spot towards Staverton we saw.... the Buckfastleigh shuttle in the station! It could not be shunted in the siding for the freight was still there and there was no escape to Totnes as the train from Totnes was now standig at the signal before Staverton too... In the meantime nothing happened to rescue the situation, as if everybody just let it happen as it happened. Still, the story isn't over yet...
GCR 78019 @ Buckfastleigh
Blue skies around, but still not where we wanted them. This was the 30-minute late running of the second day for unknown reasons. At least is was the Standard 2 which is not one of our favourites and was running tender first for the light.
Then things started to go wrong. As I mentioned earlier they have to stick to the sequence of trains (rather than the timetable) in order not to mess up, for there is virtually no free space to make extra shunting movements. Neither are there free platforms for releif. The 30 minutes delay of this train should not have been a very big problem, as long as the sequence of trains had been unaffected and with a bit of enthousiasm delays could well be decreased over the day. We left this spot for the freight we saw earlier at this location: www.flickr.com/photos/siccodierdorp/7406996030/in/photost... . Much to our joy the sun came out and stayed out at this beautifull spot and was exactly in the right position for the freight.... but no train came untill.... the train from the other direction (Totnes) came back, much to our surprise. The freight thus hadn't departed for no apparent reason (at least no reason can be found with which it would been making operations easier without running the freight). Well dissapointed (for ruining a possible classic shot) we concluded that the freight must have been cancelled, but at least they would have cancelled the Buckfastleigh - Staverton shuttle as well, would they?? It must have been, because without the freight gone, there was no room for it at Staverton. When we walked back from the spot towards Staverton we saw.... the Buckfastleigh shuttle in the station! It could not be shunted in the siding for the freight was still there and there was no escape to Totnes as the train from Totnes was now standig at the signal before Staverton too... In the meantime nothing happened to rescue the situation, as if everybody just let it happen as it happened. Still, the story isn't over yet...