Vocal Voices

Cruiser wrote:Gal2, I am a member of East Lancs Railway. Have been on the footplate of the Flying Scotsman and driven a steam engine. It is not easy.

Small world in a way. I've been hauled by Flying Scotsman (Yeovil Junction to Waterloo - Pathfinder Tours), and I've also driven a steam engine! In my case, it was the preserved Stanier 8F heavy freight locomotive 48773 on the West Somerset Railway back in the 1990's.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LMS_Stani ... 6240788179).jpg

And I agree, it isn't easy. The most difficult thing, I found, was how to gauge your speed and braking power to run in and stop at the right point along the platform. We (the six of us on a 2-day driving experience course) were told to be more than careful as we were hauling the 6 coach dining car set, and the whole thing was worth about £600,000!

And then, of course, there was the eejit motorist who dived across the open level crossing without looking just as I was about to restart from one of the intermediate stations .....

Happy memories!

Steam trains are wonderful I vaguely remember them from very early childhood, but I have been on a few since then - the North Yorks line that crosses the moors from Pickering was beautiful, and the South Devon one from Buckfast was fun, as we took the kids, and Pepper I think the journey Mick and I took from Porthmadog through Snowdonia to Caernarfon in North Wales had the most spectacular scenery though

I can remember when I was working, sometime in the 1960s/70s, the Flying Scotsman went to Australia
Tne insurance company I was with at the time issued a policy which covered the engine for any damage not covered by any other policy. There were more than ten other policies.
Charged £100 to cover cost of admin..
Used to get updates where it was and what it was doing by telex.