Hemerdon - The Best Attempts of 2023

Рет қаралды 9,195

Күн бұрын

Throughout the summer, the final shot of the Par and Plymouth railtours has been the climb, often unassisted, up Hemerdon Bank. It's a mighty climb, the fourth steepest mainline bank in Britain, a constant 1 in 42 for 2½ miles. The climb begins at Plympton and rises all the way to Hemerdon Signal Box, where a passing loop still remains in place from the steam days. It’s difficult to compare it to anything outside of the railway world. This is every steam railtour but one, (the Golden Hind with 46100 Royal Scot), that attempted Hemerdon this year. All of them passed the test, though with differing results. Some were spritely like the 2 Scotsmans, others were solid attempts like 45596 Bahamas with the South Devon Explorer, 45699 Galatea was verging on one wheel-slip away from problems, and 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley cheated by having a diesel push it up. With the 2024 railtour calendar starting to fill up, it looks like it's going to be even busier next year! In no particular order, here are the attempts:
00:00 45699 Galatea, the Royal Duchy
05:23 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley, the Golden Hind
08:38 60103 Flying Scotsman, the Royal Duchy
09:44 45596 Bahamas, the South Devon Explorer
13:08 46115 Scots Guardsman, the Royal Duchy
17:00 44932, the Great Britain XV
21:43 45596 Bahamas, the Royal Duchy
I hope you enjoy watching this. If you did, please like, comment, & subscribe, it really is rather flattering.
Find a south-west railtour calendar, along with a heritage gala calendar and my best photos at:
www.trecanrail.com/
‪@steamtothewest-trecanrail‬
#hemerdon #hemerdonbank #flyingscotsman #45596 #Bahamas #sirnigelgresley #Galatea #scotsman #jubilee #saphostrains #goldenhind #westcoastrailways #royalduchy #devon #rattery #dainton #plymouth #steamtrain #train #trains #steamtrainsgalore #southdevonbanks #traingalore #steam #steamtothewest #trecanrail #gwr #br #lms #lner #gwr
Disclaimer : No trespassing was committed in the making of this video, all shots were taken from the road or the footpath.

Пікірлер: 29

@bobwood856 7 ай бұрын

The 47 was making more smoke than Sir Nigel. For a very brief moment I imagined a steam banker.

@steamtothewest-trecanrail 7 ай бұрын

Now that’s going back a few years

@chriselliott1261 7 ай бұрын

A 57xx doesn't make dirty smoke like that

@MyMustang72 5 ай бұрын

probaly because it is doing all the hard work,a4s useless on banks,except on stoke bank going downhill.

@davestrains6816 3 ай бұрын

Wonderful video and thanks for sharing. Dave

@steamtothewest-trecanrail 3 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it, Hemerdon always puts on a show

@fmcdove 6 ай бұрын

Excellent to watch and compare. (BLS support crew member)

@thomasrowe7499 7 ай бұрын

Amazing video !

@steamtothewest-trecanrail 7 ай бұрын

Thanks, It’s a-shame you didn’t come to any of them! Maybe next year…

@squeaksvids5886 7 ай бұрын

The Class 47 was smoking more than Sir Nigel on the second clip.

@damonrobus-clarke533 20 күн бұрын

Thought it was a steamer at first! 😂

@andysnashall6140 7 ай бұрын

Hate the rumbling cupboard on the back of the A4😢

@steamtothewest-trecanrail 7 ай бұрын

Inevitable given the load.

@paulnash7630 7 ай бұрын

With 12 carriages it's not surprising Sir Nigel needed a push after Al he's not a spring chicken anymore 😂

@MyMustang72 5 ай бұрын

if the rumbling cupboard was not there the a4 would not have made the climb single handed,stick a king on the front!

@nigelduckworth4419 7 ай бұрын

Perfect videos. Bahamas did much better than Galatea with 9 on. The LNER engines are not climbers and so I expected to see Gresley with a diesel since it had 11 on and not the 9 ( Bahamas 2 excepted) of the others. Scots Guardsman, supposedly an improvement on the Kings, did no better than Bahamas despite the power difference. but was solid. No opinion on Scotsman because it was filmed from a different vantage point, but going well. So the winner must be Bahamas, the least powerful loco, bar 44932 which was in any event helped by the 47. I have some experience of both Jubilees and Royal Scots in steam days and multiple Black 5s, or Mickeys as we called them. A Jubilee on the PInes Express from Bath to Birmingham and a Scot on The Mancunian, Manchester to London. Excellent locos both. I was pulled (and pushed!) up Hemerdon about 4 years ago by Flying Scotsman and a Black 5, the number of which I forget, with a Class 47 at the rear. I swear we were dong 40+ mph all the way up. Not surprising with about 100,000 lbs of tractive effort. My question is for GWR buffs, which I am not. Were the principal trains banked up Hemerdon in steam days?

@steamtothewest-trecanrail 7 ай бұрын

I believe GWR locos were banked, but it depended on the load. The passing loop for banking panniers is still there. On a different note, the Flying Scotsman was the most impressive climb of the year. Like Bahamas, Galatea, and Scots Guardsman, it had 9 coaches unassisted. The different vantage point was due to how busy it was, I couldn’t get a spot on the bridge and had to go somewhere else.

@edmundbrain456 7 ай бұрын

Passenger trains were piloted freights were banked as far as I know . A Royal Scot is a Class 7 a King Class 8 so not a fair comparison . Cheers

@Rosie6857 29 күн бұрын

@@edmundbrain456 You are right about pilots and banking. It's really only tractive effort that counts on a bank like this provided the boiler and firing are good enough to maintain pressure. The tractive effort of a King is easily the highest of any British 4-6-0, ridiculously high some would say, and 20% higher than a rebuilt Royal Scot. A King routinely used to take 11 unassisted up Hemerdon whereas a Scot would probably stall. At speed on easy gradients the difference between the classes is much less - they are both good.

@dukeofdevon5608 Ай бұрын

How steep is Hemerdon?

@steamtothewest-trecanrail Ай бұрын

1 in 42 for 2.5 miles, making it the 3rd steepest mainline gradient on the mainland.

@freespeechforever 16 күн бұрын

Hardly impressive from Gresly, The diesel was going hard at it!

@steamtothewest-trecanrail 14 күн бұрын

I know, it’s unfortunate but with 14 Gresley would never have handled it.

@chriselliott1261 7 ай бұрын

A whole year on the Devon banks, Jubilee, Royal Scot, A3, A4, Black five... Nothing Great Western at all. No complaints on the cinematography (for which thank you so much) but us Western boys seem to be not pulling our weight.

@bobwood856 7 ай бұрын

Agreed. Need to get Clun down there on a tour. See how a GW design copes with a GW bank.

@steamtothewest-trecanrail 7 ай бұрын

I agree with you. We’ve had some variety, but nothing GWR or Southern. Fortunately 7029 Clun Castle will visit Plymouth in May 24, and 6024 King Edward I is expected to return in the next 2 years.

@edmundbrain456 7 ай бұрын

GW. Llocos just not available at present Chris ,Could be different next year with 7029

@steamtothewest-trecanrail 7 ай бұрын

@@edmundbrain456 Clun Castles available.

@Rosie6857 29 күн бұрын

No GW? No point. They just find it too easy.