Trains

[dormouse1953]

Went up to London for the Proms yesterday and when I got to Guildford station, the train on the next platform was announced as an Olympic cycling special - no cycles allowed on this train.

My immediate thought was "why?" - do they expect competitors to cheat by hitching a lift on the train.  It was actually the train taking spectators to the stations nearest the cycling route through Surrey.  Did they worry that spectators would try cycling alongside the competitors?

When my train had got to Woking and was waiting to leave, I heard a hoot and a steam locomotive went past.  (It was pulling just a tender, no carriages, so could it be called a "train"?)  Then my train overtook it a few minutes later.

I caught only glimpses of it as I passed it, but it appeared to in LNER blue, making it fifty miles south and about 70 years late for its normal environment.  In fact, it looked a bit like the Mallard - if not that locomotive, one of its class.

Comments

[vicarage.livejournal.com]

A quick google and I found http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LNER_Class_A4_4464_Bittern according to http://www.railwaytouring.net/uk-day-trips/dorset-coast-express

[pauldormer.livejournal.com]

Could be.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Bittern has been past my house a couple of times (see e.g. here (http://ffutures.livejournal.com/642707.html); I'm not sure if other engines of that class are still running.

[timill]

Both Sir Nigel Gresley and Union of South Africa have recently completed overhauls and are main-line certified, but tey're both in the North at the moment.