Old Oak Common Open Day - Saturday 2nd September 2017

[whole diary]

[ChrisB]

So have I

[Oxonhutch]

... and me.  See you there.

[Western Enterprise]

Ticket and tour booked, all for a good cause.

[Gordon the Blue Engine]

Just booked - from our hotel in Bern. Not wishing to make anyone jealous, but travelled today under cloudless blue skies through Dissentis on the 1 metre gauge Matterhorn Gotthard railway over Overalp (1-2 metres of snow), Andermatt, Brig, and on to Bern on the SBB.

[PeterB]

I have the standard ticket.

All VIP tickets sold out.

I will be travelling from Cardiff Central.

I remember travelling on HST^▸ (High Speed Train) 253 007 on a test run, invited by Harry Mathieson, Traction Inspector. 1976.

OOC^▸ (Old Oak Common (depot)) to Pad, Pad to Swindon & return, if I remember correctly it managed 134 mph, then an emergency brake appication test, didn't even spill my coffee.

I miss all the people I worked with at OOC.

A great bunch of people, including Zedabee (not sure how you spell that...................

[grahame]

I have the standard ticket.

All VIP tickets sold out.

I will be travelling from Cardiff Central.

I remember travelling on HST^▸ (High Speed Train) 253 007 on a test run, invited by Harry Mathieson, Traction Inspector. 1976.

OOC^▸ (Old Oak Common (depot)) to Pad, Pad to Swindon & return, if I remember correctly it managed 134 mph, then an emergency brake appication test, didn't even spill my coffee.

I miss all the people I worked with at OOC.

A great bunch of people, including Zedabee (not sure how you spell that...................

Them's some memories.  Welcome to the forum, Peter ... you'll find friends with railway interest at just about all hours on the Coffee Shop!

[Electric train]

I have the standard ticket.

All VIP tickets sold out.

I will be travelling from Cardiff Central.

I remember travelling on HST^▸ (High Speed Train) 253 007 on a test run, invited by Harry Mathieson, Traction Inspector. 1976.

OOC^▸ (Old Oak Common (depot)) to Pad, Pad to Swindon & return, if I remember correctly it managed 134 mph, then an emergency brake appication test, didn't even spill my coffee.

I miss all the people I worked with at OOC.

A great bunch of people, including Zedabee (not sure how you spell that...................

Zebadee son still at Reading.   It was sad that last year Dutchie passed away.

I will miss the Oak when she closes the once grand Depot of the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), she had her heart ripped out when the round house went (never saw it) had her muscle's torn when the Factory went but she limbered on.  All is not doom and gloom the new Elizabeth Line depot is on the site and North Pole is just across the line, so in essences the Old Oak live on

[eightf48544]

Plus allegedly there will be the interchange station with HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) etc. Although I doubt if I will see it!

[Andy]

Tickets booked for a first-and-last visit. The line-up is impressive, with a King, a Hall, 1501, Steam Railmotor & autocoach, Oliver Cromwell and Tornado already announced. The hydraulics are well represented by D1015, D821 D7017 and a "Teddy Bear", (plus the engine of a D63xx). In addition, there'll be a couple of gronks, half a dozen 50s and a 47, the hst prototype, a few 57s and 66779 "Evening Star" alongside various hst power cars and units.

There are still half a dozen locos to be announced, as well. It should be a good day out. 

[ChrisB]

There are still tickets available for the Crossrail depot look around too. Same ticket website. £30. (to the same charity)

[Rhydgaled]

I see both 43002 and 43185 are booked to attend the open day; no point going out for my normal summer Saturday Pembroke Coast Express photography session in the hope of seeing them (I saw 'Harry Patch' on a Pembroke working for the first time this past weekend, but still not had either of the heritage power cars visit).

Then again, I see all four sleeper class 57s are booked to attend, so maybe the list is a "we'll have a least one of these present" affair. If all the sleeper locos are to be there, how does that work when one must be in Penzance? Are they going to run one ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) to Old Oak and back to attend the event briefly about lunch time before sending it back to Penzance?

[Adelante_CCT]

Don't they have one or two hired in from DRS^▸ (Direct Rail Services Ltd)?

Also this quote from the event page:

57310 Pride of Cumbria (potentially might be used for down-sleeper the night before instead)

[IndustryInsider]

I see both 43002 and 43185 are booked to attend the open day; no point going out for my normal summer Saturday Pembroke Coast Express photography session in the hope of seeing them (I saw 'Harry Patch' on a Pembroke working for the first time this past weekend, but still not had either of the heritage power cars visit.

43002/185 are currently running together in the same formation.  If you don't have access to any of the industry systems then the data section of railcam.org (annual membership subscription of £15) often has their daily allocations added by members.  Many freight locos and even some units can also be followed on there, so it's becoming a very useful resource for enthusiasts.

[bobm]

(I saw 'Harry Patch' on a Pembroke working for the first time this past weekend, but still not had either of the heritage power cars visit).

I was on the Pembroke Coast Express on the 5th - and had the added bonus of seeing Tornado while we changed ends at Carmarthen.

[Rhydgaled]

I was on the Pembroke Coast Express on the 5th - and had the added bonus of seeing Tornado while we changed ends at Carmarthen.

Would that photo have been taken at about 16:25? If so, that wasn't the Pembroke Coast Express (which is the 08:45 from Paddington to Pembroke Dock and 10:01 Pembroke Dock to London Paddington). The difference (apart from window labels and, on GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) stations, annoucments) is that the Pembroke Coast Express is (I believe) the only public service on the Pembroke Dock branch that is not booked to call at stations such as Narberth. The afternoon service from Pembroke Dock to Paddington is not the Pembroke Coast Express and so will call at all of the stations on the branch (if requested).