Hi Kurt The first ones were built by Vossloh at their Valencia factory in Spain but they have now been taken over by Stadler. In total we have 34 and ten of the similar class 88 Diesel/25KV AC hybrids. The Cat engine knocks out 3,750 HP through AC traction motors Some of the 68s are out on hire to TOCS (Train operating companies) and are wrapped in their liveries One of the ones running the cross Pennine services for TPE (Trans Pennine express) on a driver training run. 68 032 'Destroyer'. These can run push pull with the new CAF Mk V coaches The Chiltern railway ones from London Marylebone station to Birmingham although the colour scheme is a bit boring. These work puch pull with Chilterns loco hauled passenger sets. 68 014 one of the un-named ones 68 006 'Daring' , seen on the video, was previously allocated to Scotrail to work the 'Fife Circle'. This service has now ended and the Scotrail vynils are coming off. Here it is when still wrapped cheers Kev
This will be vague because I cant go into any details but we had some Rare, and I mean Rare, train movements on this new video. Can't talk about this except to say this was the first time we had taken an FNA-D wagon down the branch to our port This was also rare. The weather was appaling and the wind noise on the video is a bit rough but it is November in Cumbria so you take what you can punctuating the nuclear moves were some light engine moves both by us and Freightliner. The route learning runs by FLHH were in preparation for a month's worth of track renewal north of Askam and we see some of the daylight ballast trains towards the end including 66 503. This is known as the 'Orange one' as it is painted in Freightliner's parent companies Genesee & Wyoming paint scheme Strange to see this colour scheme in the U.K 66 545 in the normal FLHH colours the list 21/10/2020 Barrow MT 68 016 Fearless & 68 017 Hornet 6X24 Barrow MT-Sellafield 21/10/2020 Dunnerholme 68 016 Fearless & 68 017 Hornet 6X24 Barrow MT-Sellafield 21/10/2020 Dunnerholme 68 016 Fearless & 68 017 Hornet 6X24 Barrow MT-Sellafield 09/11/2020 Askam in Furness 66 545 Q61T carlisle NY-Carnforth 09/11/2020 Lindal in Furness 66 545 Q61T Carlisle NY-Carnforth 09/11/2020 Pennington 66 545 041U Carnforth-Carlisle NY 09/11/2020 Park South 68 016 Fearless & 68 017 Hornet 6C51 Sellafield-Heysham 09/11/2020 Park South 66 545 041U Carnforth-Carlisle NY 10/11/2020 Askam in Furness 68 016 Fearless & 68 017 Hornet 6C51 Sellafield-Heysham 10/11/2020 Askam in Furness 66 545 040X Carnforth-Carlisle NY 11/11/2020 Thwaites Flats 66 545 062Z Carlisle NY-Carnforth 11/11/2020 Furness Abbey 195 110 2C33 Lancaster-Barrow in Furness 11/11/2020 Furness Abbey 66 545 062Z Carlisle NY-Carnforth 13/11/2020 Sowerby lodge 68 001 Evolution 0C68 Sellafield-Barrow MT 13/11/2020 Kirkby in Furness 68 001 6X24 Barrow MT-Sellafield 15/11/2020 Dalton in Furness 73922 John Snowdon 689X Ulverston-Millom 15/11/2020 Dalton in Furness 195 107 1U94 Barrow-Manchester Airport 15/11/2020 Askam in Furness 73922 John Snowdon 689X Ulverston-Millom 22/11/2020 Dalton in Furness 66 552 Maltby Raider 647O Crewe Basford Hall-Millom 22/11/2020 Askam in Furness 66 552 Maltby Raider 647O Crewe Basford Hall-Millom 28/11/2020 Askam in Furness 37 025 Inverness TMD & 37 254 Derby RTC-Carlisle 29/11/2020 Dalton in Furness 66 503 The Railway Magazine 652E Crewe-Millom 29/11/2020 Kirkby in Furness 66 503 The Railway Magazine 652E Crewe-Millom 29/11/2020 Askam in Furness Unknown Tamper 617F Ulverston-Millom video at let's see what I can get in December, not much probably! Kev
Great video composite. Thanks Kev. I have three comments/observations. - around minute 10, one of the engines was smoking. Initially I thought it was imitating an Alco, then realized the smoke was Blue, not Black. - around minute 11, those were good looking 8 axle drop center heavy weights. What is their tonnage rating? - around minute 16:20, night time, neat blue flame exhaust. What causes pure blue? I would have thought still burning diesel would be reddish/yellow. I enjoyed the man on the ground saying "See Ya Kev" as he was about to board. Also the occasional driver tooting. You have a wonderful close knit family. Thanks again for your super interesting reporting. Again, it's like watching family. Please continue.
The man saying 'See Ya' was Steve Brownlee and this was his last job before retiring. At least it was one of the interesting ones! The blue flame is odd but the loco would have been on the overun coming down the hill. I wonder if it is the camcorder picking it up in those low light conditions? Blue Smoke. Says to me that loco is going to need an EMD powerpack changing soon! Kev
So the week before Christmas you would not expect to find any Steam locos running particularly with the rapidly deteriorating Covid situation and of course at the darkest tme of the year but.... The Lakeside and Haverthwaite railway just fifteen minutes away decided to run something. They had earlier cancelled their traditional Santa trains but decided to put on some 'Mince Pie' specials over the last two weekends. These were socially distanced trains using their British railways Mk I compartment stock with each family 'bubble' being allocated a compartment in advance. A round trip from Haverthwaite to Lakeside and return. motive power was the Andrew Barclay 0-6-0T ( build number 1245 of 1911) names as 'Carron 14' restored back to black after its spell in blue masquerading as Thomas with three of the Mk Is in the traditional 'Blood and custard' livery At Lakeside the Windermere steamers were laid up for the winter with 'Tern' on the slip behind the signalbox havings its annual inspection I always think this boat looks as elegant out of the water as it does in it 'Teal' was moored behind the station as was 'Swan' Kev
The distinctive architecture of Haverthwaite station seen behind the tank video at Hopefully we all have a happy Christmas and a much better new year cheers everybody Kev
So.. Lockdown, reduced freight traffic, closed heritage railway lines, cancelled railtoursmeans it has been hard to find anything much to film on the mainline over the last three months but there a few nuggets out there.The short winter days means that some have to be filmed in the dark but at least the two Panasonic V500s cope well with the murky conditions.I would normally do one of these each month but I've combined late December to March to capture the best bits. I've included a section on 'Celebrity' 156 480 which is still carrying its 'RAF 100th anniversary' colour scheme for now which was running locally for a couple of weeks roll call Askam in Furness Class 66 66 560 601W 06/12/2020 Crewe Basford Hall-Millom Askam in Furness Tamper 73909 Saturn 668W 06/12/2020 Ulverston-Millom Dalton in Furness Class 67 67 027 Charlotte & 67 023 Stella 184Y 22/12/2020 Derby RTC-Carlisle Askam in Furness Class 67 67 027 Charlotte & 67 023 Stella 184Y 22/12/2020 Derby RTC-Carlisle Askam in Furness DMU 156 480 'RAF 100' 2C44 31/12/2020 Carlisle-Barrow in Furness Kirkby In Furness DMU 156 480 'RAF 100' 2C42 01/01/2021 Whitehaven-Lancaster Dalton in Furness DMU 156 480 'RAF 100' 2C42 01/01/2021 Whitehaven-Lancaster Sowerby Lodge DMU 156 480 'RAF 100' 2C48 02/01/2021 Carlisle-Lancaster Askam in Furness Class 68 68 016 Fearless 6C52 16/02/2021 Heysham-Sellafield Askam in Furness Class 37 37 116 & 37 219 151L 16/02/2021 Derby RTC-Carlisle Askam in Furness Class 67 67 023 Stella & 67 027 Charlotte 5Z11 25//02/2021 Carlisle-Blackpool North Dalton Junction Class 68 68 003 Astute & 68 006 Daring 0C51 26/02/2021 Sellafield-Heysham P.S Park South Class 68 68 006 Daring & 68 003 Astute 6C52 26/02/2021 Heysham-Sellafield Sowerby Lodge Class 68 68 003 Astute & 68 018 Vigilant 6K73 27/02/2021 Sellafield-Crewe CLS Lindal in Furness Class 68 68 003 Astute & 68 018 Vigilant 6K73 27/02/2021 Sellafield-Crewe CLS Askam in Furness Class 37 37 521 & 37 667 5Z11 04/03/2021 St Bees-Carstairs Kirkby In Furness class 68 68 006 Daring & 68 002 Astute 6K73 06/03/2021 Sellafield-Crewe CLS Pennnington Class 68 68 006 Daring & 68 002 Astute 6K73 06/03/2021 Sellafield-Crewe CLS Dunneroam Class 68 68 003 Astute & 68 018 Vigilant 6K73 18/03/2021 Sellafield-Crewe CLS Plumpton Junction class 68 68 002 Intrepid & 68 005 Defiant 6C51 19/03/2021 Sellafield-Heysham P.S Plumpton Junction class 68 68 003 Astute & 68 018 Vigilant 6C53 20/03/2021 Crewe CLS-Sellafield Foxfield class 68 68 003 Astute & 68 018 Vigilant 6C53 20/03/2021 Crewe CLS-Sellafield Foxfield Class 66 66 955 684Q 30/03/2021 Sellafield-Crewe Basford Hall -
So on the rail front I've been quiet lately. However I've kept the shutter clicking as me and young Brooklyn have ben exploring the remaining Second world war defences and the remains of the vast iron ore mining workings that are all around us (See in The cattle car section) It has been difficult to generate enough footage to keep up with the frequency of my Cumbrian coast videos in pre-Covid times. But.. enough to do a catch up to the present date 37 254 'Cardiff Canton' with 37 175 on the Derby RTC to Carlisle test train. Cardiff Canton was a major Loco depot in South Wales back in the day More Class 37 action was an excursion train called the Coast and Peaks explorer with LSL's 37 521 and 37 667 on a Llandudno-Carlisle These 37s are finished in the classic British Rail Brunswick green color scheme and both these trains are seen passing the classic Furness Railway signal box at Park South. LSL also supplied the motive power for an Appleby to Cardiff Central excursion that had been traversing the classic Setle to Carlisle line. Young Brooklyn took this picture with my Eos 700D looking over the bridge parapet at Dalton Junction. Set to 'continous' AF setting it is very good for a nine year old learning how to do Rail action shots. 47 593 and 47 614 attack the Lindal bank heading towards the Dalton tunnel. I'm so pleased with his concentration and enthusiasm I've let him have my old EOS 450D to use for the future Link to the video here more in a minute Kev
In the interim I was doing my First aid refresher course in Barrow the other day and decided to have my lunch sat on the waterfront at Buccleuch dock. (pronouced Beklew !) when I saw something heading down from Ramsden dock Kamsar is one of the smaller Tugs that plies its trade in the Barrow Docks complex' It was picking up an empty barge being used to transfer tubular steel piling to the construction work going on the the BAE Submarine yard Made a nice change as it is hard to find any marine action at this part of the docks more soon
Now we are in the longer days it is much easier to capture the monthly Carlisle to Blackpool North test train doing the reverse move at Askam in some decent light. Really there is only a three month window to catch it. usually topped and tailed by a pair of Colas Class 37s Seen passing slowly through the picturesque Foxfield station I've released it as a standalone video , mainly for the benefit of the Class 37 fans in the U.K. we see 37 175 and 37 254 passing through Foxfield as the DRS Class 68 hauled Heysham Power station to Sellafield nuclear flask train passes the other way. Later, after the test train has laid over at Ulverston we see it arrive at Askam from Barrow, crossing over and heading south again Kev
44 trains on a normal weekday! it is the weedkilling train that is rarely used Foxfield has an island platform so the tracks either side are the down and up mainlines Kev
I was thinking I didn't have much in the can for July so thought I'd wait until I had Augusts as well. Turned out when I loaded into Sony Vegas there was two hours of raw footage so here is just July's! 6C21 66 122 by kevsmith posted Aug 30, 2021 at 8:47 PM The Nukes were quiet but the line was busy with a short intensive campaign of stone trains running in a circuit of empty from Drigg LLWR to a virtual quarry at Barrow Docks, loaded from Barrow to the North siding at Sellafield and then into Drigg. Trains were top and tailed with class 66s due to the run round siding at Salthouse Junction being out of use. The stone was quite dusty and I noticed the signaller at Askam Signalbox shut all his windows and doors when he knew it was coming! 6Z 75 at Askam, White Bridge by kevsmith posted Aug 30, 2021 at 8:51 PM The usual test trains were running, and really July was the last month where it was light enough to film the reversing move at Askam station. Colas class 37s were the norm usually 37 116 and 37 219 Test Train At Dunnerholme by kevsmith posted Aug 30, 2021 at 8:48 PM Highlight for me was the appearance of 34046 Braunton on a Carlisle to Rugby excursion. Now this was the first time I had seen it for years and also the first time I had seen it since it was restored. The last time I saw it was in 1978 when it languished in Dai Woodham's Barry scrapyard in South Wales Looks a lot better now [ 34046 Braunton At Foxfield by kevsmith posted Aug 30, 2021 at 8:35 PM More soon
Beautiful! Kev, your videos of British trains/railroading are not only fascinating, they are very relaxing. I believe those trains at about half way through and beyond are the longest British trains I've see, Are those ballast cars? Doug
I missed reading part of your previous post (too anxious to get to the video, I guess) or I would have read about the stone trains. Duh! Doug