An epic day...Looking at the schedules I could see we had at least four railtours on the slate with a mix of Mainline Steam, preserved 25KV AC and an iconic diesel loco running in the county The focus of everybody's attention would be 'Royal Scots Grey' The preserved Deltic's first run following restoration. So Brooklyn and I saddled up and headed east to the High Fells to see what would transpire The first setback was the light engine steam move from Carnforth to Carlisle which ran early and wasn't held in the loop at Tebay as expected so we missed it! Next up was the much anticipated Deltic premier. The Deltics, introduced in 1961, were at the time the single most powerful Diesel electric locomotives in the world. Kicking out 3,300 HP from two Napier deltic engines they single handedly swept away all of Sir Nigel Gresleys' A3 and A4 pacifics on the East Coast main line (Flying Scotsman, Mallard, Blue Peter, et al). Now things did not go to plan here either. As a ten year old he is still learning how to photograph trains and did not know that an EOS 700D will only take so many cons ecutive pictures (image burst) until it says NO So he took lots of pictures far away but as it got closer the EOS locked up he was hoping to get a shot like this The day got a lot better after this though and tomorrow I'll get to the meat of the story which includes one of the best Fish and Chips shops in England and a ruined 13th Century priory in the middle of nowhere more soon Kev
Deltics have a weirdly wonderful personality. D5000 is a lovely locomotive, actually. Looking forward to tomorrow's posts.
The Deltic is a very iconic locomotive, is that in full working order? I see a pusher behind the train with a consistent smoke trail. In any case I am waiting for the next pictures.
Well spotted Maurizio. It was obvious that the Deltic only had one engine running and the Class 47 at the back was in 'Notch 8' So to give Brooklyn a bit of a lift I let him use the EOS 5D while I sorted the 700D He postioned himself further up the bank (any further and he would have been stood on the M6 Motorway!) I was at track level when Southern Railway 'Battle of Britain' class 34046 Tangmere attacked the climb Brooklyn was now getting well into it from higher up This also had a class 47 on the back that seemed rather busy! The parade of heritage motive power was punctuated by a DRS, Daventry-Mossend, Tesco Intermodal service. The expected Class 88 had been replaced by a pair of EMD Class 66s Much of this will make more sense when I put the link to the video (And I know some of you have already had a sneaky peak!) Brooklyn's pic of the Class 86,86 259 Les Ross/Peter Pan. This was hauling the excursion train to Carlisle where the WCR Steam loco, the one we missed, would take over to bring the train down Coast. There is a debate in the U.K about the validity of preserving relatively young 25KV AC electrics.I've no problems with it when they look as good as this More soon Kev
So.. Next up was the famous 'Shap Chippy' (woo woo woo I hear you think) According to some survey or competition or whatever it is the second best Fish and Chip shop in the U.K, We both had the lunchtime special which is small Cod, Chips and Mushy Peas £6 each Delicious! And the out into the Boondocks to find the remains of Shap Abbey. Another victim of King Henry VIIIs reformation. You have probably seen my earlier thread on the immense ruins of Furness Abbey Shap is not on that scale but still really good accesed by a single track lined on both sides by Dry stone walls it is not the most accesible of monuments I might post a standalone thread about this Kev
So we headed back home ready for the final train of the day. LMS Black V 4-6-0 44932 had taken over from the Class 86 and headed down the Cumbrian Coast line Brooklyn's picture of it at Park South and again attacking the bank at Lindal. The left hand cylinder sounded a bit wheezy by this stage As promised here is the video Nothing running tomorrow as the railways are on strike sadly
Cool video!!! Cylinder cock stuck open. I have always wondered if that does anything to performance. Apparently not. And it must not be any danger to equipment. It has been quite the year for railroad labor. First came potential issues in Canada. Then our ongoing mess here in The States. Now a strike in the UK.
The interesting thing is it involves multiple Trade Unions My Union TSSA (managers, station staff etc) Aslef (Train drivers) RMT (Signallers and track workers). We all have the same beef, Changes to working practices, pay rise not keeping up with inflation and the threat of forced redundancies. The British government is pulling the strings in the background to cap pay rises As you know I retire soon but i would be on the picket line if it came to it (Might still do that to support the team I'm leaving behind) Kev
Beautiful video, as usual. In addition to the locomotives, those British mainline coaches are gorgeous. The Deltic sounds as powerful as it is or would be with both engines working. I know those engines are "tricky" to keep running. Doug