Today should have been an excellent opportunity to get some good footage of the 'Winter Cumbrian Mountain Express' However it turned out to be a bit rubbish in the end. The train was to be double headed LMS Black 5 4-6-0s, 44871 on its first run after overhaul and 45407. Things didn't start to well at Hest Bank crossing south of Carnforth, the light was atrocious and the bitingly cold wind started to freeze the batteries on the cameras so when the Camcorder stuck on pause I should have known then it was going to be one of those days. Catching up with the train at Carnforth UDGL , where the train was taking water, I found the lead engine had gone onto the old Steamtown depot to get more coal. I got some footage of it setting back onto the train and then we seemed to wait forever for the excursion to leave, all the time it was getting colder and colder! We had quite a crowd of enthusiasts on the platform and were rewarded with a decent start as the train left the down sidings and crossed over back onto the West coast Main line and headed for Oxenholme Right, I thought, without breaking too many speed limits I can overtake the train before it gets up the bank at Shap and catch it either at Shap summit or Penrith as it goes through the station. Wrong! halfway up the M6 the traffic just stopped, the motorway was down to one lane for roadworks and I saw the twin plumes of steam pass me on the left hand side as I crawled along in 1st gear and then it started snowing. At this point I gave it up as a bad job and turned for home. What footage I got is at [nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPbFzVOzegg"]YouTube- Broadcast Yourself.[/nomedia] Better luck next time KEV
