We have had a quiet time with main line steam in my part of the country recently. The long term closure of a viaduct for refurbishment south of where I live meant only local passenger trains were running and most freight trains were diverted north to Carlisle and then down the West Coast mainline. All this changed with the re-opening of the Carnforth to Barrow section once the work was complete and one benefit was the scheduling of the 'Lakelander' steam hauled excursions every saturday for thew next few weeks. Motive power is from the pool of preserved engines kept at Carnforth for main line use (this was formerly the Steamtown railway museum, now sadly closed to the general public) and was to be selected from either 8F 2-8-0 48151, Black V 4-6-0 44932,Jubilee 4-6-0 45690 'Leander' or Royal Scot class 4-6-0 46115 'Scots Guardsman' All of these are Stanier designs albeit the Scot is a Stanier redesign of a Fowler original and share a family look hat instantly identifies the parentage. The Black V was introduced in 1934 as a mixed traffic locomotive and eventually totalled 842 examples and sired a direct descendant in the British Railways Standard V 4-6-0 later on. The year after the 8F 2-8-0s made their first appearance and were designed as a standard heavy freight locomotive. 663 were built for the LMS and many more for overseas use by the war department, indeed, British steam ennthusiasts have been rescuing examples from places like Turkey and bringing them home for restoration At present 11 8F 2-8-0 are known to survive, either British or foreign examples and 18 Black 5s. being rugged simple two cylinder locos they are ideal for the many preserved railways in the U.K in the next part I'll look at the location and add the link to the video of the first two Lakelander runnings.
The happy hunting ground for the first two trips out for the Lakelamder was the 'Furness' area of Cumbria covering the section from Ulverston in the East, through Lindal and Dalton to Askam, where I live. If Dalton Junction signalbox is open the steam specials use the goods only cutoff line and by-pass Barrow in Furness eliminating a long loop through the town. The first running was very late as the diesel hauled section of the train had failed early on and I missed 8F 48151 in the morning but did catch 6C53, the Crewe-Sellafield Nuclear flask train at Askam early on. This is run by the company I work for, Direct Rail services, and was held at Askam box for the signalman to notify the driver of P-way issues ahead. Two DRS class 66s have three FNA flask wagon in tow In the video we see the 66s brought to a halt at Askam followed by the return leg of 48151 on the train at Askam and then at Lindal followed by 44932 the week after at Ulverston, Askam and on its return at Askam and Lindal. Because even the cutoff takes a loop through Dalton it is quite easy to film it at Askam, jump in the car, blast up the Dalton by-pass and get set up to catch it agin further on. Obeying the speed limit at all times of course! Link to the video is here http://youtu.be/ZjHk0f1gzQI Hopefully we'll get the Royal Scot next saturday although to be honest I don't really mind,Any steam is better then no steam! As I'm working on Saturday I should be able to film it at Sellafield I'll keep you posted
Very nice video, Kev. It drove me to my maps. I had never been that far north in the UK, so was unfamiliar with village and town names. Interesting to see the farm animals run away as the steamer ran past. On a trip up Stampede Pass in Washington state, US, I remember seeing the animals run away and wondered if that is how Stampede Pass got its name. Back in Genesis when I was growing up and steam abounded, the animals paid no attention. :tb-biggrin:
Yesterday was the third running of this years 'Lakelanders' The weather wasn't too good in the morning but the rain had stopped by the time 8F 48151 arrived at Sellafield. The giant nuclear facility at Sellafield has allowed steam locomotives on to site to be turned and watered for 30 years now and in the video we see the 2-8-0 propel the train into the Sellafield sidings, detach and run down to the gate with its support coach. The large maintenance shed and yard behind the fence is the depot where I work. Sadly security is so tight I can't take any pictures in there as cameras are banned! later on in the video we see the 8F blasting through Askam and Lindal on the return leg of the train. the light had got a lot better by this time. video is here at http://youtu.be/s1ScBKNYkXw ' I don't think I'll get to do next Saturdays run as I am at Leyland show with one of the Z gauge layouts but I might try and get out to the 'Mersey moorlander' run tomorrow which has Black V 4-6-0 44932 running on the Settle and carlisle KEV
