After the ban imposed on West Coast rail was imposed, ironically the day after I had photographed 'Galatea' on the Cumbrian coast, there was a deathly silence as all of the steam excursions usually running at the time of year were stopped. frustrating times for all of us and WCR had some serious work to get the ban lifted. March 23rd saw the ban lifted after CCTV was put in the cabs of the main line locos and better governance and risk assessments procedures put in place. So... Saturday saw 46100 Royal Scot back in action of the Cumbrian coast. Seen at Dunnerholme with the wind whipping off the estuary turned out immaculately At Lindal the Scot was working hard up the bank Video is here with lots of class 37 diesel action as well cheers Kev
About two and one half minutes in, there was a very short train with two engines. Was that something very high priority? It seems as though such a movement would be a bit of a money loser.
Lots of interesting stuff in that video while you are waiting for the scot. Note the use of battery powered flashing tail light on the DRS push-pull train (when trailing both on the loco and on the DBSO) as well as the built in tail lights. The top and tailing of the excursion train with a pair of '57s (5500 horsepower for the pair!) was presumably for operational reasons to avoid having to run the loco round to the other end. More than one loco on any loco hauled train is pretty rare in the UK.
Ah. OK. I recall Kev showing us video of a different appearing car. There are apparently a couple of different styles they must use.
Where to start... first instance was a Cat A SPAD (Signal passed at Danger) where Bulleid Pacific 'Tangmere' overshot a red by 850 yards and narrowly missed a collision with a packed HST train at Wooton Basset, they were less than a minute apart and the casualty toll would have been immense. It appears that the train crew had disabled the TPWS (Train warning and protection system). They then further compounded it by having another TPWS disabled at Doncaster station. Additionally they had a collision with a buffer stop at Weymouth station. At this point the ORR (Office of Rail regulation) said enough and imposed the ban. A prosecution is pending for the Wooton Basset incident. To satisfy the regulator they have installed CCTV cameras in the cab and pledged to improve the safety culture of the organisation. If you google it you can find the full story.
On a brighter note last Saturday saw some interesting stuff on the Cumbrian Coast First 'Royal Scot' northbound through Pennington on the steep 'Lindal' bank after it passed I shot over Kirkbymoorside to do a panoramic shot of the train heading up the Askam side of the Duddon Estuary Then a rarity. Galatea was unable to haul the Southbound steam special north of Sellafield due to gauging problems so ran light engine with its support coach to Sellafield to pick the train up there. The Jubilee 4-6-0 had to run tender first as the turning triangle inside Sellafield site is now out of bounds for steam. See at Askam More soon Kev
A rare weekday excursion.' Galatea' in action again on the Grange over Sands to Edinburgh section of 'Great Britain IX' a luxury railtour that takes in most of the United Kingdom over nearly two weeks. Seen first at Pennington on the Lindal bank on a bridge further up the village than I normally use and then at a windswept Dunnerholme. Earlier on we had some snow and then driving rain but the skies cleared and the wind whipping off the Duddon Estuary and the cold air meant really white exhaust plumes from the Jubilee 4-6-0 Kev
