Was not expecting this lash up this morning on 6C53 88 003 Genesis (working in diesel model) and 68 005 Defiant with three FNA-D Nuclear flask wagons and 88 004 Pandora on the back seen at Kirkby Lidgate UWC (user worked crossing) We seem to be getting more of the Class 88 25Kv AC/Diesel hybrids up the coast at the moment Kev
It is half term here in the U.K so Brookyns parents rely on me to keep him busy and amused Yesterday I took him for his first railfanning trip to Oxenholme station on the West Coast main line in Cumbria. Built by the LNWR it is on a challenging climb and is the junction station for the Windermere branch. Traffic consists of Avanti London to Scotland services, TPE Scotland to Manchester and Liverpool services. Northern Rail services to Windermere and a good selection of Freight trains each day Within minutes DRS 68 016 Fearless charged down the hill with a Russell container train. Line speed here is 85mph Those boxes make a big hole in the air and the yellow line on the platform is best not crossed! Originating in Coatbridge in Scotland it was heading for the vast Daventry Railfreight hub in the Midlands I had to grab the tripod in case it, and the camcorder, got sucked onto the track! one of the 2019, Hitachi built, Class 802 25Kv ac/Diesel Bi-modes. 802 214 is a five car unit operated by TPE (Trans Pennine Express) and was on an Edinburgh to Manchester Airport Avanti took over the West Coast franchise from Virgin Rail and to be honest have not matched the performance of their predeccesors. They are under some pressure at the moment over their train cancellation figures and strike action by the trade unions The, Alsthom built,Class 390 'Pendolino' EMUs are still a very reliable train with their tilting suspension though 390 005 was working an Edinburgh to London Euston service. This is one of the named ones 'City of Wolverhampton' we had missed a couple of earler freights but knew that 6E73 was headed our way. This was a Shap Summit Quarry to Doncaster Decoy Yard Ballast train for Network Rail hauled by DRS 66 426 Again it was not going slowly! After it passed We caught a 195 DMU down the single line branch line to Windermere. Windermere is a big tourist spot in the Lake district and there were a lot of Asian tourists catching the train to visit 'The World of Beatrix Pottter' attraction 195 131 seen at the terminus. The original station building was sold off to the local supermarket chain and the once extensive goods yard has been built over This, CAF built, three car Civitiy was quite noisy which is unusual for these Kev
working on the ballasting on my new Z scale layout 'Tapton Junction' this morning and looked at realtimetrains app on my phone and realised the empty Drigg BNFL to Shap Summit Quarry stone train was going to run. It did, but an Hour and a half late. which was O.k because it gave the sun time to move around to a better position 68 017 'Hornet' has eleven of the VTG-DRS JNA stone hoppers in tow at Askam Although it was pathed through the Dalton Loop I took a punt on getting to Lindal in time to get it again 3 minutes to spare BNSF fan has already spotted my youtube video of the hand operated crossing gates at Bootle but I'm going to do a new, seperate, thread on Bootle and its incredibly old and rare Signalbox and also the equally ancient signal box at Drigg more soon Kev
Video of our very short, But lucrative, trains involved in the Nuclear industry Thank God the days are getting longer. The middle section, 6K73 Sellafield to Crewe, was the first time this season it has been light enough to film it Kev
The other day I went up to Bootle station for the first time in ages. Situated further up the Cumbrian Coast it has one of the oldest working signalboxes in the U.K and still has crossing gates operated by hand. The 1871, Grade 2 listed box is in a poor way but the operation is still the same. the signaller comes out of the box, closes the gates by hand , returns to the box and accepts the train from the preceeding box in either direction ( Silecroft to the South and Drigg to the North) and then pulls the Home signal off. Because it is a listed build and needs to be preserved as close as possible to original there has been a huge delay in getting agreement on what needs to be done and how. it is getting pretty urgent! The scaffolding is holding it up First train to pass was 'Celebrity' class 156 DMU 156 480 'RAF 100' in its unique Airforce decals More soon . The CPU on the computer is going nuts rendering two videos of stuff shot at Bootle . Some from the other day and some from 2015-16 including a lineside fire involving Propane gas bottles and yours truly in front of the camera for once Kev
All the buildings at Bootle were constructed in the 1870s Here is an early view with the original crossing gates I first came across the station from the cab of a Class 108 Diesel railcar in the late 1970s The spots on the picture are dead bugs (out of focus!) The station building has been in private hands for quite a while First video. including gate working More soon Kev
Interesting stuff going off at the end of the street all week GBRF EMD built class 66s shuttling back and forth on Route Learning trains. Seems they are trying to get as many of their guys competent on the Furness line and the Cumbrian Coast line as possible. Obviously there is a big civil engineering project coming up The rarely used Askam crossover had seen a lot of use 66 742 'ABP Port of Immingham' crooses over from the down to the up line 66 767 ' Kings Cross PSB' passes under the footbridge at Kirkby in Furness 66 764 Major John Poyntz' seen just after it has done the reverse move at Askam By this this time the instructor had spotted me as a regular and I ended up getting lots of Horn salutes when they passed! Haven't been down to Thwaites Flat bridge for a long time and 66 767 was going really slowly over the check rails as it approaches park South Junction 68 017 Hornet was on the Drigg-Shap Summit Quarry empty JNA-Z stone hoppers and was really motoring through Askam Lots more stuff scheduled this coming week Got all my batteries charged up just need to fill the X-trail up with Diesel Kev
Busy, Busy,Busy For the first time the Network Rail test train 153 385 came down the Furness. Converted from a single car Diesel railcar it is a switch and crossing recording unit and spen two days bimbling around Cumbria Got it first at Dalton in Furness At Askam it was scedhuled to do the reversing move over the crossover And headed south again. It is a very clean machine! These 153s used to be a common sight on the Cumbrian Coast before Northern Rail got rid of them. I quite often rode them to Sellafield when I couldn't be bothered driving in to work. It did catch me out at Low Greaves Bridge near Pennington. I had my back turned and was waving my phone in the air trying to get 4G reception back when it sneaked up behind me. However, as it was reversing again at Ulverston I caught it coming back! Video, Of course including the crossing over at Askam More very soon including a Class 69 running around this morning Kev
So there were a few more Route learning trains on the Cumbrian Coast but Thursday turned into a real treat 68 017 Hornet was on the empty Stone train to Shap Summit seen at Dalton in Furness. It has just exited Dalton Tunnel and on the reverse curve it is climbing steadily towards Lindal summit My old mate Brian Green was driving but resisted the temptation to give me a blast on the horns The route learner was supposed to be another GBRF 66 but word spread like wildfire that it would be one of the 'New' class 69s. When I say new the 69s are basically the old. 'heavy Haul' Class 56s with the Ruston Paxman engine replaced by an EMD unit 69 010 was first spotted at Askam It worked Tuebrook sidings (in Liverpool) to Sellafield and was scheduled to return a couple of hours later On the return it passes the Grade 2 listed Signalbox at Park South and was pathed through Barrow in Furness gave me time to jump in the X-trail and get it again at Lindal approaching the summit. Even though it was only spitting with rain the driver had the sanders operating, Note sure about the speedwhisker painted on the front! 69 010 started out as 56 065. In an unususual shot the 56 , allocated to the Construction subsector, was caught on a coal train at Clay Cross junction in April 1992 The coal subsector logo, black diamonds on yellow is my avatar on my trainboard profile i've got mixed feeling about the 69s. I had Paxman powered 56s going past my house in Chesterfield all the time and the EMD motors just don't sound right in their latest form From 12 years ago, when I look a lot younger on my intro. I put together all of my early footage of Class 56s around Derbyshire. Obviously not HD but a snapshot of these doing what they were designed to do 'Steel and Coal' I'm going to remaster this and improve the sound with a neat Sound editing software I've got Kev
So do the towers still man the crossovers by manual controls? Looks like I can see rods attached at the switches.
The box controls the crossover and the home and distant signals. It still communicates with the Drigg and Silecroft boxes by bell codes. Next time I'm up I'll take some photos in the box including the signalling diagram and the block instruments Kev
Every now and then something unexpected turns up GB railfreight continued with the driver training program but instead of the usual Class 66s we found it was to be another Class 69. not a freshly painted one but 69 013 still in tatty green primer Seen first approaching Barrow station under the Devonshire Road bridge The following day got it again at Askam Station. By this time the train crew had defintely started to recognise me The weather has been nice so I went up to Kirkby Pool Viaduct This is a lovely place to film and this time got it coming back as well. In a few more weeks the sun will be futher round at this time of day The original thought was that these Route learning moves were for an upcoming major track renewal job but the other day we got the news that it was for the new Luxury Railtour train ,the 'Brittanic', which GBRf are supposed to be hauling. Interesting Video Kev
We had great expectations for this weekend. The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway A class 0-6-0 that was on display during the Lakeside and Haverthwaite diesel gala was scheduled to be running the normal timetable after being used on a photo charter mid-week. There were two steam specials due down the Cumbrian Coast Line and a mystery light engine move The Aspinall designed loco 53222 had been polished up since last weekend. Seen approaching Newby Bridge The loco has the very unusual 'Joy' valve gear fitted which does not need eccentrics, deriving its motion off the connecting rod One of my favourite locos of all time Back in my '0' gauge days I built two of these Taling to the railway staff they were saying that it would be running fairly gently as there was a hightened fire risk . The county has been so dry for the last few weeks So we headed down to the village of Cark to get the light engine move On of the Fugly Class 70s, 70 815. Not GEs finest style jobs! Down to Flookburgh for some very nice Fish and Chips, which we ate watching the Sky divers at Cark Airfield throwing themselves out of a plane and then headed back to get 34067 Tangmere, the first of the steam excursions, at Dunnerholme where you can photograph a steam engine with the towering 'Old man of Consiston' mountain in the background The Carlisle to York was running O.K as far as St Bees on the Cumbrian Coast before losing loads of time getting to Sellafield. We were getting reports the line was on fire around Netherton and when it passed us at Dunnerholme there was no exhaust and it was obvious the 57 on the back was just pushing the whole train. We would normally chase this train to get it again attacking the climb to Lindal summit but there wasn't much point if it wasn't working hard Utter carnage. All the following scheduled Northern passenger trains were cancelled as was the second steam excursion hauled by 'Blue Peter' which terminated at Wigton, reversed and went back to Carlisle and up the West Coast main line. This was the one we were all waiting for as it has just come off a long and major overhaul. Bummer! Anyway, seen loads of pictures on soclal media of fire crews fighting the wild fires further up the coast. Not good. The last steam ban on Network Rail is still fresh in our minds and there is another Tangmere run down the coast due soon Kev
Following yesterdays carnage on the Cumbrian coast line, where every, Northern rail, passenger train got cancelled due to the wild fires, I looked on the realtimetrains app this morning and noticed something rare A Northern rail class 195 Civity DMU had been allocated to the first train on Sunday monring, the 2C33/2C34 Barrow in Furness to Millom return train.This is normally allocated two Class 156 two car units. I suspect that all the Class 156s had ended up in the wrong place for the start of the Sunday sevices 195 125 duly appeared alongside Askam in Furness ,Grade 2 listed, station building returning from Millom it was only when I downloaded the Eos I realised I'd got the shadow of the Up Home signal across the front of the 195. I quite like this picture. 1880s signalling upon a 2020s piece of rolling stock Kev
Since I last posted there has been a lot going on. More Route learning, light engine, moves. This time Colas Rail were deploying one of the Class 70 'Fuglies' in preparation for the August closure of Bransty Tunnel in Whitehaven to solve the long running problem of Whitehaven Harbour being inundated with brown, iron rich , water pollution https://www.whitehavenhc.org.uk/orange-water 70 815 was doing a circular route down the Cumbrian Coast and back up the West Coast main line starting and finishing at Carlisle The Midland Pullman owned by LSL ran a luxury excursion through the village heading for Gerards Cross. My former colleague martin Tweddle giving me the 'Big wave!' The former main line Class 43 HSTs are always immaculate
