The sun is getting lower and the shadows longer. Won't be too long before this train, 6K73 Sellafield to Crewe Coal sidings, is coming through in darkness But it does make the landscape look dramatic though 68 034 'Railriders' and 88 005 'Minerva' are easing off as the approach Dunnerholme crossing . The tallest peak in the background is the 'Old Man of Coniston' Kev
During the week we had a couple of days where a lone Class 37 was trundling around the area on Driver training/ Route learning 37 667 aka D6851 'Flopsie' is first seen drifting downhill towards Furness Abbey Tunnel Both ends have a lot of dents in the nose Heading back to Carnforth through Roose Class 37s are very rare on the Cumbrian Coast and Furness lines since DRS disposed of all theirs. This used to belong to DRS back in the day Later that day it slowly approached Askam in Furness . The Signaller has just pulled the Home signal 'off' but left the next one 'On' as the plan was to reverse the train back over the crossover to take the Dalton Loop The crossover has been set and the crew are changing ends Kev
The last few days damp, grey clouds, drizzle and darkness has blighted Cumbria but despite that I headed out to Ruskinville Bridge at the West end of Dalton Tunnel to get this mornings Crewe Coal sidings to Sellafield Nuclear Flask train 68 005 'Defiant and 68 017 'Hornet' Slowing , waiting for the 'Feathers' on the signal that allows them to crossover at Dalton Junction onto the Dalton Loop The portal to Dalton Tunnel in the background Had to push the ISO up to 800 as it was so dark and the grey sky bleaches out the cab windshield. Hey-Ho Its Cumbria in November ! Kev
Octobers Video Lots of Nukes, LMS Black 5 4-6-0 45212, HSTs both Midland Pullman and Test Train, 37 667 trundling around and a Tamper November has started with terrible weather. Low thick cloud interupted by Drizzle for the last seven days and the shorter daylight hours has limited how many times I've been out this week Fingers crossed it brightens up soon Kev
So.. In the daylight hours we are limited on what trains we can get Ten minutes before 6C53 turned up with 68 034 'Railriders' and 68 007 'Valiant' on point with the Crewe Coal sidings to Sellafield Nuke. I could barely see the curve of the rails as they approached Kirkby in Furness. Photoshop makes the picture look a lot less murkier than it was in real life Super power ( Not Really!) as 68 017 'Hornet' leads 88 009 'Diana', 88 001 'Revolution and 68 034 'Railriders on the same train a few days later . 13/11/2024. The reason for the stacked power is to have enough locos on Sellafield site for next weeks diagrams. Kirkby Pool and the Duddon Estuary look silver under the leaden sky So I looked out of the window this morning, Thick Fog and the car covered in dew but the sun soon broke through and it looked hopeful to get the lunchtime Sellafield to Heysham Nuke Low winter sun in the right place for once but, Oh Dear!, the two Class 68s had been out on the RHTT train a couple of days ago and were still filthy For those who don't know, the RHTT is a leaf busting train that cleans the railheads with high pressure Water jets during the Autumn Leaf fall season. Much of the crud ends up on the top and tailed locos! Under the muck is 68 003 Astute and special liveried 68 006 'Pride of the North' My ex colleague Brian Green spots me at the last moment Kev
The sun has yet to rise high enough to melt the frost as 68 033 'The Poppy' and 68 034 'Railriders' slowly approach Dalton junction on a bitter cold morning The train ( 6C53 Crewe Coal sidings to Sellafield) has just exited Dalton Tunnel and will come to a halt waiting for the junction signal " The feathers" to turn green and path the train through the Dalton Loop Askam in Furness station , which as many of you know is my local stop has had some exciting news . Network Rail have applied for permission to do some major renovations of the Grade 2 listed building. Long overdue, the list of the works includes the roof, Chimney stacks, Supporting timberworks and I believe some work to the platform shelter over on the Up Platform as well. Designed by the renowned architectural firm of Paley and Austin of Lancaster in 1877 in 'Swiss Chalet style', the wil be a public consultation but I can't see anybody objecting. Freightliner ( Part of Genesee and Wyoming now) 66 565 came through earlier today with 1,800 tonne of ballast for the track renewal beyond Whitehaven Needless to say, I will be down there a lot with my camera when they get started! Kev
December has been a waste of time really. The weather has been appaling and even the morning Crewe to Sellafield Nuclear flask train has not been worth going out for, It gets light about 09.00 and goes dark just after 16.00 The Engineering possession near Parton carried on each weekend and Colas 70 803 was heading for it with shiny new gondolas loaded with shiny new Ballast Still the ugliest things running in the U.K! Freightliner 66 567 was on the same job a bit later on Shortly after a Tamper, Colas DR 73930, followed headed for the same place The early afternoon DRS Sellafield to Heysham Power station ran sporadically. 68 002 'Intrepid' Top and tailed with 88 005 'Minerva' seen at White Bridge, Askam Ona couple of occasions its was so dark when the Crewe to Sellafield at Breakfast time I just videod it. The Eos wouldn't have got anything usable At Kirkby in Furness it brightened up long enough for me to get 68 018 'Vigilant' and 68 006 'Pride of the North' heading for Sellafield with a single FNA-D Nuclear flask wagon so on the 27th the Hesyham ran and it was not raining as bad! 68 004 'Rapid and 68 007 'Valiant' are filthy as a result of the weather and have obviously not been through the Washing plant at Kingmoor for a while And unless something runs before New Years Eve that will be it for 2024 Kev
GE Erie Built . 2009 to 2017 Freightliner bought 20 examples bot 70 012 was dropped on the dock duting unloading operations and was so badly bent that it was a write off and sent back to the USA https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/800585271234496544/ Colas bought 17 including the Turkish built 70 801. The styling is awful! They have attracted a lot of derision from U.K Railfans and have also attracted some uncomplimentary nicknames "Fuglies", "Fire starters" after they had a few engine fires and Su-Bos. We are getting quite a few through Askam these days both Freightliner and Colas If you are following my thread on EMD locos in the U.K I'm going to go into more depth on the GE builds next kev
The much promised snow over the weekend didn't amount to much although it did stop a lot of train crew getting in to work on time so a lot of trains got cancelled. My X-trail had a mini snow drift on front of it. Very wet, heavy snow. The Lancaster to Carlisle was the first one to run yesterday with 156 469. Askam station always looks nice in the snow By today the snow had nearly all gone but the first Nuke of 2025 ran with 68 033 'The Poppy' top and tailed with 88 005 Minerva still showed the snow on the high fells. Sellafield to Heysham Power station. kev
So we had a little bit of snow but it didn't last long but it was nice to get Askam station looking pretty in the white stuff The signaller was having a quite morning as many of the early trains were cancelled due to the train crew struggling to get into work and also frozen points. This morning there a nuke due through just before 9 am. Jeez, it was crunchy underfoot with the frozen snow 68 005 'Defiant' and 68 009 'Titan' hustle two FNA-D Nuclear Flask wagons towards Sellafield Anyway. Not really railroads , but I took a walk downto the beach to photograph Black Combe ( Maybe it should be called White Combe!) with the frozen shore line in the foreground. The lower ground has thawed out and is green for now. Kev
The winter solstice has passed and already it is getting lighter, earlier in the mornings. The recent storms have died down. Time to get out and about 68 009 Titan and 68 003 Astute skirt the Duddon Estuary bound for Sellafield at Kirkby in Furness at lunchtime 68 018 Vigilant and 68 004 Rapid headed for Heysham Nuclear Power station. Crossing Kirkby Pool viaduct with the high tide in the foreground and a snow capped Old Man of Coniston in the distance Passing through the platforms at Kirkby Yesterday was spent at Oxenholme on the West Coast Main line. It was busy. Plan was to spend an Hour or so before going to the nearby Kendal Model rail show DRS 88 002 Prometheus was in charge of the Tesco container train and was deploying over 5000HP for the climb to Greyrigg A very late iunning Kingmoor to Basford hall container train was heading south hauled by two Class 90 electrics. 90 007 and 90 012 were both in the Freightliner 'Genesee & Wyoming' color scheme The 'do not cross the yellow line' warning is quite apt as these thundered through The platforms started to fill up as the main attraction neared. Our old friend 34067 'Tangmere' on the Winter Cumbrian Mountain express heading for Carlisle Kev
A lovely morning . I had spotted that an empty stone train for a new trafic flow was coming out of the Low Level Waste depository at Drigg headed for the Shap Summit Quarry. All the advance info suggested it would all be routed north through Carlisle but TOPs showd it pathed south this morning down the Furness line and reversing at Carnforth and heading up to Shap on the West Coast main line Crossing Kirkby Pool Viaduct with only half of the DRS-VTG JNA wagon set was 68 003 Astute dwarfed by the rugged Cumbrian Fells All going well until the camera body I had a shorter lens on, to get it coming through the Platforms, locked up on the first shot! VT was O.k So I started to pack up when I saw something coming north. rapidly turned everything back on Celebrity DMU 156 480 RAF 100 in its unique Vynil wrapping has finally been cleaned! Operated by Northen rail it stands out as it crosses the viaduct Hopefully the empty stone train becomes a regular working Kev
Always nice to get a suprise 88 010 Aurora, in its unique 'Cool' color scheme was on the front of 6C53 this morning with 68 016 behind it, The 88 was in diesel mode as there are no overheads and as the 68 has 3000 Horsepower more than it that was doing all the work although a single FNA-D Nuclear flask wagon wasn't going to trouble either See at Cark this morning Tomorrows Winter Cumbrian Mountai express has been cancelled. No explanation but very short notice. I hope they havn't broken 'Tangmere' again! Kev
Todays Sellafield to Crewe train was run in the lunchtime path so I've joined the two days filming together as both feature 88 010 Looks like Spring is here and the line is getting busy (in Daylight) again regards Kev
