The 'Leander' Incident

I saw this at Hellifield station in 1984 with my dad, ( I was only 9 years old). I remember it distinctly. We expected Sir Nigel to arrive at Hellifield light engine and were surprised when it arrived (tender first) pulling a goods train also. Sir Nigel was facing toward Carlisle, Then some minutes later City of Wells arrived (facing towards Leeds) pulling a passenger train, (I think probably from Carnforth.) Sir Nigel then took the passenger train North over the Settle and Carlisle and we followed it in the car about as far as Ribblehead. I think it was Derek Soames (Signalman at Settle Junction) idea to use Sir Nigel to help the failed goods train. You can see him working in the box here

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For some forgotten reason I couldn't be off work during the day and missed the incident at Garsdale but I did at least manage to photograph Leander later near Gisburn, heading off to Bridgnorth with the two coaches. Even then to see a Gresley vehicle on the main line behind steam was a rarity.

 

Wasn't there another incident?
An 8f was used for its steam lance on the WCML between Preston and Lancaster after some sort of chemical leak.

 

See http://www.national-preservation.com/threads/steam-to-the-rescue.512824/page-2 post#24

 

5690 at Kirkby Stephen 21 August 1980 with passengers awaiting something to be announced.

Cheers, Neil

 

Thanks for sharing this photo, it is great to see it and having zoomed it up a bit, I can say that is a very much younger me leaning out of the cab on the left. Sadly I cannot now remember who the fireman was, but I think that it was one of the Carnforth lads. After re-manning at Blackburn we ended up on Northwich shed for the night and then set off again via Chester, Shrewsbury, Hereford and Worcester for the Valley. The BSK at the back belonged to the 6000LA and was being worked back to Hereford. As we would no longer have a brake vehicle with the Gresley, we worked both into the Bulmer site and left them there for the Gresley vehicle to be forwarded to the SVR in due course, going light engine onward to Kidderminster. Having been on the move for almost 24 hours (including the Northwich break) the powers that be at the SVR of course wanted to do an immediate test run, so I agreed on the basis that I got to drive it to Bridgnorth (IIRC). It was a bit of a long two days by the time that I got home.

It would be good if anyone can remind us what the coach number was and if it is still on the valley. It had come from one of the goverment control trains and had been delivered to Carnforth. We had worked it out from Carnforth with 4472 ( in the days when it was painted in its proper colour), and in anticipation of its booked workings we had parked the coaches at Hellifield and proceded light engine with 4472 tender first to Skipton. Now the eagle eyed amongst you will say "How did you get all of the support crew to Skipton" but it is amazing how many people can be accomodated in a corridor tender, and as it was quite a hot day, I recall that the cool inner wall of the corridor was in demand. All this of course was accomplished with the connivance of Carnforth TI Bert Moore ( a truly great man). Of course once the problem occurred, plans changed and in order to get to Carnforth with the train somewhere closer to right time control decided to do the engine change at Hellifield rather than Skipton, so we all got back in the corridor and set off for Hellifield. Following the engine change I took over from the support crew on Leander and we set off for Skipton light engine for the somewhat belated water stop, then back to Hellifield, pick up the coaches and off to Northwich once more on plan. All in all a truly memorable afternoon.

And in answer to previous posts 5690 was definitely NOT rescued on the S&C by any diesel a few weeks later, due to the repair it would be several years before it ran on the S&C again.

Best Regards
Bob

 

The information on the SVRWiki site suggests it was 24105 - one of three Gresley carriages on the SVR that were part of the control trains. See https://svrwiki.com/LNER_24105_Open_Third for more info.

 

There was a steam hauled freight at Northwich, on May 18 1980. An open day at the shed had 4498, 80079 and 45000 as 5000, plus 24 081, the last survivor. 5ooo, was put in front of a class 25 for an ICI freight up the bank, made up of those LMS hopper wagons. There may have been a diesel banker as well, which was normal on those freights.

 

45581's photo of Leander to the rescue on the linked thread above...