Northern Belle 2025

So sadly pretty much a standard day on the cumbrian coast line, steam trains or not....

 

I’m somewhat surprised that the tours got the go ahead in the first place, given the number of serious heathland fires around the country in the preceding few days?
I guess there’ll be plenty of negative press arising from this.
Edit - just checked on BBC News site - major heath fires recorded in Dorset, Hampshire, Staffordshire, Aberdeen, N. Ireland …..

 

Couldn’t agree more.

 

Or in other words we risk not embarrassing the operator too much if the detail isn’t known

I’m a member of 4 different groups of rail enthusiast/photogrpahy, etc and the information went in all of those from various different people. I’ve no idea who let it out first, but various people then passed it on, and once that’s started it’s not likely to stop. However I shall no longer feel the need to post any info given on here, and then people can all guess

 

Maybe they can make it make a chuffing noise too when it is on a train rather than just the diesel noise that seems to occur

Either way what pictures didn’t show was the substantial damage to railway infrastructure the fires caused…But it seems that we shouldn’t be talking about that on here anyway!

 

Harry you are being very churlish here. Of course it should be discussed here, including the damage caused to the infrastructure. We are all concerned with the pros and cons of steam operation on the network and as yesterday shows fire risk is a real issue. You can of course talk about what you know about the extent of the damage, I only suggest that you avoid quoting internal Network Rail sources.

I'm not sure that apportioning blame to Tangmere is very helpful. From what I can see of conditions on the coast line it is quite possibly that the trouble would have been caused by whoever went first. After all both locos seemingly went over the dry Fells without incident and neither blazed a trail earlier in the proceedings. It is possible that those at Crewe feel that they dodged a bullet yesterday afternoon by not going first.

Peter

 

2 fires were reported on the WCML after the passage of Tangmere……

 

Still waiting for yesterdays crew.

 

Ok….Coincidentally and very very strange timing but….

2 fires were reported on the WCML yesterday and over 20 on the Cumbrian coast after the passage of Tangmere…..But these may purely have been absolutely nothing to do with the steam loco and it’s just incredibly good timing…..

Hope that’s better

 

Just on the control log discussions here, they are not 100% infallible either, the info there is only as good as the info supplied and sometimes it can be patchy what gets through from on the ground at the time. I've had a few occasions through work even just in my short time where I've picked up on things on the control log that looked like they might be matters for concern, got a bit more info and actually it wasn't quite as reported. Not saying it's just as bad as ill informed speculation online, but it's not gospel either. I have no knowledge of the accuracy of the log for the incidences yesterday, just thought it was worth mentioning!

 

In other words there's no smoke without fire,

 

I agree that it's probably wise not to directly quote internal NR sources. However, to be fair, there are news articles such as this one - Dozens of West Cumbrian wildfires sparked by steam train - cumbriacrack.com
Headline is "Dozens of West Cumbrian wildfires sparked by steam train".
So presumably someone at NR has also divulged the content of the log to the media too.

 

Given that’s where much of the info comes from about things running solo (Ie the A2, etc) then a lot of people are going to have to stop quoting a lot of things!

Same for quoting traffic notices, etc although strangely nobody seemed to mind that?!!

Perhaps because it’s a positive and not a negative?! As a hobby we do have a good history of burying the negatives in the sand and pretending they didn’t happen.

 

Oswald's morning at Oxenholme (continued)

Well the first part of the morning had gone well with Blue Peter looking the business and running to time and with NO diesel. The "no diesel" would not be repeated with the Northern Belle.

The path called for the NB to leave Carnforth before 1S46, the TP Edinburgh train, then wait in the loop at Oxenholme for 1S46 to pass before continuing on its way north. I was hoping for a slow and smoky departure from the loop. Alas things did not go as planned. On the outward journey from York the NB got delayed behind a faulty service train and from running RT ended up being 31L at Mytholmroyd. This had been reduced to 24L into the loop at Carnforth. With a swift loco change maybe this could have been reduced further but the NB was held whilst the late running (7L) Edinburgh train was given the road. Tangmere departed 23L (and now behind 1S46); there would be no start from the loop, ah well, worse things happen at sea (and sadly on the coast as we were to find out).

Many of those who had turned out to see Blue Peter had called it a day, "I've enough photographs of Tangmere", remarked one as he departed. By now the sun had moved higher and further round in the sky, the shadows were even more pronounced. The station announcement instructed people to stand well back from the edge of platform 2, Tangmere was close. Then a distant chatter followed by a whistle as Tangmere sped towards the station. There was no white exhaust, just a grey haze as she clanked thro' the station but with plenty of whistles. She was moving faster than Blue Peter and the reason why became apparent as 57313 Scarborough Castle powered past providing a hefty shove. One out of two ain't bad! 12C, 11L & 52mph. Time for Oswald to head home.

[Sadly the day's events took a big turn for the worse. Lot's of things have already been said about who was to blame, delays and damage to infrastructure but at the end of the day no-one was hurt. Finding a small positive, after returning to Carlisle the Lakelander headed south (231L) but now taking the WCML and behind diesel passengers reached their drop off points with minimal or even no delay. Well done to all involved!]

(Maisie notes: Maisie now goes in and out as she pleases. She has been inside the house next door (a cat loving lady who will spoil her given half a chance) and she also went inside to visit Diego's "mum", who was very pleased that she did. Another neighbour was taking his dogs for a walk (a couple of older, medium to large and very friendly dogs), Maisie approached one and hissed, the dog was so taken aback that he dropped the ball he was carrying in his mouth and hid behind his owner. Andy, the owner, had to give the dog a pep talk about how he was a big dog and not to be afraid of a small black and white cat.)

 

Just finished my vid from yesterday's goings-on.

 

How could anyone have too many images of an unrebuilt Bulleid?
Strange these Northern folk.

 

For what it’s worth regarding line-side fires.
The Weardale Explorer was held at York to await our relief guard, who was aiming to be at York mid-afternoon but arrived half an hour after we arrived. Following a line-side fire in the Doncaster region which took a good amount infrastructure with it, he was stuck amongst the chaos of the East Coast Mainline and not a steam loco to be seen.

When I last saw a report, the steam fire risk index was green across most of the country yesterday, including the North West, indicating steam locos fitted with spark arrestors could run without intervention.