Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway

Thanks! I'll try Twitter

 

Footage of 1245 Barclay 1/11/2014 .

 

Footage of 2682 & 1245 double heading the first Santa special on the Lakeside & Haverthwaite .

 

Any news on when the Fairburn tank's working next ? Looking forward to having a ride behind her...

 

Best way to find out is by visiting the Lines website and click on the twitter link as that gives the locos sometimes in advance .

 

Footage of Fairburn 42073 at the Lakeside and Haverthwaite railway 4th April 2015 .

 

Is your video in slow motion?

 

Just such a waste of two locos. The pheasant was moving quicker than anything else.

 

I love Fairburn tanks, but have given up on the L&H. I drive reasonably close to the line many times a year (M6) and would happily drop by for a ride, buy some food & drink etc. The problem is that they'll never tell us when there's a Fairburn rostered. I am unfailingly polite on the 'phone, but received a peremptory response on two different occasions when I asked for this info. Why do so many railways maintain such high levels of secrecy about loco rosters? It should be a marketing tool!

 

Agreed. There's nothing wrong with having a caveat at the bottom subject to availability etc. but surely a roster must exist somewhere to accommodate boiler washouts and other routine maintenance, it can't just be the crew rocking up on the day and thinking "Hmm, we'll take this one today." You do of course also need an active webmaster, although thinking about it, not even that, any old idiot can post the roster to a social media page, a tweet or a faceache post or even here!

 

Although I guess the bread and butter is Joe Public, who doesn't care which loco is working as long as it's steam of some kind, there is no point in alienating the enthusiast market. Several railways have a far more generous approach - the South Devon are very good and often I've made a visit on the strength of their providing gala rosters in advance.

John

 

Try looking at the Lakeside Railways Twitter account, I visited today as a result of Fairburn running days being publicised there....

Never previously used Twitter, but it's worth it just to access info' on there

 

removed

 

Glad you noticed the slow mo footage ! Sadly that's how the line runs with only the incline out of Haverthwaite working the locos .

 

I went once, and went home after one round trip. I thought the loco (AB 1245/1911) was being worked lightly after having been recently restored, but it looks like that's the standard method of working there! As mentioned, having the two Fairburns there is a waste - a medium-sized industrial is more than adequate for their needs of chuffing up and down with half a dozen coaches.

 

I've been a couple of times, and both times it's been an industrial, though have travelled behind one at the GCR. In my view they give the jubilees a run for their money in terms of most elegant loco ever built.

Yes, whilst many think the Fairburns are 'wasted' on the line, my understanding is that they were preserved specifically for the line by the Mahers. You're a Damn sight more likely to get a ride behind a Fairburn than you are a Fowler tank! I think we should be greatful for what we do have to some extent...

 

The Fairburns are not 'wasted' on the L&H in any sense of the word. L&H is an excellent Railway that knows what it wants to do , what its market is and how to preserve its rolling stock in doing so. I am all for light handling and no lifting of safety valves this is simply operating at its best and something all railway should insist their crews do. Dartmouth is another railway that has its head firmly screwed on in this respect.

Brian

 

Fired there once...... No injector availabe on firemans side as the handles had been removed, and a white line down the footplate. Driver never even said 'good morning'...

 

That sounds like the old days!

John

 

Paignton exceeds 10MPH though!, If i knew it was going to be that slow beforehand I prob would have visited the Ratty instead, I understand why they do it as 3 miles is soon over, but it's painfully slow to giving the point of giving normals a negative impression of steams capabilities IMO.