LNER 60163 The Queen of Scots 12/9/20.

Footage of Tornado at Scout Green, Harthorpe and near Beattock Summit .

 

60163 seen at Scout Green Harthorpe and near Beattock Summit

 

The thin, cloud-shrouded sun had gone below the hill behind me and the light was fading fast when Tornado stormed south a few minutes up at Alnmouth this evening.

Love that BR green.

 

Darlington Bank top station:


Richard

 

Hauling 13 carriages, a view of 60163 making a very assured climb of Beattock

 

'The Queen Of Scots' hauled by LNER A1 No.60163 'Tornado' seen light engine at High Scales on the climb to Shap Summit, Harthorpe on the climb to Beattock Summit and Burnmouth.

Video Available Here

 

With some trepidation, I can report how the trip went. A very successful day; more than 300 miles behind steam, carried out without a hitch. Many thanks to the A1 Trust for organising the tour and to West Coast and crews for operating it.

On a fine dry morning 47802 had the train into Carlisle several minutes ahead of time, mainly thanks to generous allowances after Petteril Bridge, and it was encouraging to see Tornado, fresh in BR green, waiting and ready outside the Power Box. Addition of the support coach gave a substantial 13 coach formation of about 478 tons tare, 500 gross, I can't offhand recall such a load being taken up Beattock before in preservation by steam. Thanks to Tornado's water capacity we were scheduled non stop to Waverley, and I can't recall this being done before either, indeed possibly at all by steam as trains would have run to Princes Street in the old days.

Steve Chipperfield got us away from Carlisle a minute or two late, and with over 100 miles to go and Beattock bank in the middle there was no point in any heroics to begin with. Thus we fell to 49½ mph on the first 1-in-200 after Quintinshill and 54 on the second stretch to post 22. Lockerbie was passed in 29¾ minutes at 70 mph, and the site of Beattock station in 41 min 18 sec at 67½ mph, this after three more miles at 1 in 200 with a healthy roar from the front end. Speed at post 45 was still 33½ mph and it gradually fell to a minimum of just below 23 at the summit, with the ten miles taking a few seconds less than 19 minutes. After the usual crawl round the connection at Carstairs the climb to Cobbinshaw was completed at a minimum of 48 mph. A severe signal check before Midcalder held us up but a clear road afterwards, including through Haymarket and the tunnels gave an arrival at the far end of Waverley in 120 min 18 sec (schedule 121).

Over three hours to look round a busy Edinburgh, with a touch of drizzle at one stage that was hardly enough to wet the pavement, but this cleared up and it was dry but dull when Tornado brought the stock back from Joppa, round the Suburban line. Peter Walker drove to Newcastle with Fraser Birrell firing I think all the way to York. We restarted bang on time with the first downhill section enabling 60 mph within about 2½ miles, and speed gradually rose to 70 at post 17 and we stormed through Dunbar in 27¾ minutes at the full 75 mph. In view of the load the climb of Cockburnpath bank was superb with a minimum of 46½ mph and this took us over the border in 51½ minutes and through Berwick in 54 minutes 39 seconds, some 8 minutes early. The weather had cleared up by this stage and we even saw some sun, and after taking things relatively easily for the remaining distance we arrived at the water stop in Morpeth north loop in 105¾ minutes after a very slow approach from Pegswood, an even time run as I estimate the distance as roughly 107.3 miles.

There was a brief shower while taking water, but this cleared away and it was dry for the remainder of the journey However there is nothing particularly exciting to report as we kept close to time, but for the record Morpeth to Newcastle was 22m 47s (schedule 23), on to Durham 21m 54s (schedule 21), Darlington 25m 45s (schedule 28), and York 52m 22s (schedule 59) to arrive six minutes early, running slow line after Northallerton I believe Chris Cubitt drove from Newcastle, and perhaps the most notable point was that the very awkward start from Durham was managed without any sign of a slip.

 

Seconded! Trepidation or not, I’m glad you have taken time out to recount the day’s proceedings in such a concise way. You have certainly captured what would have been, for me, the most important headlines and highlights of the day in a most readable fashion. Absolute meat and drink to those of us consigned by force of circumstances to follow the progress of 1Z63 on Real Time Trains and Open Train Times maps, leaving so much of the detail of actual speeds and elapsed times to the imagination. You have chronicled what has clearly been yet another excellent pair of runs by Tornado, (the ECML leg especially so), so many thanks for posting this – it’s much appreciated.

 

Foot in mouth time Ralph!!

 

I agree!Maybe Seghinis wouldnt?

 

Aren’t we in a way thankful for all those type of contributions to the forum?
Whether they be detailed, lengthy, summary or short updates from on-board: life would be very dull, in fact without them there would be no point of the forum at all.
So thank you to all who contribute in their own way - It gives us a platform to air our views and to share in our love of Steam and everything Railway related.
Have to say, I do like the fact that both Tornado and the support coach have been repainted and no that’s not supposed to be a cue for another round of paint froth!

 

Welcome back Tornado, doing what she does best, lifting decent loads up to 75mph, with the minimum of fuss.

Looking forward to December, and our run to Edinburgh from Durham.

 

Thank you for all your kind comments. For completeness I've now remembered at least one occasion that steam took a heavier load up Beattock: the memorable final run of 46229 Duchess of Hamilton in 1996 that included a diesel in the set. This is not quite comparable however as we went in to the summit loop for water.

 

Thanks for the reminder; I thought there would be something...