LNER 60163 The Viking Venturer 20/7/21.

LNER A1 60163 was at the helm of the Viking Venturer from York to Linlithgow over the S&C and Beattock and is seen near Shotlock tunnel.

 

Crappy diesel pushing like hell at the back…

 

And at Kirkstall Forge (phone camera)

 

True but to be expected with the high fire risk at the moment sadly.

 

Thanks. When I first saw the photo I thought it's "Great Northern"!
Looking at again, I think the close up wide angle made it look as though the cylinders were set back and the deflectors look deeper.
A Thompson Pacific, that would be nice...

 

60163 heading north for Carlisle 20.07.21

 

LNER A1 class No. 60163 'Tornado' approaching Ribblehead with the return leg of 'The Viking Venturer' from York to Linlithgow

 

60163 being given a good push towards Aisgill Summit, seen from above Shotlock Tunnel.

 

Chris Cubitt driving as far as Carlisle with Peter Walker taking over at Carlisle. Fireman was Danny Davin throughout.

 

60163 Tornado on the single line section at Blea Moor on 20/7/2021

David Price
Cop Lane on Flickr

 

"Tornado" in the Dales.

"Tornado", 20/07/21.

 

The Viking Venturer 20/07/21

This was my first major outing since lockdown and my first trip behind Tornado. The train was diesel hauled southbound with 47813 in blue piloting maroon 47854. The diesel southbound journey was relatively uneventful and we were early at Newcastle and on arrival at York. The main point of this trip though was the return journey hauled by Tornado and the prospect of steam over both Ais Gill and Beattock on the same day. The stock came in quite early and I saw that Tornado was carrying a wreath in memory of one of the trusts members who had recently passed away. I had chats with both the driver and fireman at York and to my surprise Danny Davin told me that he was firing the whole way. Having gone on the footplate and chatted with Ian Greenan of the trust I then spoke with driver Chris Cubitt who said that he favoured LNER locos like Tornado and I couldn't agree more. I then thanked Graeme Bunker for the Trusts virtual presentation last year which allowed me to connect with Tornado in a way I never had before. After that I boarded the train ready for the return journey.

The start of the return journey saw us leave York bang on time but then steadily lose time as we headed towards Leeds. With a short stop booked at Leeds I had hoped that this would be skipped to make up the lost time but instead we ended up stopping as scheduled. Eventually we left Leeds 10 minutes behind schedule but set about making up the time as we headed towards our first water stop at Hellifield. Amazingly we went from 10 minutes late on leaving Leeds to being 3 minutes early passing through Skipton. The locomotive was quite clearly in fantastic shape as we arrived at Hellifield as scheduled for our 40 minute water stop. The watering with the locomotive went well but from my seat I could see a pipe heading towards one of the other coaches which I presume was the restaurant car. Sadly the boiler in the restaurant car had failed meaning that people were unable to be served with tea and coffee apart from one serving early in the morning and one late at night. The previous diesel tour to Scarborough had been cancelled as a result of similar problems. Whilst at Hellifield the staycation express formed of an HST passed us heading to Skipton.

Just after leaving Hellifield we crossed with the Pendle Dalesman hauled by 45690 Leander. This was running a few minutes late just like ourselves and we passed it between Hellifield and Settle Junction. I must say that during the long drag it did not feel like were climbing such was the speed we were doing even though the landscape around us made it quite clear that we were climbing significantly. The one positive of the hot weather were the glorious scenes at Ribblehead as we crossed the viaduct. It was great to see people out to watch the train go by and enjoying the hot weather which at times was uncomfortable in the train even with the windows open! After Ribblehead we headed through the 2629 yard long Blea Moor tunnel. After that we seemed to lose time on the remainder of the climb to Ais Gill summit. We picked up speed after passing the summit and we headed downhill through Kirkby Stephen 5 minutes behind schedule. We then headed downhill through Appleby and its lovely station which I was a bit disappointed we weren't booked to stop at as I heard there was a good ice cream place. We were scheduled to stop for 8 minutes at Langwathby but because we were late this stop was skipped. Eventually after passing through Lazonby and Armathwaite we hit the outskirts of Carlisle. We then had a short wait for a platform to become available and passengers who were in non-dining sections were allowed out to stretch legs. We suffered a delay at Carlisle due to the late running of 1S81 from Manchester Airport to Glasgow Central with 9S80 from London Euston to Edinburgh also passing us at Carlisle.

Peter Walker was now driving with Danny Davin still firing we left Carlisle heading towards our second scheduled water stop at Lockerbie. Despite leaving Carlisle 6 minutes late we arrived at Lockerbie 2 minutes early for our scheduled water stop. We were served the main course of our dinner whilst being looped at Lockerbie. 1S82 from London Euston to Glasgow passed us whilst at Lockerbie. We left Lockerbie on time ready for the ascent to Beattock summit. I must say that again like with Ais Gill for most of the way it did not seem hugely obvious judging by our speed that we were on a huge climb. However for the last few miles of the climb it was obvious just how severe the gradient was. Eventually we arrived at the loop 6 minutes ahead of schedule with the climb of Beattock being better than the long drag. 1S83 from Manchester Airport to Edinburgh passed us but we found out that 1S87 from London Euston to Glasgow was cancelled. This meant that we left Beattock 2 minutes ahead of schedule. The remainder of the run to Edinburgh was relatively uneventful and we left Carstairs early but we were slowed on the approach to Midcalder Junction because we had to let the ECS for the overnight Caledonian Sleeper which was going via Shotts to go ahead of us. We eventually arrived at Edinburgh Waverely after a magnificent run more or less on time. I congratulated both the driver and fireman on a very good performance. The higher risk of lineside fires meant that the driving and firing had to be amended a bit with the addition of 47813 on the rear throughout which then hauled the train back to Linlithgow.

I hope you enjoyed my report.

Sam

 

Glad to see you enjoying life now Sam. Stay Positive.

 

Thank you. More Tornado trips to come. Both remaining SRPS trips in August & September as well as one of the Tornado/Flying Scotsman in October. Can I just clarify as times for Flying Scotsman are withheld from the public due to trespass do passengers receive the timings with their tickets?

 

The operators and promoters will receive the timings in the normal manner, so passengers should receive all the necessary information, too.

It's only publication into the 'public' systems, which is held back, for obvious reasons.

JS

 

Thanks James.

 

Now enjoy yourself!

JS

 

I will!

 

Timings are available on RTT for those who know where to look.