LSL: The North Western Wanderer 10/8/24

Pretty sure this LS tour will be very popular with all of the different traction.

 

50.050 leading, 45.118 at the rear. Whoops, don't mention the 'diesel at the rear '.

Load 11. Blue and grey mk.1 behind the 50 and then all Scot Rail / Raspberry Ripple? mk.3s + mk.2. <BJ>

 

You joke, but I find it’s the diesel following that despise the rear ender most!

 

50050 and 45118 at Oxenholme.

 

Diesel on the rear?! I wonder which reason our moaners on here will give today…..Obviously the Class 50 clearly can’t cope with the weight of the train, or is the train too long just to make it pay, or is it because LSL don’t go without a diesel on the back?

 

Anyone know what's happened to this tour? It should have left Preston at 18-32 but RTT has it still at Platform 6!

Update: Left Preston 51 down!

 

50050 tnt 45118 at Scout Green, 45118 tnt 50050 at Birkett Common, 40013+50050 which failed tnt 45118 at Giggleswick Bank and if you listen and watch carefully you'll hear a whistle in the background then see Tangmere in the distance with the Northern Belle drifting towards Settle Junction.

 

Footage of a brilliant tour from LSL with D400 at Tebay, 45118 at Ais Gill, D213 at Eldroth, the 37's at Walk Mill and Leyland and the 20's also at Leyland, with a surprisingly loud shot of 34067 on the Northern Belle at Langho thrown in too.

 

My contribution for the day, Low Gill, Hoghton, Brownhills and Hellifield:

 

I'm not a diesel fan, by any means, but that is what I call a railtour. It reminds me of some charters ran during the mid 1960s which employed about half a dozen steam locomotives in the itinerary.

 

With nothing else to do, except the household chores that were neglected on Thursday and Friday, I decided to watch a couple of the more local legs of "Jeremy's Epic Diesel Extravaganza." More seriously it had a list of motive power that would equal or better most of the line-ups for a diesel weekend on a heritage line. First stop Wilpshire for the 45 & 50. I allowed myself just under an hour for the 25 min drive.

Less than a mile from home, and using the "quick route" I joined a queue of stationary traffic, there was a junior football tournament on the local sports field. Car access is via a single gateway off a mini roundabout, parents trying to enter couldn't because of those trying leave - impasse. There are a total of 5 roads that intersect at 2 mini roundabouts that are less than 100yds apart, traffic was solid for several hundred yards in every direction. Eventually something moved and I was on my way. The lights on the ring road were in their "red phase" and I was held at all bar one set - and there are many! As I approached the lights at Wilpshire there was another long queue - temporary 4-way lights!! I was never going to make it, I parked the car and decided to walk the rest of the way.

The train was running early and had left Clitheroe 6mins ago, I gathered up my camera and tripod and rushed (there's a joke for you; these days rush is very much like walk but with a determined look). The Clitheroe platform was busy with people waiting for the train to take them to the Clitheroe Food Festival - they could have walked and worked up an appetite! There were also a couple of young lads with phones mounted tripods so it was no choice and down the ramp to the Blackburn platform, "near and noisy". Less than a minute after I was ready the sound of the 45 headed our way, it was working but easily within its comfort zone (and the 50 was pushing). I'm not the world's biggest fan of diesels but 45118 did look splendid and I do like (big) machinery. Time to pack up and a gentle, scenic drive over to Hoghton.

I had chosen Banning Bridge, one bridge west of Chapel Lane and in the open countryside, there was quite a blustery breeze blowing. I considered relocating (but it was only a diesel - wash your mouth out, Oswald!) As I waited I heard the roar of an aircraft, a propeller driven aircraft and not just any propeller driven aircraft but the BBMF Lancaster on its way to Blackpool Airshow. By the time I'd taken out my phone the best of the action had gone - still I caught some. Then came the sound of a very different engine - a bloody big diesel one! The class 40 was on its way, one of the few diesel sounds that I really like, it growled/roared ever nearer and then appeared, the 50 was tucked inside, endless coaches then the 45 pushing away. So the question is answered, "How many diesels does it take to climb Hoghton Bank? Answer, " Two, and a dead un! " Back to steam in the evening, thank goodness for that.

(This morning Diego dined at both of his homes and is now resting upstairs.)

 

I crossed the Leeds - Liverpool canal at Riley Green on my way home and there is a boat yard. Best I can manage, I'm afraid.

 

Is that the bit near Wigan?

 

I know zero about diesels - no not quite true - I do know that one wasn't allowed to haul the last Bournemouth Belle each way on 9 July 1967. Which in a way was a good thing as, with SR steam due to end that evening, thus signalling the end of the world on 10 July 1967, I was able to spend the day quietly at home with mum, dad and my brothers and sister, trying, unsuccessfully, to persuade them to face up to the reality of what was about to befall the planet we lived on. Even top SR steam brother @gricerdon seemed more concerned about planning future mixed traction bashes the other side of a place in the wild north of England called Watford.

But somehow I survived the cataclysm and now I spend my days wandering England (the country South of a line drawn from London, Waterloo to Exter and east of Exter and Weymouth) looking for proper SR steam locos - numbers starting with a 3 and five digits long, mainly hauling green rolling stock. And in doing so I sometimes see those machines called diesels.

Which, having for the first time ever, watched a moving picture of diesels hauling a train, and seeing it started with two of them, and ended with three - a clear mathematical progression - leads me to ask at what stage would that train have had more diesel locomotives than coaches? And how frequently does that occur please?

Bryan B