Shap Mountaineer: 27/09/25

30567 · 27 sep 2025 om 19:25

Big Al zei: ↑

Really losing the plot here but it seems as though this is that end of steam for today as the 37 will haul us back to Brum from Hellifield with Clun tucked inside.
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Actually you did very well at Hellifield to get in and out in 23 mins and then thread your way through Clitheroe and Blackburn like that. Looks like close to time departing Crewe, you are in a nice gap on the WCML.

GBoreham · 27 sep 2025 om 20:36

Footage of 7029 digging into the 1 in 75 at Salterwath 58 down then romping up the final section to Ais Gill heading south, along with a shot of 34067 on the Rivers Trust at Scout Green.

LittleRedTrain · 27 sep 2025 om 21:05

30567 zei: ↑

Actually you did very well at Hellifield to get in and out in 23 mins and then thread your way through Clitheroe and Blackburn like that. Looks like close to time departing Crewe, you are in a nice gap on the WCML.
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Seems the plan worked, departed Crewe 10 early!

Shep Woolley · 27 sep 2025 om 21:11

Running late and having been looped at Grayrigg GWR Castle Class No. 7029 'Clun Castle gets away through Beckfoot and on to Carlisle

Having been signal checked approaching Kirkby Stephen GWR Castle Class No. 7029 'Clun Castle' puts on a fine display as it accelerates away from the station

45698Mars · 27 sep 2025 om 21:30

7029 at Salterwath

https://www.flickr.com/photos/90397953@N02/54816064173/in/photostream/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/90397953@N02/54814954537/in/photostream/

and rounding Armathwaite Curve.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/90397953@N02/54816060534/in/photostream/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/90397953@N02/54816063958/in/photostream/

Big Al · 27 sep 2025 om 21:45

The ups and downs of the Shap Mountaineer.

Well the good news is that we left Crewe on time and we returned back on time but the day itself was really mixed from a steam perspective. What I will say is that VT managed pretty well the duff hand that the Big Railway and Carnforth dealt for them. And, of course Clun Castle was superb although I have to say that given the fuss that was made about unassisted steam, to have only about 65 miles of it all day was pretty disappointing.

In short, it all fell apart when we failed to leave Carnforth on time because Clun was trapped in 10A due, we were told, to some signalling glitch. Exactly what was going on is unclear because the trains to and from Barrow were not affected. Anyway we were away about 25 late after arriving on time.

Out of path we were looped at Grayrigg and arrived at Carlisle about an hour down after an indifferent run where the best bit was the climb to Yealand. Over the top at 37. Tebay at 53 converted to 25 at Shap Summit with a load of 320 tare. Good for a Class 5 but arguably not a Castle.

At Carlisle the plan changed to something that would get the charter back to Crewe on time. So we left for Ais Gill, still an hour late, but with the Class 37 on the back. Some of the journey felt as though Clun was pulling everything but the moment we seemed to falter, even a bit, our friend at the back surged us onwards. By the time we got near Ais Gill Clun was left to do the last bit on its own so 53 at Mallerstang fell away to 38 at the top.

A strange bit of juggling between Settle Junction and Hellifield brought the diesel to the front and only saved about eight minutes in so doing compared with what was booked had Clun tackled the S&C on its own. (Not clear why this was necessary). But what clearly was necessary was for the diesel to lead from Hellifield as this grabbed back all the deficit and ensured that things would be better for all back to Birmingham.

So Clun did go over Shap but not in a path that was intended. And Clun did go over Ais Gill but not unassisted, and it showed.

Hard luck VT. You tried your best but others made it difficult for you today.

stevenjcrozier · 27 sep 2025 om 21:54

Climbing Shap at Greenholme today.

2857Harry · 27 sep 2025 om 22:32

7029 Greengates by Harry Bradley, on Flickr

7029 Shap by Harry Bradley, on Flickr

nige757 · 27 sep 2025 om 22:52

7029 seen from just below Shap Summit Footbridge and the climb to Aisgill Summit where a severe wind was causing audio issues.

LittleRedTrain · 28 sep 2025 om 00:11

An excellent day out overall. The premium for Enthusiast Class was definitely worth it, being at the front in both directions, and we were treated to a great soundtrack from both Clun and the 37.
Good to see the rest of Standard well filled as well, hopefully the enthusiast market has some life in it yet, at least if the offering is good!

Shame about the late running and unplanned assistance on the S&C, but can't be helped. At least VT came up with a plan to get most people back home on time. I did hear a steward comment that someone was reliant on a 10min onward connection, very optimistic for a railtour!

Nice of Michael to make his way down the train, introducing himself to all of the passengers and checking we were enjoying ourselves.

Thanks to all involved in making today happen, most of my UK railtour budget is going to VT at the moment, so looking forward to seeing what they plan for next year.

70000 · 28 sep 2025 om 01:20

Not long home after a grand day out despite the disappointment of assistance over the S&C.

After hundreds of railtours I'm well-versed in things not running to plan, with unfortunately everything snowballing from the signalling issues we experienced at Carnforth.

I can only thank all at Vintage Trains for a great tour and providing us purists with the opportunity to travel behind unassisted steam. The delightful soundtrack from Clun and 37418 was music to my ears. I look forward to seeing what unassisted treats they have planned for us next year.

Keith Sergeant · 28 sep 2025 om 03:53

Hest bank & Carnforth

45698Mars · 28 sep 2025 om 08:13

Big Al zei: ↑

The ups and downs of the Shap Mountaineer.

Well the good news is that we left Crewe on time and we returned back on time but the day itself was really mixed from a steam perspective. What I will say is that VT managed pretty well the duff hand that the Big Railway and Carnforth dealt for them. And, of course Clun Castle was superb although I have to say that given the fuss that was made about unassisted steam, to have only about 65 miles of it all day was pretty disappointing.

In short, it all fell apart when we failed to leave Carnforth on time because Clun was trapped in 10A due, we were told, to some signalling glitch. Exactly what was going on is unclear because the trains to and from Barrow were not affected. Anyway we were away about 25 late after arriving on time.

Out of path we were looped at Grayrigg and arrived at Carlisle about an hour down after an indifferent run where the best bit was the climb to Yealand. Over the top at 37. Tebay at 53 converted to 25 at Shap Summit with a load of 320 tare. Good for a Class 5 but arguably not a Castle.

At Carlisle the plan changed to something that would get the charter back to Crewe on time. So we left for Ais Gill, still an hour late, but with the Class 37 on the back. Some of the journey felt as though Clun was pulling everything but the moment we seemed to falter, even a bit, our friend at the back surged us onwards. By the time we got near Ais Gill Clun was left to do the last bit on its own so 53 at Mallerstang fell away to 38 at the top.

A strange bit of juggling between Settle Junction and Hellifield brought the diesel to the front and only saved about eight minutes in so doing compared with what was booked had Clun tackled the S&C on its own. (Not clear why this necessary). But what clearly was necessary was for the diesel to lead from Hellifield as this grabbed back all the deficit and ensured that things would be better for all back to Birmingham.

So Clun did go over Shap but not in a path that was intended. And Clun did go over Ais Gill but not unassisted, and it showed.

Hard luck VT. You tried your best but others made it difficult for you today.
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I agree about the performance on Shap. While she looked and sounded superb from the lineside, Bahamas did better at the end of March with load-10 and in arguably worse conditions.
Still, hat's off to VT who did a great job, despite being dealt a bum hand by NR.

Big Al · 28 sep 2025 om 09:04

LittleRedTrain zei: ↑

An excellent day out overall. The premium for Enthusiast Class was definitely worth it, being at the front in both directions, and we were treated to a great soundtrack from both Clun and the 37...............
Shame about the late running and unplanned assistance on the S&C, but can't be helped.
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I'm sorry but I'm not prepared to let VT off the hook as much as you. Let's remember the advertised product.

The decision to put the diesel on at Hellifield to pilot Clun home was definitely the right one. It allowed for time to be made up. It also helped considerably with coal and water usage but even so the support crew had quite a complicated job at Crewe loading coal on board via the footplate to avoid 'working at height' issues and, of course, the wires.

The fact remains that the advertised pure steam was reduced by more than a half, and to what end? As I said, very little time was gained between leaving Carlisle and leaving Hellifield on the alternative plan. Why on earth the diesel didn't follow, as planned, is something that someone needs to explain to passengers as the nonsense at Settle Junction (that added twenty minutes unnecessarily to the Ais Gill leg) was just that - a nonsense, in my view.

Sorry, but VT has blotted its copybook on this one. Add to that my rail travel from the south coast plus two hotel nights for 65 ish miles of unassisted steam and, frankly, that is definitely not good value for money.

2857Harry · 28 sep 2025 om 09:09

Big Al zei: ↑

I'm sorry but I'm not prepared to let VT off the hook as much as you. Let's remember the advertised product.

The decision to put the diesel on at Hellifield to pilot Clun home was definitely the right one. It allowed for time to be made up. It also helped considerably with coal and water usage but even so the support crew had quite a complicated job at Crewe loading coal on board via the footplate to avoid 'working at height' issues and, of course, the wires.

The fact remains that the advertised pure steam was reduced by more than a half, and to what end? As I said, very little time was gained between leaving Carlisle and leaving Hellifield on the alternative plan. Why on earth the diesel didn't follow, as planned, is something that someone needs to explain to passengers as the nonsense at Settle Junction (that added twenty minutes unnecessarily to the Ais Gill leg) was just that - a nonsense, in my view.

Sorry, but VT has blotted its copybook on this one. Add to that my rail travel from the south coast plus two hotel nights for 65 ish miles of unassisted steam and, frankly, that is definitely not good value for money.
Click to expand...

It did seem very strange they way the return was done. There didn’t seem to be any logical reason not to run the 37 the path behind 7029 over the S&C as it was very much vacant and the RTT times clearly show that. It was evidently working very hard at Greengates on the back which was a shame.

What I also found strange was it wasn’t necessary to follow the train over the WCML as the 37 went ahead. Seems counter productive if Clun had stalled. But yet coming back it was necessary to follow/be on the back. Doesn’t stack up to me.

Shep Woolley · 28 sep 2025 om 10:13

nige757 zei: ↑

7029 seen from just below Shap Summit Footbridge and the climb to Aisgill Summit where a severe wind was causing audio issues.

Click to expand...

Clagtastic Nige!!

RalphW · 28 sep 2025 om 11:04

Big Al zei: ↑

The ups and downs of the Shap Mountaineer.

In short, it all fell apart when we failed to leave Carnforth on time because Clun was trapped in 10A due, we were told, to some signalling glitch. Exactly what was going on is unclear because the trains to and from Barrow were not affected. Anyway we were away about 25 late after arriving on time.
Click to expand...

The signalling glitch, which also caused the Lune Rivers to be delayed, has been there for several weeks now. It appears to involves the signalling at the south end of platform 2 meaning that, amongst other things, departures southbound from that platform cannot be made.
All of which is completely out of the control of WCR.
Obviously it does not affect the Barrow trains as they do nt need to make the affected movements.

Big Al · 28 sep 2025 om 11:34

RalphW zei: ↑

The signalling glitch, which also caused the Lune Rivers to be delayed, has been there for several weeks now. It appears to involves the signalling at the south end of platform 2 meaning that, amongst other things, departures southbound from that platform cannot be made.
All of which is completely out of the control of WCR.
Obviously it does not affect the Barrow trains as they do nt need to make the affected movements.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. Down to NR then who I presume will have worked hard throughout the journey to help the charter.

That makes the fact that we took the diesel down to Hellifield even more bizarre.

2857Harry · 28 sep 2025 om 13:04

A trio of tours from the past couple of days

Fred Kerr · 28 sep 2025 om 13:49

Big Al zei: ↑

I'm sorry but I'm not prepared to let VT off the hook as much as you. Let's remember the advertised product.

The decision to put the diesel on at Hellifield to pilot Clun home was definitely the right one. It allowed for time to be made up. It also helped considerably with coal and water usage but even so the support crew had quite a complicated job at Crewe loading coal on board via the footplate to avoid 'working at height' issues and, of course, the wires.

The fact remains that the advertised pure steam was reduced by more than a half, and to what end? As I said, very little time was gained between leaving Carlisle and leaving Hellifield on the alternative plan. Why on earth the diesel didn't follow, as planned, is something that someone needs to explain to passengers as the nonsense at Settle Junction (that added twenty minutes unnecessarily to the Ais Gill leg) was just that - a nonsense, in my view.

Sorry, but VT has blotted its copybook on this one. Add to that my rail travel from the south coast plus two hotel nights for 65 ish miles of unassisted steam and, frankly, that is definitely not good value for money.
Click to expand...

I feel you are too critical of the operation; as an observer at Carnforth I was aware that the loop line behind Platform 2 had a stabled Class 57/0 thus meaning that 7029 had to use the down platform - given that 37418 was stabled on the up Platform - thus presumably needed authority to use the down line in the "wrong" direction. I'm not aware of the problems on the return journey BUT having been reported as 61 minutes late leaving Carlisle it passed Ribblehead only 50 minutes down thus having gained 10 minutes - albeit with diesel assistance. Unfortunately it appears that steam specials are generally kept at the bottom of the operating heap hence it seems time to acknowledge the work of those officials who work within those parameters to deliver a product particularly given the problems that arose on Saturday and which saw the train operate and return home on time,
Perhaps I'm biased but after spending 60 minutes on an exposed mound with the cold wind and no natural protection I was grateful to capture the Ribblehead images whilst the delayed passengers had warm coaches with steam haulage hence I commend those who made things happen even if late running was part of the experience.

My shots from the day include :

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Shap Mountaineer: 27/09/25

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Shap Mountaineer: 27/09/25

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