60163 to Carlisle 31st May

What a great trip yesterday - she caught a few folk out with an early arrival at Preston from Crewe, but we departed pretty much 'right time' and made a good run north, with the falling 'drought' easing off as we progressed. The ascent of Grayrigg was steady, & we accelerated well once 'over the top' before making another good fist of the climb to Shap, with a triumphant salute as we reached the top . Departure from Carlisle was a couple of minutes down, but we ran steadily to Appleby in bright conditions before stopping for a quick water stop. The restart was good - in fact, every start during the day seemed effortless, particularly as we had 13 on. I think there was a slack not long after Appleby, so there was no chance of the Blue Riband being under threat, but the ascent to Ais Gill was very nice. The weather held off as we entered Blea Moor tunnel & emerged into Ribbledale, with a pleasant drop down to Settle Junction. Sadly for my wife, we shot through Settle station too fast for her to get a good look at the converted water tower there - the one that was recently featured in 'Grand Designs' - but that didn't detract too much from her enjoyment of the rest of the day . A brief stop before the junction at Hellifield & we were off towards Blackburn, still a couple of minutes late, but there was now a lot of slack built into the schedule, even though we were checked a couple of times by adverse signals. The gradients on this line were dealt with with the same ruthless efficiency that had seen off the Grayrigg, Shap & Ais Gill climbs, and by the time we got onto the WCML we were over 30 minutes ahead of schedule; more slack there. This meant that we were held for a few minutes before we could gain access to our platform, passing a Class 90 on our way in; I presume that this was the locomotive which was to run the train back to Euston.

All in all, a 'grand day out'; many thanks to all involved with it.

Oh, a final bonus - the Vermin car park at the station only charged me a fiver, not the tenner I was expecting to pay

Mark

 

Mark, I think you and your family were sitting opposite me from Preston. We had a chat on Carlisle platform briefly. Glad you enjoyed the day.