West Yorkshireman Sat 31/5/25

It was good to see that Tornado's performance on Thursday's Dalesman was much more in keeping with what we might expect from a big pacific. After Saturday's outing I had feared that she might be being treated with kid gloves, some sort of endangered species, but that looks not to be the case. So what did happen on Saturday? I was a Helwith Bridge where the effort from Tornado appeared low key and with little or nothing coming from the 47. Other videos higher up the line show Tornado working harder but with the 47 pushing. Just what was going on?!

I would normally give the train speed, calculated using the video editor to time the coaches to pass a fixed point (usually the frame edge). This method doesn't work when the camera is panned. If the camera had been still, and I had calculated the speed I would have seen that something odd was going on. After climbing from Settle Jn @ 1/100r, near Helwith Bridge and after the line passes under the Austwick Rd it levels for around a third of a mile before climbing again as it approaches Crag Hill Farm. Depending on loco and load, a typical steam hauled train might cross under the Austwick Rd at 30-35mph and gain 4/5mph on the level.

On Saturday, first and foremost, because of the signal/points issue at Hellifield the train was running 31L and was trying to regain the deficit. Today I calculated speeds using various "infrastructure" points; Saturday's train passed under the Austwick Rd at around 54mph and speed gradually increased to around 58mph after the level section - FAST! This is even more remarkable when taking into account the booked stop at Settle; from a standing start the train, after 4 miles of 1/100r, had reached a speed of 54mph - now that's what I call pushing (and possibly pulling)! With a line speed limit of 60mph and a level section to follow it is understandable the the train was worked gently on this stretch. Only once have I been behind steam on this section at similar speeds. On 10 Nov 2018, The Citadel (45212 & 45407) with only 9 coaches passed under the Austwich Rd at 50.6mph and reached a max of 55mph as it approached Crag Hill Farm; plenty of power, light load and no stop at Settle.