winter cumbrian mountain express

That was a wonderful bit of video. Thank you for posting the link, I enjoyed it :thumb:

 

That assault on Birkett Common is some of the finest footage I've ever seen. Paul Kane would have been proud. Thank you.

 

Thank you and im sure Paul would have liked it . Steve

 

Thank you im pleased you enjoyed the footage . Steve

 

That's the way to do it! Good locations, smooth and steady camera work, and well edited. I like the "going away" shot at Birkett. Not seen that angle before.

 

It looks as though they had "the bit between their teeth" at Birkett. Wonderful spectacle.

 

Cracking day out - we went to Greenholme to see it ascend Shap. It blitzed past us, with 44871 doing most of the way, then had a slip round the corner, when 5690 picked up. They then seemingly slowly crested the summit (by this time it was several miles on from us and we were just watching the smoke stream!)

We then raced after it to Carlisle for photos and prepared to head off somewhere down the S&C for the return. Bad traffic getting out of Carlisle meant that by the time we reached Culgaith, we could see it several miles ahead of us down the Eden Valley. A pursuit took place as we tore after it through Appleby, Kirkby Stephen and then down Mallerstang, but it must have been over Ais Gill Summit a good 5 minutes early and was long gone by the time we reached Garsdale.

Still, I was rather pleased with this, from my first outing with my new SLR. -

http://cumbria.fotopic.net/p68567023.html

 

Black and red on the Winter CME 30 December 2010

Most of December's snow, ice and frost had disappeared before the RTC's final tour of 2010, again featuring stalwart Stanier 4-6-0s on a Cumbrian Mountain Express out of Manchester Victoria, north over Shap and south over the Setlle and Carlisle. This year, Ian Riley's Black Five No 44871 was paired with Carnforth based Jubilee No 5690 Leander. The festive atmosphere was dampened only by the commemoration of the recent death in service of veteran WCRC footplateman Paul Kane.

The running to Preston was unremarkable but on the racing stretch to Carnforth we attained 60 mph just before Barton and never dropped below this speed until after Hest Bank, with a particularly spectacular burst of speed through Lancaster (playing to the gallery?)

The Carnforth water stop was efficiently executed (sorry about last year's unjustified comment, James!) and we were back up to 61 by Elmsfield, dropping to 48 by Oxenholme as we dug into the climb to Grayrigg, passed at 37 mph, a creditable speed for a 13 coach load plus diesel no 47760 providing train heat. We sprinted along the Lune Gorge to Tebay but on the climb to Shap we inevitably dropped to 49 at Greenholme, 39 at Scout Green and 30 at Salterwath. From here, no further momentum was lost as Stanier's workhorses took us over Shap summit at 34 mph. A lively sprint down to Carlisle, at better than even time, saw us arrive virtually on time.

The southbound leg out of Carlisle began undramatically, but we omitted the water stop at Appleby due to the tank still being ice, and stormed up to 58 at Great Ormside. Then the climb began to take its toll, and we were down to 39 through Kirkby Stephen and 37 at the entrance to Birkett Tunnel. After a brief rally to 40 at Shoregill, we slogged our way up Mallerstang in the high 30s, during which I verified we were not being assisted by the diesel. We topped Ais Gill at 37 then rattled down through the dales in the twilight to our water stop at Hellifield. A final burst to 34 as we started up the bank from Whalley dropped only to 31 at Wilpshire, completing a series of creditable locomotive performances. A trouble-free tour provided a positive end to another excellent year of 21st century British steam.

See 12 pictures at http://pjhrailpics.fotopic.net

Peter, on a grey New Year morning in Manchester - a Happy 2011 to all!
http://pjhrailpics.fotopic.net

 

Some superb videos and pictures of this run.

 

Rather late I know, but better late than never; my video of the run at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7Bgb1ZnEOs

 

Your link says the video is private...something we're not supposed to see?

 

It sometimes takes a while for YouTube to enact the changes when I change from 'private' to 'public' (always upload as 'private' initially so that I can check the upload at my leisure before anyone sees it). Should be fine now.

 

Thanks Ralph, plenty of time for me to edit it in these steamless weeks!