Winter Cumbrian Mountain Expresses 2014

...And early possessions in the south to cope with late evening. It's getting worse rather than better.

 

Sounds to me that you're desperate for a steam fix James!!

Have fun..... Hope the weather holds......................................

 

Just back from a splendid day out on the WCME. The W in the title is a bit of a give away that it might be a bit chilly. Most droplights were open from Carnforth to Shap and 'manned' and the vestibule doors were often not shut but I heard no complaints. The heating was weak on the S&C but perfectly tolerable for those dressed for the event. No doubt Galatea needs a bit of fiddling with to get it on form, hopefully sooner than later. Injector trouble was cited as the reason for the Penrith stop. Not sure why the loop wasn't used at Penrith. The train was ready on time after a slick turn round at Carlisle but owing to the possession, platforms were being used for trains terminating and starting journeys which caused our delayed start. And the diesal hauled delay at Clitheroe was the result of a late running Northern Rail service. Hats off to the crew in battling driving rain and a vicious head wind on the long drag. All adversity was taken in good humour by the passengers around me and even my wife said she enjoyed the day.

 

I thankyou for your informative post,
BUT You need to be carefull putting up a post like that,
any sense of reasonable or slightly positive thinking will get you blacklisted on here,

The Melter

 

Tough luck for the WCRC crew today. I hope that things get sorted out w/Galatea.

A locomotive like 70013 or larger is really needed to get these trains over Shap.(period) Really tough luck With the A4 and upcoming GCR events.

 

Thanks Ralph and Alan for the positive feedback and it was nice to catch you on film at Scout Green Ralph and yes Alan it was as you said Pendragon Castle in the opening shot of which we viewed the Red Squirrels enjoying the mild weather.
Thanks again Phil.

 

You know me too well Dave! I have had quite a few people are saying I'm mad for going out for the WCME in this weather... they obviously haven't heard what I have planned for late April!

Back on topic, some lovely videos and photographs from yesterday - let's hope 45699 (and indeed 46115) can both be fixed/sorted soon as both are long overdue a good spell on the main line. I'm hoping 46115's niggles are sorted by next Saturday, as I'd rather like to see the Scot again (last saw it in July 2010 when it visited the south... for 1 day only!).

James

 

It looks as though 70013 is no longer appearing at the GCR's gala on the 22nd/23rd February, it's been re-named from a 'standards gala' to a 'mixed traffic' event,

Putting two and two together, does that mean.............. ??

 

I arrived at Scout Green about 10-15 Ralph and thought this is horrid wind wise so plumped for the shelter of the trees at Shap wells .

 

Thanks Alan , someone did say about the cars parked up when they could have parked and walked but I was not really bothered .

 

Thanks Shep , I decided to stop out as the weather was bad but I was sheltered from most of it at Newbiggin thankfully .

 

Well the Ticket for next week says 46115 for what its worth...

 

As my own northbound picture, taken near Lambrigg Head, clearly confirmed, well before the train had even reached Shap, the fireman was already looking anxiously down from the cab at the injector. Therefore, one can only presume that the problems for 45699 must have commenced shortly after leaving Carnforth.

Steam pressure, however, wasn't an issue at this stage, as the safety valves are clearly shown to be ‘feathering’. Ominously though, almost as soon as the last coach of the special had disappeared round the corner and over the top of the climb, a Pendalino appeared behind ... coasting at around 30mph - to be followed only a few minutes later by yet another of the same type!

On the return, my compatriot and I were, perhaps, two of very few who even managed to get a picture on the S&C in anywhere near reasonable daylight (only 1250asa!) ... although that vicious headwind and driving rain - as already mentioned by someone else - had been soaking us to the skin throughout the whole time. The first of a couple of scheduled Carlisle to Leyland engineer’s train then appeared, slowly trundling its way southwards (the WCML direct route had been closed for a line possession from early afternoon) and we were already on our way back to the car, when the message came through that the train was on its way … and 40 down.

As also mentioned elsewhere, the driver’s side cylinder tap was heavily blowing through again (it hadn’t been on Grayrigg) and, although there was no visible evidence of the safety valves feathering, on a pair of extremely wet rails, once the train had cleared Low House Crossing, Galatea was heard to open up with gusto towards Armathwaite.

Although by no means unknown in steam days (and I have many pictures myself of ‘Jubilees’ with similar loads … even, climbing Shap), load 10 is probably rather over optimistic nowadays, especially when no immediate assistance is available in the event of trouble.

 

What a shame they didn't stick with the original plans to use Oliver Cromwell? She may not be nominally much more powerful than the Scot, but the wide firebox should be a significant advantage for this sort of operation. Also, IIRC, the Winter CMEs we Tom Tighe's bright idea in the first place...

 

It would need optimal circumstances for a Jubilee to handle the load and route to time. Clearly this was not the case yesterday and to plan in the expectation of perfection with all the variables is overly optimistic. The choice was probably stark when 46115 was deemed unfit. However diesel on the rear or second steam (45305, 61264, 45231?) must have come under consideration but deemed unviable.