Steam hauled freight on the S&C

With the successful completion of much of the track refurbishment which culminated in a 4 week possession of the line in November 2000 Railtrack decided to mark the event and generate some rare positive publicity for themselves by operating a steam hauled ballast train from Hellifield to Carlisle using David Smith's 8F, 48151.
I have to admit that when I first heard about this I was sure that it had to be a wind-up since Railtrack have never been particularly pro-steam. However, on 19th December 2000 the train, reporting number 7P50, made up of 20 Dogfish wagons with a brake van at each end was booked to leave Hellifield at 8.55 am taking the empty wagons up to Ribblehead for loading with stockpiled ballast still remaining at the temporary depot set up there.
The weather could have been worse, but not much worse, at least it stayed reasonably dry for most of the time but it was very dull and there was a moderate south easterly wind which made recording a little difficult.
This first recording was made near Selside. The 8F sounds to be making very easy work of the 20 empty wagons. And doesn't it make a change to hear wagons rather than coaches rattling past.
Despite the very poor conditions I have to say that the sight was superb - next time though I'll try to have a faster film in my camera.

On arrival at Ribblehead the 8F and train set back into the siding at the west side of the station and loading of the wagons commenced. As the train wasn't due to leave until 12.57 we had plenty of time (or so we thought) to go for a cup of tea.
Returning to Ribblehead at about 12.00 we thought that we would have plenty of time to find a suitable spot somewhere near Blea Moor signal box. However, as we walked up towards the box we were somewhat dismayed to hear the unmistakable sounds of an 8F preparing to depart while we assured each other that they were probably only shunting! It soon became obvious that this was not the case so, it was out with the recorder, find a bit of shelter and hope for the best - and only just in time.
Since I was, for various (mainly financial) reasons unable to get any recordings of my own in 'real' steam days it was nice to get this one.
Despite the conditions the recording that I got was excellent. 48151 was audible right from the start away from Ribblehead and all the way into Blea Moor Tunnel. The complete recording lasts almost 10 minutes. This is only part of that recording and starts as the 8F comes off the easier gradient across Ribblehead Viaduct. Now with loaded wagons behind the tender the 8F sounds to be having to work far harder on the 1 in 100 gradient than it did in the previous track. And the weather was a little brighter too.
It would be nice to think that this sort of thing might happen again. If it does, whatever the weather, I'll be there!

King on the S&C

Once again the 6024 'King Edward I' made a foray north which included a south bound run over the S&C. This was supposed to be part of a programme of trains which should have included runs over Copy Pit and the ECML north of York. For some reason the first two trains in this programme did not attract enough interest and were cancelled due to lack of support.
Previous runs over the S&C by the King have met with varying degrees of success and this run was no exception.
On the day the weather was appalling with a strong wind and heavy rain. Why we went out for this remains a mystery but we ended up near the south end of Birkett Tunnel mainly because we were able to take shelter behind a bridge from the elements, of which there were plenty, mainly wet ones. It was one of those days when the idea of giving up was very attractive so, about half an hour after the train had been due we were on the point of packing it in and finding a pub with a fire. We decided to give it another minute or so and, amazingly, the King arrived! Steam hauled trains usually wait until you are leaving before turning up.
The section of track between Birkett Tunnel and Mallerstang, where the gradient eases before the final climb to Ais Gill, is often the slowest part of the climb from Appleby so it was no surprise that 6024 was not travelling very fast when it passed us as can be heard in this recording. The rumbling sound as the last coach passes is not a diesel giving a push but the generator coach at the back of the train providing ETH and I'll bet the passengers were glad of it too!
After the train had faded into the distance we set off back to the car, removed very wet waterproofs and, perhaps 15 minutes after the King had passed, set off towards Garsdale along the, by now, partly flooded roads. Approaching Ais Gill were surprised to see steam in the distance. The King hadn't yet reached Ais Gill having stopped to rally the boiler before reaching the summit.