A grand day out!

After a relatively steam free winter it was good to get out and about again on February 21st.
Thanks to a friend with a car I was able to go and see BR Standard Class 4 2-6-0 76079 and Unrebuilt Bullied Pacific 34067 'Tangmere' working a train south from Carlisle over the Settle Carlisle line.
As these two didn't depart from Carlisle until early afternoon we had time to call in at Keighley where the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway were holding an Enthusiast Weekend.
In this recording made at Globe Curve just outside Keighley the Ivatt 2-6-2T 41241 is heard heading for Oxenhope with a train of just two suburban coaches.

The next train from Keighley was a goods train running to Ingrow. This was hauled by Pete Waterman's GWR 2-8-0T 5224, which was visiting the railway for the event, and banked by the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway 0-6-0 looking splendid now repainted into L&Y livery and carrying the number 957.
As you can hear in this recording, again made at Globe Curve, with about a dozen wagons between the two locos, the banker doesn't have to work particularly hard to get the train up the gradient out of Keighley.

The freight train only ran as far as Ingrow and once it had returned 5224 was able to work the next passenger train from Keighley to Oxenhope.
5224 makes a fine sound departing with it's six coach train on the steep gradient out of the station.

After seeing this we departed by car for the Settle Carlisle line for 76079, which was sporting a Pines Express headboard and masquerading as 76029 to produce an authentic Somerset & Dorset pairing with 34067.
Our first attempt at a sound recording was between Long Marton and Appleby where we hoped that the locos would still be accelerating after the speed restriction at Kirkby Thore but this was not particularly successful as neither loco working very hard.
After this we called in at Appleby where the train was to wait for about an hour while both locos took water and to allow a service train to overtake.
Going back not that many years to when we were regulars on these trains we would have known or at least recognised a large number of the passengers travelling but only saw a very few familiar faces. Like us, the high cost and difficulty in getting recordings or photographs has put many off paying for tickets. Had we been travelling on this day we would have had seats at the back of the train, the dining coaches being at the front and, even in the unlikely event that we had been permitted to stand by a window at the front of the train we would still have had the loco support coach and generator coach in front of us.
So, instead of travelling we continued by car to Ais Gill where we found a spot high on the hillside to the west of the line and managed to find a little shelter from the quite strong and bitterly cold north easterly wind.
We waited about 20 minutes, although it seemed longer in the cold wind, before the pair appeared in the distance at Mallerstang.
Even with a load of 13 coaches 76079 & 34067 didn't have to work all that hard on the 1 in 100 gradient towards the summit.

Our original intention had been to continue to Whalley Bank for a final recording but I think that by this time both Mike & I had had enough. Additionally, an accident between a motorcycle and a car, which was serious enough to require the attendance of an air ambulance, on the road near Ais Gill summit meant that we were unable to make a quick getaway and that was sufficient excuse to abandon the idea of going to Whalley.
Instead, we were able to get to Long Preston where 76079 & 34067 were to take water from a road tanker.
We did better than the passengers travelling who weren't allowed off the train here and despite being a little rushed we did manage to get a recording of the pair departing.

Not having continued to Whalley meant that we got back to Keighley in time to get recordings of the last two trains on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway.
The first of these was the goods train returning to Ingrow this time hauled by BR Standard Class 4 2-6-4T 80002 which is heard in this recording departing from Keighley and making steady progress on the 1 in 58 gradient out of the station.

After working this train 80002 returned light engine and worked the final passenger train to Oxenhope. This was made up of 7 suburban coaches and the Standard Tank had the Taff Vale 0-6-2T 85 on the front as pilot.
In this recording the pair are heard departing from Keighley.