Today, was the day to ride a steam train from Birmingham all the way to Carlisle.
We had booked the trip with Vintage Trains a while back and got the final instructions a couple of days ago. The most alarming thing to note was th departure time from Birmingham New Street – 06:32 !
We picked up our travelling companions just gone half five and took the quiet streets into the city centre parking in our pre-booking spot in the NCP car park a couple of hundred metres from the station entrance.
After checking the departures board, we made our way to platform 1 and awaited the arrival of our train. A little before half six, a class 47 diesel pulled the train in backwards to the platform. 60163, Tornado was at the other end so we didn’t get a chance to see it as we needed to board.
Coach F (standard class) was about four carriages back from the engine. We found our table and settled in for the long haul – we would be arriving in Carlisle at 12:58.
The train pulled out of New Street on time and headed around the north of Brum passing through the new stations of Darlaston and Willenhall en route to Wolverhampton, where we stopped to pick up more passengers.
The new stations only opened a week ago and I had visited both yesterday.
From Wolverhampton, we continued up the West Coast Mainline (WCML) stopping at Stafford and a longer stop at Crewe where I managed to grab a few snaps of the loco.
From Crewe we continued north via Warrington, Preston and Lancaster before the haul up Shap.
We had, at times, been thundering along at up to 76 MPH but slowed on the ascent to the highest point on the WCML, at 279m above sea level and with a maximum gradient of 1:75.
Tornado performed well, going at 44 MPH at the summit before the downhill towards Carlisle.
The LNER Peppercorn Class A1 60163 Tornado is a modern British steam locomotive built from scratch by The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust over 18 years, completed in 2008. It is the first new main line steam locomotive built in the UK since 1961, capable of speeds up to 100 mph, and operates on the mainline.
On arrival, we had to wait just outside of the station to allow another steam haul service into the station.
This engine was 34067, Tangmere, pulling a charter for the Rail Touring Company having travelled up from London Euston.
At Carlisle we had about three hours until the return journey so had a quick look around the city, a meal at Pizzaexpress, and grabbed a few AdLab caches.
As we were waiting on the station, a chap walked up to me and said, “Mr. Baldry, what are you doing here?”. I was at a disadvantage as I didn’t recognise him but he introduced himself as one of the apprentices from my time at the airport.
He was, and still is, train mad and was travelling with his Dad who has a five inch gauge, ride-on, train in his garden. After an all to brief catch up we parted ways as our train pulled in.
The return journey was along the scenic Setlle – Carlisle line through the Yourshire Dales which involved travelling over the Ribblehead Viaduct. After a stop at Blackburn, we rejoined the WCML south of Preston.
The return from here was along the same metals as this morning although at each station we stopped at to allow passengers to disembark we were slipping behind Schedule until at Wolverhampton we were some twenty one minutes behind.
Luckily, Vintage Trains managed to get us re-routed which meant that we would cut the corner and rejoin the WCML at Soho. Amazingly, we arrived back on platform one at New Street just two minutes behind schedule.
After getting out of the station, we were glad that we’d driven in so didn’t have to wait for a taxi we just had to negotiate Saturday Night City Centre traffic. We finally arrived home at about half eleven.
That was a long day but was enjoyed by us all.
Our next train excursion will be in about a fortnight’s time when we’ve got a night on the Llangollen railway ahead the Spring Gala.