Home»All my photos»2009 Railway Photographs»Riley's identical twins storm the northern fells 30 December 2009

Main line steam ended 2009 with a flourish when Ian Riley's newly restored Stanier Class 5 4-6-0 No 44871 joined its stablemate No 45407 for a northbound run over Shap then southbound via the Settle - Carlisle line. It was a close run thing. No 44871, bought as a non-runner several years ago, steamed only two weeks ago for the first time as a complete locomotive. A day on the ELR Santa trains and a short test run on the WCML was the only preparation for this marathon run - how would she and her sister perform? We left Manchester Victoria 14 minutes late but lively running after Horwich Parkway saw us out of Preston on time. The Black Fives are limited to 60 mph but they reached this by Barton (five miles out) and continued thus along the racing stretch, playing to the gallery by storming through Lancaster station at a brief maximum of 65. The home base of WCRC at Carnforth was ill-prepared to water two locomotives, and No 44871 needed a top-up of coal, so we were 23 minutes late returning to the main line. We reached 60 at Elmsfield, and had only dropped to 49 by Oxenholme (six miles into the climb) and we topped Grayrigg summit at a respectable 40. We rattled down through the Lune Gorge and reached 60 again at Tebay on the foot of the climb to Shap. Speed dropped to 53 at Greenholme, 46 at High Scales and 40 at the site of Scout Green 'box. The engines really dug into the climb, and we reached Shap summit at a very creditable speed of 35 mph. Our late start from Carnforth led to our being looped at Penrith, and despite lively downhill running we were 45 minutes late into Carlisle. This was our first chance to have a close look at the newest arrival, and No 44871 looked as magnificent as she had performed. Her shiny BR mixed traffic livery, inherited from the LNWR, brought to mind the term 'blackberry black', the term used for the colour of Premier Line locos before 1923. The large cabside numerals reflected the appearance of Scottish Black Fives overhauled at St Rollox, a nice touch. We left Carlisle 13 minutes late and, despite travelling at line speed through the former slack at Kirkby Thore, we were still 9 down at Appleby, passed at 49 mph. We were back up to line speed in the dip that followed, then began the long climb - 48 at Crosby Garrett, 44 at Waitby and 42 at Kirkby Stephen. The conditions were really wintry now as we passed Birkett at 40, with only 6 snappers instead of the usual 100. Amazingly, we were up to 48 again on the lower reaches of Mallerstang. I wondered if the diesel on the back was pushing. Being in the last coach, I could check: dead as a doornail. The steam locos kept hammering all the way up the valley, with a low of 43 at Ais Gill Farm and cresting the summit 2 minutes ahead of time at 45 mph - a magnificent performance! There was much to savour as we hurtled downhill to Hellifield. Here the anticlimax began: more prolonged watering at Hellifield led to lost paths, and the direct line from Blackburn to Bolton was blocked at Darwen, depriving us of the steep climb to Entwistle. Instead we described a huge semi-circle round Winter Hill TV mast, via Bamber Bridge, Lostock Hall, Wigan North Western and Westhoughton to Bolton! But who was complaining about an hour-late return after such a wonderful day? Not me! As the Riley twins chuffed back home to Bury, they had made a fitting end to an outstanding decade of British main line steam.