Created 14-Aug-22
Modified 14-Aug-22
The best news about this trip was that it was to be headed on the steam section by Carnforth’s magnificent Royal Scot 4-6-0, No 6115 Scots Guardsman. It has been nearly six years since I last rode behind her. The bad news was that, with a Met Office extreme heat warning in force, the locomotive would be in light steam only and most of the traction would come from diesel power.
With the sun beating down from a cloudless blue sky, our train arrived at Skipton from York with Class 37 diesels at front and rear. We proceeded thus to Hellifield station which witnessed a busy hour of varied railway activity. Eventually No 46115 and its support coach replaced the front diesel giving a load of 11 coaches.
We set off briskly but in the third coach from the rear, we could hear little steam noise and palpable growling from the 37. We reached 31 by Long Preston and 51 at Settle Junction, then speed gradually fell away as we began the long climb to Blea Moor. The following speeds tell nothing of the individual performance of our two active locomotives, and we were able to enjoy the beauties of the sunlit uplands of upper Ribblesdale, albeit showing more beige and brown than green. We went through Settle at 41, Helwith Bridge at 37 and Horton at 39 before easing for the Ribblehead slack. Dentdale in the 40s, Garsdale in the 50s and 56 at Ais Gill Summit.
We rattled down Mallerstang and on through Kirkby Stephen in the 60s, and straight through Appleby at 59. Progress on the last leg was similar, and we got ourselves back on time at Carlisle by omitting the water stop at Lazonby.
On the return we had a brisk run to Appleby where we stopped for water. Onwards and upwards in the 50s and 40s and three minutes early at Ais Gill summit at 40. Speeds were similar through the dales and tunnels to Ribblehead but then we picked up our heels with a brisk run down to our Hellifield stop. There we sat for an hour in the still-blazing sun whilst the Scot played in the yard with its support coach. Still looking immaculate in her stunning Brunswick green, it was a shame that she had been unable to show us what she could do. But driving home from Skipton into the sunset, I reflected that a day on a train through God’s own country in glorious sunshine can never be a bad thing.
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© Peter Hewitt's Transport Pictures