Northern Belle 2025

34067 seen at Woodhouse and Hincaster on the outward leg then climbing to a very windy Aisgill Summit in glorious sunshine on the return leg.

 

Approaching Armathwaite Station...


Tangmere at Armathwaite

 

The lads at Carnforth have got Tangmere sounding well now.

 

Bye 'ell, I enjoyed that video. Thanks Nige.

 

Many thanks Victor, glad you enjoyed watching.

 

The exhaust certainly sounds much more even than it did. There is also less black smoke: there could be several reasons for that, but perhaps a more even exhaust means no extra strong beats so less tendency to pull small unburnt coal off the fire.

 

From Northern Belle,
"If the trip is diesel-hauled, guests will receive a £30 credit per person, equivalent to the steam supplement. While this is unlikely, we believe in being transparent as this is a possibility."

 

The expectation seemed to be that it would go north yesterday with 5407 but obviously it didn't.

 

I understand there was an NR signalling problem at Castleton which caused the delay but I don't think that was the reason 44871 didn't accompany 5407.

 

Reassuring for those with tickets ....

 

Well, the tickets indicate the train arrives back in Preston just before 10pm because NR has routed it to Lime St first.
So the folks who were looking forward to a leisurely day out in luxury now face an endurance test and having to find out whether their domestic arrangements can be stretched for another 3 hours....
Sure, it's not the train company's fault but 48 hours notice of a major change isn't really satisfactory, especially at the prices charged.