The Great Steam Train thread

Starting a thread to track steam trains. Today sees 35018 British India Line doing a return trip from York to Carlisle crossing Ribblehead viaduct twice.

You can track its progress so you’re not in the air too early
York to Carlisle Realtime Trains - 1Z62 0944 York to Carlisle
Carlisle to York Realtime Trains - 1Z64 1734 Carlisle to York

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Northern Belle are running a Glasgow round trip to Settle then Carnforth and back to Carlisle. 6201 Princess Elizabeth pulls it from Carlisle to Settle, another steam over the Ribblehead, and then to Carnforth. Diesel from Glasgow to Carlisle and Carnforth to Glasgow.

Details haven’t been published yet but these services appear to fit Northern Belle’s departure times and they are operated by West Coast Railways.

Carlisle to Hellifield Realtime Trains - 1Z69 1436 Carlisle to Hellifield Goods Loops
Hellifield to Carnforth Realtime Trains - 5Z71 1651 Hellifield Goods Loops to Carnforth Steamtown

Confirmation of the route timings should appear on Railadvent Settle & Carlisle Steam Special (Glasgow Central - Carlisle) - RailAdvent

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Great idea for a thread. Will need at least a weeks notice though to try and plan ahead.

Steam is very unpredictable, sometimes replaced by diesel and unless it’s a regular service, timings aren’t confirmed until a day or two before.

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I didn’t mean exact timings. Just knowing the proposed date (so i don’t double book for e.g. and miss an opportunity) www.railadvent.co.uk looks good, the previous site I used seemed to vanish.

Great idea.
I will keep a look out locally for these events.
Thanks.

The site that appeared to vanish, I read it was for personal reasons of the site’s admin. Railadvent improved their coverage in the wake of the other stopping.

They provide links to most of the steam but sometimes like yesterday, you’re left to find them yourselves. Luckily real-time trains filters by operator.

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Another Ribblehead return trip tomorrow, detailed timings
York to Carlisle
Carlisle to York

Plenty more through the weekend but I won’t be online to post the detailed timings, you can always find the details at RailAdvent or use RealTimeTrains to search.

I don’t suppose anyone might know some good spots to try and get some picturebetween wolverhampton - telford for this one White Rose (Wolverhampton - York) - RailAdvent (full route is Wolverhampton, Codsall, Telford Central, Wellington, Shrewsbury, Crewe, Hartford, Warrington Bank Quay, Newton Le Willows, and Manchester Victoria on its way to York, but don’t want to travel any further than telford)

A what three words actual spot would be great, and if any instructions are needed to get/find the spot.

Thanks in advance.

The Dalesman Steam Train

Here’s a first location for this thread to help anyone in the area looking for a vantage point. My photo below was taken from here.

Lambley Bank,
Scotby nr. Carlisle
W3W - magma.tests.hits

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There’s a Facebook group, steam trains in the UK, they would probably know some good places. Maybe not specifically for a drone but they usually take photos places where they know the engine’s not going to be idling and a clear stretch for a decent photo. Should be good for a drone as well.

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Can I also politely suggest to those chasing steam locos on the main line that you respect Network Rail’s concerns about drones flying within 50m of the railway. I am reliably informed that their concerns resulted from incidents in the past; in addition the steam-following community do have a reputation for trespass and causing the railway to need to take extra security measures (a reputation they have earned honestly, unfortunately).

I do quite a bit of (not drone related) work in the rail industry and I’d rather not see drone operators regarded in the same way as many mainline staff regard the loopier end of the steam-follower brigade… :wink:

GC

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Since ‘moving vehicles’ is the next RTF I was planning on visiting the local heritage railway, but seems all they are doing during the RTF window is ‘steam by lights’ when it’s dark, and with no chance to do a practise run decided instead my next best bet may be the mainline.

This one is going on Saturday, and trying to figure out exactly where Amington Junction is, and if it’s likely to actually go via Tamworth on its way from Nuneaton to Lichfield, and more importantly if it will pass Polesworth/Alvecote, as this is an excellent spot to do train spotting. In fact where I took my ‘Intercity’ competition entry for the 4th birthday.

Is there actually any decent rail maps online that show where ‘junctions’ are and what not, as national rail’s just list stations.

The train: https://www.railadvent.co.uk/events/the-cheshireman-london-euston-chester-6

The timings: Realtime Trains - 1Z63 0710 London Euston to Chester

Amington on google maps: Google Maps

And here she blows (longer than the clip in the current RTF)

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Broken video link @firstadekit ?

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Or set as Private?

Forgot I’d set to private while waiting for it to finish processing. Fixed.

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If anyone films the Christmas Sparkle Express next Wednesday, please let me know. It’s Carnforth to chesterfield via Crewe and I’ll be on it :steam_locomotive::railway_car::railway_car:

Is there a link to page with timings and route?

Timings will appear on Rail Advent when they’re available. Confirmed timings say it leaves Carnforth 05:20 and returns at 00:00. Going to be a long day!