REAL STEAM: what you need to know

YOUR ESSENTIAL BRIEFING ON FEBRUARY’S S&C ‘DRAG-DAMPF’

Real, wholescale timetabled steam is back (see News). And it’s not just for the joy of being able to hop aboard a train hauled by a Peppercorn-designed ‘Pacific’ with a standard National Rail ticket - but to help the towns and villages along the currently severed Settle-Carlisle. The Midland Railway had built 72 miles of railway through the Pennines by 1875. But having survived the threat of closure during the 1980s, it was severed in February 2016 by a huge landslip at Eden Brows near Armathwaite. That drained the route of through-traffic and charters, and Network Rail has undertaken a massive amount of work to repair it (see panel). On February 14-16, the ordinary will become the extraordinary. Instead of running through to Appleby, the Northern DMU that forms the 9.17am from Leeds will terminate at Skipton. Onward travel will be with ‘A1’ No. 60163 Tornado and eight Riviera blue and grey Mk 2s fitted with the central door locking - mandatory for service trains. A ‘67’ on the tail end will provide electricity for the train. Although the northern section of the S&C is still shut, the 53 miles of challenging railway between Skipton and Appleby take in the ‘jewels’ of the line, including Ribblehead, Blea Moor, Arten Gill and Dent Head. For logistical reasons, the ‘A1’ and train will actually be stabled at Appleby

overnight, rather than Neville Hill and that creates the opportunity to strengthen the timetable. Tornado, running tender-first, will haul an extra Appleby-Skipton train in the mornings, and another from Skipton to Appleby at the close of the day. Like the DMU-replacement services, these will be ‘limited stop’ (see panel). Running times have been relaxed in order to give ‘Drag-dampf’ the best possible chance of keeping to time - but these are still service trains, and normal tickets will be valid. One reason for choosing Skipton for the change of train is that the Yorkshire town has a range of connecting services. Unlike on the West Highland Line in 2001 (SR263), there is no plan to add a parallel bus service. For more, see issue 818 of our sister magazine RAIL.

When Tornado helped out commuters… On a Steam Dreams charter, No. 60163 runs over Southern metals on December 21 2009, as snow brought EMUs almost to a standstill. A1 TRUST

When steam-hauled S&C ‘stoppers’ were the norm. ‘Black Five’ No. 44675 ploughs through deep snow at Hortonin-Ribblesdale with a Hellifield to Carlisle train on November 27 1965. LES NIXON