44871 Steams Southward to Southall...

Talk about a wet day...it's been a wet month! This afternoon in pouring rain, 44871 graced us briefly with her presence as she passed the EMD at Northampton, bound for Southall. The Black Five is off to the smoke to do a couple of jobs before returning north in a few weeks time. As a hardy bunch of us waited on the grass, 44871 appeared out of the gloom right on time. The signal was still on for her route, meaning that the engine had shut-off and was slowing to a stand at the board...

As soon as the signal cleared, 44871 summoned her strength and took her support coach away southward. I'll probably see her again when she comes back!

Please note that the above images were taken from land outside of the NR boundary fence.

The Last Hurrah 2022: Back Out With 78018...

The end of the GCRs main season (although the railway never actually ceases to operate as such) is signalled by the annual Last Hurrah gala which traditionally takes place towards the end of November. I was lucky enough to bag a third man turn for this one, on the morning shift with John and Andy aboard 78018. Our sign on was a very early 05:15 and I'll admit that I find it much harder to get out of the door at that time these days than I used to! I met up with Andy at the engine, having signed in and read the notices. He kindly allowed me to prepare the engine from the fireman's perspective this morning. Having checked the smokebox and firebox, I cleared the grate of the warming fire before lighting the new one. Smoke first thing is quite normal...

78018 stands on No2 road at the shed having just been lit up...

We had two trips to do today, of which one was fired by myself. The first train was a full line passenger to Leicester North and back, with the second being a local out to Rothley and then a return to Lougborough with the Minerals train. Here, 78018 feathers at Rothley carriage sidings on our second run, waiting time for our light engine trip to Swithland bang road to fetch the Mineral wagons...

It was refreshing to see plenty of people out and about today for the Last Hurrah, which featured five locomotives in steam plus 'Iris' the visiting lightweight railcar and a couple of diesel locos. The star of the show was undoubtedly 78018s sister 78019. No19 was released into service this morning following some running in after a lengthy overhaul. I managed to capture this shot of the Darlington built pair as fresh out of the box 78019 passes us by at Rothley. Both are a credit to the GCR and their owning groups...

After the above shot was taken we were released from the siding and sent bang road (on the up) to Swithland to collect the Minerals train. Once we'd taken this back to Loughborough we were relieved by 78018s afternoon crew. I must thank John and Andy for another very pleasant morning at the GCR. It's always enjoyable...

Please note any views or opinions expressed in this blog are merely personal and do not in any way represent the views or opinions of any other person, group or organisation.

An Unusual Combination: The Black Five and the Streak...

Working right next to the Northampton loop line really does have its benefits sometimes. We are lucky enough to get a wide variety of steamers passing by my work, as anything that goes to or from London from the Midlands or the north tends to pass us by on its way there or back. This afternoon saw quite an interesting consist heading southward: a rake of ECS hauled by not one but two locomotives. The combination was also quite unusual as it consisted of a Stanier Black Five and a Gresley A4 Pacific. 45231 "Sherwood Forester" and 4498 "Sir Nigel Gresley" came strolling past in the pouring rain on their way to Southall for some upcoming jobs. The Black Five was leading (no doubt to allow the A4 to use her corridor tender against the train) and both were blowing off as they sauntered past Northampton EMD. "Sir Nigel Gresley" (currently the only operational Gresley A4) looked very smart in a plain wartime black livery...

"Sir Nigel Gresley" was also minus her record holder plates as in her current wartime guise this event hadn't happened yet! 4498 was of course the postwar speed record holder for steam, achieving 112mph in 1959 on Stoke Bank, following in the footsteps of all time record holder 4468 "Mallard". Two record holders from the same class of locomotive must have surely cemented their place in history. As with all main line jobs, the experience was over in seconds and soon all we could see were the tail lights of the Class 47 ticking over on the rear of the train as the duo headed off into the distance. I had to go through my blog archives to find out when I last saw 4498 (then 60007: her BR guise) in steam. It turns out that it was 2009, as proven by this grainy shot from a dimly lit Platform 6 at Nuneaton on a February evening...

It was nice to see an A4 in steam again, particularly as she is likely to be the only operational one for some time since the retirement of "Bittern" and "Union of South Africa". Until the next blog post, take care and cheers all...

Please note that the above images were taken from either none-NR private land or public areas.

GCR Firing Course: Day Three...

The firing course at the Great Central is certainly flying by and here I am writing the day three post. Day three involved an 05:30 sign on for all candidates as we took on the roles of the engine crews to prepare the three locomotives rostered for the day. Instructors were wandering around shadowing the various candidates and we were also given practical assessments on lamp preparation and gauge glass changes during the morning. Each of us were given a role to perform on our engine which could be either for a driver or a fireman. I was asked to complete the driver prep on BR Standard 2 No78018. Meanwhile, 92214 and 48305 were being prepared by other candidates and are snapped here on the shed frontage just after sunrise...

Over the next few hours we busied ourselves around our engines before their crews arrived to take them off shed. 78018 is pictured here, ready to go...

Once the three engines had departed the shed it was time for us to catch a train southward to walk the signals and track layouts of both Swithland and Rothley. Later in the day we returned to Loughborough to complete another written exam before signing out at around 14:30. Thanks to the instructors and the rest of the firing course lads for another pleasant day. Here's to the next one! Cheers...

Please note any views or opinions expressed in this blog are merely personal and do not in any way represent the views or opinions of any other person, group or organisation.