Steam Special in NW England.

[HST.]

  I filmed this at Lostock Junction Station on the 7th of November 2010.  The train is hammering through Lostock with two Black Fives on the front and a West Coast Railway Class 47 on the rear.

 

 

Dave.

[westfalen]

I like the sound of the Black Fives, some of my favorite video from my trip to the UK last year is of one slogging up the hill from Grosmont to Goathland on the NYMR. Looks like they can get up a good turn of speed when they have to too.

[bikkuri bahn]

I like the sound of the Black Fives, some of my favorite video from my trip to the UK last year is of one slogging up the hill from Grosmont to Goathland on the NYMR. Looks like they can get up a good turn of speed when they have to too.

 

Same here- nothing like the purposeful, straight-ahead sound of a simple two cylinder.  The Black Five is probably my favorite British locomotive type (basically I like anything Stanier), and I've read that despite being a mixed traffic/general purpose type, was more than capable of keeping timings on the crack expresses when deputising for the usual three-cylinder or pacific express passenger types.  It's a pity the 4-6-0 type was not developed much in Japan.

[westfalen]

The shinkansen fans might find it a bit boring but after watching it again I had to download my video of 44871, the second engine in HST's video, going at a more sedate pace but working just as hard. Ten minutes of steam as George Stephenson intended, no fancy extra cylinders or compounding, just a lot of noise, smoke and steam, though the sheep beside the track at about 2:15 doesn't seem too disturbed. I had ridden to Whitby and back and was intending to spend a bit of time at Grosmont but thought the old girl might put on a bit of a show going up the hill.

 

P.S. Just realised I've ridden behind both the engines in HST's video, the lead engine 45407 was also at the NYMR the day I was there and I rode behind it from Grosmont to Whitby later in the afternoon where I had a nice fish and chip dinner before catching the DMU, or railmotor as us Aussies say, back to Middlesbrough.

 

[HST.]

Hi Westfalen,  Great Video, that is some climb!  I was brought up on a staple diet of "Black Fives", where I lived as a kid in Bolton (about 12 miles from Manchester), they were very common.  I was 10 (1963) when I got interested in Trains and Bolton was a very busy Rail Centre, mostly steam and first generation Diesels, EE Type 4's, Peaks, Metrovics Co-Bo's, Sulzer Type 2's and DMU's.    Bolton Shed had a good allocation of Black Fives, Stanier 8F's, Crabs, WD's, Stanier 2-6-4 Tanks and a few Standard Class Loco's.  I live in Horwich now, a small town on the outskirts of Bolton were Horwich Loco Works was, and just by coincidence, the last major overhaul was a Black Five, which I think was in 1965.  Hope I've not bored everyone with my nostalgic ramblings, but it was a great time for watching trains in the UK.

 

Dave.

[westfalen]

I understand your fascination. I was eight going on nine when regular steam finished around Ipswich (Australia), not old enough to fully appreciate it but I have memories of Pacifics storming uphill out of Ebbw Vale station (also the Australian one) past my grandparents place on passenger trains and 4-6-0's (not as big as black fives though) working coal trains on a branch line I could see from school. I find British steam a lot more interesting after seeing some other than Flying Scotsman in the flesh, I'm tempted by the Graham Farish black five but no sound decoder could do 44871 justice.

[HST.]

Black 5 45407 at speed passing Lostock Junction near Bolton.