Tuesday 12 June 2012

North Country Rover, Day 5: The Cumbrian Coast

After an enjoyable but miserably wet Sunday at Railfest, we had dinner in the Olive Tree, a lovely Italian restaurant in York, before a relaxing evening in the hotel watching the final of The Apprentice. Fortunately, Monday brought much better weather, with blue skies from the off. And just as well, too: we were headed for a 345-mile round-trip all the way around the coast of Cumbria, topped off with a visit to the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway, a 6¾-mile long narrow-gauge railway right into the heart of the Lake District.

Of course, going round the Cumbrian coast first required crossing the Pennines. The main trans-Pennine crossing between Manchester and Leeds is too far south to be covered by our ticket, so that left us with three options: the "Copy Pit" route between Leeds and Preston via Hebden Bridge and Blackburn; the "Little North Western" route from Leeds to Lancaster via Skipton; and the Tyne Valley line from Newcastle to Carlisle.

This being a Bank Holiday Monday, there were engineering works at Lancaster which ruled out the first option; in fact, it also complicated using the Little North Western route too, with trains unable to run between Lancaster and Carnforth. Fortunately Carnforth is the junction not only for the Little North Western route, but also the Cumbrian coast line to Barrow-in-Furness, so we aimed to change trains there. First, however, we had to get to Leeds:

0740 York to Leeds, arr 0804
Headcode: 1F61, operated by Transpennine Express using Desiro 185106
Distance: 25.5 miles; walk-up price: £7.75

In order to have time to visit the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway, we arose at 6:45 - normal to many people (though perhaps not on a bank holiday) but a bit earlier than I'm used to - and headed for an early train to Leeds. For whatever reason the train was timetabled a ten-minute stand at York, and on top of that arrived a few minutes early, so by the time we arrived in the station the train was already there and we were able to jump on and start eating breakfast straight away.

We left York on time, heading south along the four-track section to Church Fenton, running parallel to the slightly-delayed 0735 East Coast service to King's Cross. The HST couldn't match our Desiro's acceleration at first, but once we hit our top speed of 100mph it gradually clawed its way back and just had the edge over us as it peeled away south-eastwards on the ECML once it diverged at Colton Junction.

The rest of the train journey to Leeds was pretty quiet and uneventful, apart from the ticket check: here, the fact that we were using slightly unusual tickets made the guard stop and have to think for a second. Ian's ticket was sensibly printed with "NORTH COUNTRY 4 IN 8 DAY ROVER"; mine, however, had ended up with the abbreviated form "N CNTRY FLECIRVR" (presumably an abbreviation of "flexi rover"), which slightly confused the guard early on a Monday morning, and it took him to see Ian's ticket before he realised it was indeed valid.

On arrival at Leeds we walked over to platform 12C where our train to Carnforth was apparently due to depart. There was, however, no train in platform 12C; the only other train due through platform 12 was the 0815 to Selby, from Manchester Victoria. It duly arrived at 0810, and then the plan became clear: the train had been formed of four coaches (two Sprinters, 150116 and 150215) but two of these (150215) would be dropped off and form our train to Carnforth.

At least, that was the plan. However, one of the two coaches of 150215 was ominously dark, and shortly after the train arrived a fitter in an orange jacket came to try and fix the train; it seemed that one of the two engines had failed. Nonetheless, we asked the guard if this was indeed the train for Carnforth, and he said it was; so we duly boarded. At 0815, the Selby portion departed; after a few minutes of not much happening I poked my head back out the door to have a look.

Just as I did, we heard an announcement come over the tannoy: "This is a platform alteration: the 0819 Northern service to Carnforth will now depart from platform 13A". This was mildly amusing, since it was already 0820! After alerting our fellow passengers, we headed down the other end of the platform to platform 13A, and were greeted with an ominous sight: two Pacers. After a minute or so the driver and guard came over and proceeded to detach the front Pacer, and then - for the second time! - we boarded our train to Carnforth:

0819 Leeds to Carnforth, arr 1003
Headcode: 2H08, operated by Northern Rail using Pacer 144001
Distance: 64 miles; walk-up price: £11.30

We departed just four and a half minutes late - pretty good for a last-minute stock swap! - having found the only decent seats in the carriage, a bay of four facing seats (albeit with no table). For all the complaints people make about Pacers, in this case I preferred it to the 150 that we'd just been turfed off, principally because we'd been able to find seats with both a) a window and b) legroom.

But then, as Pacers go, we had got lucky: we had ended up on a class 144 (144001, to be precise), which was a later batch of Pacers, by which time they had learned from some of their mistakes, and were later refitted with proper train seats. In contrast, the unit that we detached from was 142067, one of the original class 142 Pacers which, I believe, still has its original bus bench seats.

The visibility was welcome, given the beautiful and rather remote scenery we passed through: after climbing up the Airedale Line to Skipton, we continued north-west as if heading towards the Settle and Carlisle line, calling at Hellifield and Long Preston, before turning left at Settle Junction. From here, we travelled along one of the least-used lines in all of England, the route still known as the "Little North Western" (to distinguish it from the London and North Western Railway), down the valley of the Wenning and the Lune to Carnforth, just north of Lancaster.

Unlike the Esk Valley line to Whitby that we went on on Friday, which clearly exists to serve the community of Whitby and the surrounding villages, I can't quite understand the reason for the Little North Western remaining open. Ostensibly, it connects Leeds to Lancaster, but it's not like Lancaster is a huge city; there are no obviously large intermediate communities to serve; and Leeds already has trains to Preston and two different routes to Manchester, which ought to be enough trans-Pennine services to satisfy all the demand there is.

The line is only served by five trains a day in each direction, but still remains double-track throughout - there are long single-track lines with nearly twice as many trains (e.g., the Cambrian line between Shrewsbury and Aberystwyth)! However, to save costs, there are no intermediate signals between Settle Junction and Carnforth - making this 24-mile "block section", in which only one train in each direction is permitted at a time, the longest in the country.

Weirder still, it's not even the original route between Leeds and Lancaster: the last ten miles, from Wennington Junction to Lancaster Green Ayre, were closed in 1966, with the remaining services diverted via Carnforth. Indeed, due to the engineering works, today we were terminating at Carnforth; and in spite of our late departure, a booked five-minute stand at Skipton was shortened and we arrived in Carnforth a couple of minutes early, after a long flange-squealing 10mph curve.

Carnforth, about five miles north of Lancaster, was once a major junction station on the WCML, providing connections both across the Little North Western to Leeds, and round the Cumbrian coast to Barrow. In 1971, however, the mainline platforms closed, and today most connections are made at Lancaster or even Preston; these days, even having the opportunity to change trains at Carnforth - the filming location for the film Brief Encounter - is rare. Not that there was much to do - perhaps the most exciting thing was being able to see the "STOP" signs marking the limit of tracks under engineering works at the south end of the platforms.

After a mere 15 minutes, our train onwards to Barrow arrived; with access south from Carnforth blocked, it had been reduced to shuttling back and forth between Barrow and Carnforth, so after 10 minutes wait it tootled off back to Barrow-in-Furness:

1029 Carnforth to Barrow-in-Furness, arr 1117
Headcode: 1T51, operated by Transpennine Express using Desiro 185117
Distance: 28.75 miles; walk-up price: £6.45

The line from Carnforth to Barrow is one of the rare occasions on which travelling by train is often faster than the equivalent road journey, at least between some of the intermediate stations. The railway line hugs the coast, but much of the "coast" is in fact the Morecambe sands and, rather than following the land, the railway is elevated above the sands the Kent and Leven viaducts, both of which have been comprehensively refurbished in the last few years.

The Kent viaduct cuts the distance between Arnside and Grange-over-Sands to about a quarter of the distance by road, and the Leven viaduct halves the distance between Grange-over-Sands and Ulverston. The former's use for local traffic was evident when, on an otherwise quiet train on a Monday morning, half the population of Arnside seemed to have turned up to get the train. They mostly disembarked at Grange-over-Sands, though judging by the announcements they mostly wanted to go to Cark and Cartmel; the guard made repeated, specific announcements to remind us that we weren't stopping at Cark and Cartmel, and would have to change at Grange-over-Sands.

Both viaducts afforded us beautiful views of Morecambe Bay, with the bright, sunny weather meaning the visibility was good enough to see all the way across to Morecambe and Heysham to our left, and all the way up into the mountains of the Lake District to our right. And aside from the brief rush of passengers from Arnside (who didn't really make it into our carriage anyway) the train was nice and quiet, which gave us the space to enjoy the views.

The timetables said we had only five minutes to change trains at Barrow for the train continuing round the coast to Ravenglass, but we arrived a couple of minutes early and had ample time to traverse the underpass and join our fourth train before lunch:

1122 Barrow-in-Furness to Ravenglass for Eskdale, arr 1206
Headcode: 2C47, operated by Northern Rail using Sprinter 156448
Distance: 29.25 miles; walk-up price: £5.00

Unlike the section east of Barrow, the line north from Barrow hugs the coastline and follows it up one side of a small estuary and down the other to Millom. We pass through many tiny little stations seemingly in the middle of nowhere, which survive thanks to being little more than platforms with bus shelters, with many being request stops. For that reason, the conductor asked which stop we were getting off at (because our tickets don't have am explicit destination); Ravenglass is not, however, a request stop, so I still have yet to actually alight or board at a request stop...

After 40 minutes, we arrived in Ravenglass and headed under the mainline across to the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway, a line Ian had wanted to go on for years but had never had the chance. Originally built in 1875 as a 3-foot gauge line to carry iron ore, it was converted to 15-inch gauge in 1915, and while it carried granite for a while, it was reborn as a preserved railway in 1960, and ever since it has carried passengers up and down Eskdale, with open-air coaches providing some of the best views available in this remote western corner of the Lake District.

We bought our tickets - our rover ticket gaining us a 10% discount on the normal fare - and went to board the 12:30 service up the seven miles to Dalegarth. When the train arrived, the steam locomotive was taken off the front of the train and ran onto the turntable, from which it was sent back through one of the other platforms. Meanwhile, our diesel locomotive was attached, and once a second train arrived and cleared the single line, we were off:

1230 Ravenglass for Eskdale to Dalegarth for Boot, arr 1310
Operated by the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway using diesel locomotive "Douglas Ferreira"
Distance: 6.75 miles; walk-up return: £12.60

The train was busy, so we opted for a quiet covered carriage rather than going in the full open air ones. The carriages were quite small - only two people could comfortably sit next to each other, though we weren't too pressed for height - but the doors remained open, so I was able to lean out and take many photographs of the train, and of the beautiful views. The journey up to Dalegarth, which involves gradients of up to 1 in 49, took about 40 minutes.

Once at the top, we had lunch in the station cafe, appropriately eating Cumberland sausage, egg and chips. After lunch, we took a short walk to the tiny village of Boot, just a quarter of a mile from Dalegarth station, before heading back to the station to get on a train back to Ravenglass. Our train duly arrived at 14:15, and the locomotive was turned on the turntable before reattaching to the front of our train; but we had to wait a little before another train arrived and we departed ten minutes late:

1430 (actual 1440) Dalegarth for Boot to Ravenglass for Eskdale, arr 1510 (actual 1525)
Operated by the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway using steam locomotive "Northern Rock"
Distance: 6.75 miles; walk-up return included above

Actually, the delay mattered very little in the end: it just gave us more time to enjoy the beautiful views, made all the better by being able to enjoy them from an open carriage. The line threads through woodland, but occasionally opens out for gorgeous views of the mountains in the Lake District, as well as tantalising us with brief glimpses of the sea once we got close to Ravenglass. All in all, a beautiful little railway line; if ever you're in the area, make a point of going on it - you won't regret it.

Once back in Ravenglass, we headed over the footbridge to get back on the big trains:

1539 Ravenglass for Eskdale to Carlisle, arr 1721
Headcode: 2C41, operated by Northern Rail using Sprinters 153317+153363
Distance: 56 miles; walk-up price: £8.05

The journey from Ravenglass to Carlisle is hardly fast, with the train averaging less than 33mph as it trundles all the way round the coast as far as Wigton, before turning inland for the last run to Carlisle. But on this clear day the line provided views out across the Irish Sea better than I can ever recall seeing before (at least from Britain): the Isle of Man was clear and visible, and once we got further north we could see almost the whole length of Galloway in southern Scotland. Combined with the warm sun shining upon our faces, this nearly constituted the perfect train trip.

In spite of being an entirely rural line with few population centres, the future of the line is secure thanks to an unlikely source: Sellafield. Simply put, the safest and easiest way of moving nuclear waste from power plants around the country to the reprocessing facility at Sellafield is by rail; the waste is carried in special nuclear "flasks", which have been extensively crash tested, hauled by pairs of locomotives to ensure that breakdowns do not pose a security risk by requiring the train to stop.

After calling at Workington, we looked out for any traces of the short-lived station at Workington North, which was built in a week in November 2009 following the floods in Cumbria that saw the only road bridge over the River Derwent washed away, taking the life of PC Bill Barker. The station permitted residents on the north side of the Derwent to get to and from the town centre over the (intact) rail bridge, with a shuttle between Workington and Maryport carrying huge numbers of passengers.

However, once the road bridge reopened, the station - only ever intended as temporary and built out of scaffolding - was closed after it became clear that it wasn't being used much, if at all; as a result of its temporary construction, all that remains on site is the flat land next to the railway that acted as both construction site and car park.

Our train had been a few minutes late throughout its journey: we left Ravenglass six minutes late, though by the time we left Workington we were only four minutes late. We gradually lost a little time, however, and were eight minutes late leaving Wigton; the by now traditional padding meant we were 3½ minutes late arriving into Carlisle (or 1½, if you read the public timetable), giving us just enough time to make our (unofficial) connection:

1728 Carlisle to Newcastle Central, arr 1912 (actual 1924)
Headcode: 2N48, operated by Northern Rail using Sprinter 156443
Distance: 61.75 miles; walk-up price: £9.50

I say that the connection was unofficial because the minimum connection allowance at Carlisle is 8 minutes, so journey planners will not give you an itinerary that involves a connection less than that. Our connection was 7 minutes, but provided you know your way around the station - or at least have a vague idea - that was more than enough time, and we made the train to Newcastle with a few minutes to spare.

The Tyne Valley Line between Carlisle and Newcastle provides one of the few east-west connections between Leeds and the Scottish central belt, but apart from a few through trains from Glasgow to Newcastle via Dumfries the line is mostly of local and connectional use, with little through traffic. Scenic as the line is, and in spite of not having been on it before, I started to nod off after a long day on trains.

For reasons that we couldn't ascertain, the train was allowed five minutes extra than usual to get to Hexham; we didn't seem to need it, and we stood in the station for six minutes waiting to leave. The next stop gave us an inkling as to why the allowances had been inserted: at Corbridge, the train turned from mostly empty to full and standing, it taking two minutes to get all the passengers on; they seem to have been returning from the Northumberland County Show at Tynedale Park.

The train, now full and rather cramped, plodded along about four minutes late for two more stops as far as Stocksfield; just as we pulled into Stocksfield we heard an ominous announcement over the tannoy: "will the conductor please contact the driver", most likely meaning that something had broken and the driver needed the conductor to help in sorting it out. We sat in Stocksfield station for six minutes, while the driver talked on his mobile phone, presumably to line control to obtain permission to proceed.

Eventually, ten minutes late, we proceeded, but not quite as fast as we had been, and through the various station stops we gradually slipped to fifteen minutes late. On arriving in Newcastle, the train was met by a fitter; we had been sat in the middle of the carriage next to the window, and were thus pretty much last off the train. As we got off, I asked the driver, who had been standing at the door waiting to get on, what was the reason for the delay: I must have looked like the kind of person who knows things about trains, because his answer was simply "AWS fault". I thanked him and Ian and I headed for dinner.

For those unaware of what AWS is: AWS stands for "automatic warning system", a simple system designed to give the driver some limited advance warning of the signal ahead. Approximately 200 yards in rear of each signal stands a yellow box known as an AWS magnet: this contains two magnets, one permanent magnet and one electromagnet, designed to communicate to the driver whether the next signal is green or not.

When the signal ahead is green, the electromagnet turns on and cancels out the magnet, so that the driver receives a "ding" to say that the line is clear ahead. When the signal is yellow or red, the electromagnet is turned off and the permanent magnet activates a buzzer when the train passes over it, which must be cancelled by the driver within six seconds or a full brake application is made automatically. Because the "ding" requires the current to be on to run the electromagnet, the system is fail-safe.

The presence of AWS has prevented or greatly reduced countless incidents since its introduction in 1956; it was introduced after the Harrow and Wealdstone crash in 1952 that claimed 112 lives, but it took until the Southall crash in 1997, where a train with defective AWS was driven past a red signal, before the presence of AWS became mandatory for full-speed running. As a result, the fault with the AWS on our train required permission from control to proceed, and then only at caution, requiring us to proceed rather slowly to Newcastle.

Once in Newcastle, we headed in search of food, eventually settling on Nando's in The Gate. After dinner, we wandered down to the Tyne Bridge (a road bridge), and looked down on the multitude of bridges high and low crossing the Tyne between Newcastle and Gateshead. To our east was the Millennium Bridge, a pedestrian-only bridge, while the Tyne Bridge on which we stood carries the A167, a busy road that just north of the river turns into the Newcastle Central Motorway.

To the west we could see five bridges: first the Swing Bridge, designed to open to let boats through; then the High Level Bridge, a double-deck road and rail bridge, which once carried the ECML proper but now carries the line to Sunderland and Middlesbrough; then the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, built in 1981 to carry the Tyne and Wear Metro; then the King Edward VII Bridge, which replaced the High Level Bridge for the purposes of carrying the ECML by avoiding reversal of trains at Newcastle; and finally the Redheugh Bridge carrying the A189 road. All in all, quite a sight.

After wandering back to Newcastle Central station, we grabbed some food both for the ride home and for breakfast in the morning, before boarding our train back to York:

2115 Newcastle Central to York, arr 2217
Headcode: 1Y53, operated by East Coast using Mark 4 set + 91126
Distance: 80 miles; walk-up price: £15.70

Going on the ECML is a rare treat for me: unlike the WCML, where the long-distance trains are the preserve of Pendolinos, the ECML still runs locomotive-hauled trains, with class 91 electric locomotives providing the power. In this case, the locomotive was on the rear of the train, being controlled from the DVT (driving van trailer) at the other end. So satisfying is the noise made by class 91s that we waited for a minute or two after disembarking at York especially to hear the noise of a 91 starting up: it goes from being silent to making more noise than you might think an electric locomotive should in no time at all.

Having spent most of the train from Newcastle writing my blog, I finished an entry off before we retired for our last night in York, satisfied with a wonderful day in Cumbria, and ready for a day of "rare track" as we headed home.


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