Friday 4 September 2009

More on the Settle to Carlisle Railway.

The rail service from Leeds to Carlisle via Skipton is normally operated by a pair of class 158 units but the train we travelled on also had a single class 153 attached. We thought this strange as there were plenty of seats available but as we progressed further North this all changed. Between Hellifield and Ribblehead we picked up untold hikers at all these out of the way stations and the train soon filled up.

Settle to Carlisle 122 Class 158 in typical LMS colour scheme.

The train from Carlisle was 2 pair of class158 units (4 carriages) and was a bit of a worry because when we arrived it was locked up and no engines running, it turned out to be the crew’s lunch break.When the driver returned, he started the engines or tried to but only one pair fired up the other two just wouldn’t start. He must have cranked the engines over for a couple of minutes before they eventually fired up. Even then they sounded real sick. It wasn’t until they had been running for quite a while that they started to settle down and run properly. The irony of this was that the following train did break down and the service was cancelled.

Settle to Carlisle 077 Class 158 at Carlisle.

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