Riding Yorkshire's Final Steam Trains

by Keith Widdowson

  So here we were, on Saturday 2 July, at York at just gone four in the morning and our bleary eyes were rubbed clear to view the wonderful sight of a resplendent 45562 Alberta waiting at the head of the 04 35 departure for Leeds. Sleep deprivation was of little consequence when achieving catches such as this! After a trip over to Bradford Forster Square with Holbeck’s 44828 on the normally DL-worked portion off of the 00 05 ex-St Pancras we had time to kill prior to the summer extras, which commenced shortly after 8 a.m. out of the Exchange station. We had planned to do a fill-in trip to Shipley and back, which upon reference to my notebook was crossed out, presumably being DL resourced. Some you win, some you lose! Walking over to Bradford Exchange we weren’t certain that the 08 20 departure for Bridlington was steam worked and it wasn’t until we could see at the head of the train the telltale safety valves lifting that we rushed over to the booking office for the necessary regulation and travel tickets. To say we were delighted to find Low Moor’s ‘pet’ 45565 Victoria in charge would be an understatement. This departure, often synchronised at camera-equipped enthusiasts’ requests with the parallel 08 20 portion for Wakefield, was a joy to window hang from. With three steam locomotives (our eight-coach train being assisted in the rear to Bowling Junction by Fairburn 42184) working their hardest, the noise reverberating off the incline’s brick walls was music to a steam follower’s ears.

  It was time to settle down in the comfort of an uncrowded train and enjoy a 92-mile, three-and-a-half-hour journey by steam. So many of my catches in the NER area had been on short-haul services and it made a pleasant change not to worry about staying awake in readiness to alight at any intermediate stop. Having all the atmosphere of a rail tour this service was routed via Selby, the outskirts of Hull, Beverley and Driffield families stopping to stare at us, their children waving – the driver entering into the spirit of the occasion by hanging on Victoria’s whistle at all level crossings and stations as we passed through the flat-landscaped vista. Some missed sleep from the previous night was caught up on, but I did note a max of 58mph through the Humber estuary village of Eastrington en route.

  After arrival into the 120-year-old station at Bridlington, rather than retrace our steps we headed the 23 miles north to Scarborough, the largest holiday resort on the Yorkshire coast, passing the Filey Holiday Camp branch – built to serve the Butlin’s Holiday Camp and lasting but 30 years (1947–77). On that day I again never ventured away from the station. I have, however, subsequently visited the town and being a fan of The Royal, the ’60s themed hospital series, it would have been sacrilege to not seek out the cliff-side building where it was filmed, albeit the success being marred by wet and windy conditions of an English ‘summer’ August day.

  In the early 1960s Scarborough station would have been awash with steam services on a summer Saturday but by 1966 just two departures remained – one of which, the 13 35 for Manchester, we had homed in on. Mirfield’s 44694, piloted to York with Brush Type 4 D1542, was working the train on this day, resulting in another 40-odd miles of steam track being coloured in on my map upon my return home.

  The 08 20 ex-Bradford Exchange after arrival at the East Coast resort of Bridlington on 2 July 1966. Low Moor ‘pet’ Jubilee 45565 Victoria (it was 56F’s only Jub!) rests after her 92-mile journey – the 1934-built 6P5F being withdrawn in January 1967.

  Alighting at Wakefield Kirkgate we now veered away temporarily from the NER by heading south to Sheffield, the reason being to cover the Hope Valley route on the steam-worked 11 55 (SO) Yarmouth Vauxhall to Manchester Victoria. This was the last of the twelve railway crossings built through the Pennines – opened as late as 1894 by the Midland Railway. Forged westward following the Derwent Valley via Edale, this scenic curvilinear route, which peaked opposite the infamous Snake Pass road so often blocked by snow during the winter, was certainly not built for speed. Having said that, the driver of our train that day for the 46¾ miles from Sheffield to Manchester, worked by Newton Heath’s provision of 44846, knocked a seat-grabbing eighteen minutes off the schedule with some hair-raising speeds in the 70s and 80s on the way. Driver Fieldhouse’s explanation upon arrival at Manchester was that he wanted to make the 18 35 for Oldham as his missus had his tea waiting! This early arrival fortuitously allowed us to backtrack over the Pennines, changing to, on paper a minus two-minute connection at Huddersfield, the 10 29 Poole/Bradford Exchange. The fortunate run of required locomotives petered out at this point – the eight-coach train being worked by 55C’s 45647 Sturdee and double-headed in from Greetland Junction with Fairburn 42196.

  As the reader might imagine, we were now beginning to tire and although we planned to catch the 22 00 one-coach departure for Huddersfield one of us (there was by now quite a gathering) had highlighted the fact that a 21 18 arrival (ex-Stockport) into Bradford Exchange was booked for a Low Moor tank. Wearily we traipsed out again to Halifax – some of the party required the incumbent 42055 – but not me! We finally departed the area courtesy of the aforementioned 22 00 Huddersfield service in charge of which was Bolton’s 45304 – a locomotive allocated to a shed with no booked passenger work, making her very much required. During the week this train had a number of vans, which were conveyed forward westwards from Huddersfield on the TPO but on Saturdays it was comprised of just one brake standard corridor coach (BSK).

  Extract from notebook.

  How, the reader might ask, did we make our way south at that time of night? Quite a few of us worked within various Train Planning organisations throughout BR and studying timetables was second nature to us. The York/Shrewsbury TPO (23 25 departure ex-Huddersfield) had two coaches detached at Stalybridge for Manchester Exchange, which, fortuitously on Sunday mornings only, was steam worked. This deposited us at Manchester at 00 26 conveniently connecting into the 01 00 Scottish sleeper’s departure – worked to Wigan North Western by a Patricroft Standard 5. A one-and-a-half-hour fester there awaiting the southbound Royal Highlander would return us to London at 06 20, which, stamina permitting, allowed for a further 216 steam miles on a day trip to Bournemouth. On that particular weekend, having been out three nights and collecting a highly satisfactory 470 steam miles (250 on the NER) over rare routes (for steam) with nineteen different locomotives (six on the NER), not unsurprisingly I went home – now only requiring four Jubilees. If the above itinerary was a little complex to follow, please refer to Appendix V for the details in table form.

  It was a lovely summer that year and somewhat fittingly the Kinks held the top spot for two weeks in July with Sunny Afternoon. On two Saturdays that month while travelling through the NER I didn’t set foot there! On both occasions I was aboard the 21 20 (FO) St Pancras to Glasgow Central, which changed from a Peak DL to a Jubilee at Leeds City when reversing there. The first instance was on the 9th when 45593 Kolhapur took over at the 02 17/25 changeover and, having worked the 113 miles to Carlisle, was watered/re-crewed and worked forward the 116½ miles via the Glasgow & South Western (G&SW) route to Glasgow, presumably resulting from the booked replacement locomotive failing at Kingmoor. I had already earmarked that day for what turned out to be unsuccessful ‘search and find’ in the hunt for elusive V2 haulage in Scotland and the thirty-minute-late arrival into Glasgow caused no upset to the planned itinerary.

  The second instance of travelling through the NER was on Saturday 30 July – a date etched into sporting history with England’s 4-2 win over West Germany in the football World Cup. On this occasion Holbeck turned out 45697 Achilles which, although losing no further time en route, arrived into Carlisle at 07 23. The, by then, ninety-five-minute-late train having effectively kiboshed my planned Scottish bash, I abandoned ship heading south to the steam-infested Preston area. The reason for the delay was that at Chesterfield a drunken ATC put his arm through a carriage window resulting in a forty-five-minute delay, during which he was taken off the train by the local plod. A further forty-five minutes were lost at Sheffield while the coach concerned was taken out of the train – protracted shun
ting required due to its location in the centre.

  Backtracking to 16 July once again (weren’t we gluttons for punishment?), we commenced the ‘day’s’ itinerary on the 02 00 ex-Sheffield – this time with a then required 45697 Achilles. After the Calder Valley mail train scenario (covered in the following chapter) we, George (a Scottish acquaintance met through our common interests) and I, changed off the 8L (I had to look that one up upon returning home – it turning out to be Aintree) allocated 44910-hauled 08 05 ex-Castleford at Brighouse onto the 09 08 Leeds City/Poole train worked to Huddersfield by Newton Heath’s 44891. I read in The Railway World magazine some time later that this particular portion was worked on the final two Saturdays of its running that year by 42410, the last remaining Fowler tank on 27 August and LMS 8F 48267 on 3 September.

  Oh well, you can’t be everywhere at once! Anyway back to the 16th and I forget the reasons why we stuck to our original itinerary of a visit to North Wales with Alberta, working the 09 15 Leeds/Llandudno that day, but having witnessed 45581 Bihar and Orissa taking the Poole train forward to Nottingham and, with us both requiring her, we hastily revised plans to backtrack to Sheffield for her return working that evening. So off we went for a three-hour sojourn with Alberta – taking us over rarely used (by passenger trains) freight lines in the Manchester and Warrington areas – the fastest speed recorded on this rather tortuous 95-mile route being 62mph approaching Stalybridge.

  Having had ample time to study the timetables at length, and being unable to make Llandudno due to late running, we alighted at Rhyl, catching Patricroft’s Standard 5MT 73006 the 70 miles back into Manchester (at least the steam mileage was looking respectable that day!). It was a hot day and the walk between the Exchange and Piccadilly stations ended in a refreshing lager (no real ale railway outlets back then!) being supped in the station bar. We now had to recross the Pennines, via the Woodhead route, to Sheffield to connect with Bihar’s return working. Opened in 1845 by the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne & Manchester Railway this was the fourth of an eventual twelve railway crossings over the Pennines.

  At the time of construction the 3-mile Woodhead tunnel was one of the world’s longest. Electrification, finally completed in 1955 using overhead 1,500 DC similar to the Dutch system, was, because of its uniqueness, its downfall. The cost of renewal or conversion to 25K proved uneconomic – passenger services ceasing in 1970 and freight lasting until the line’s closure in 1981. Although used in the intervening years by the National Grid, reopening of the tunnels to rail traffic will, due to the lack of government funding, now never happen as a result of the November 2013 announcement that they are to be permanently sealed. Our locomotive on that day, EM2 Bo-Bo 27004 Juno, did, however, have an extension to her life, being purchased by the Dutch railways that used her until 1986.

  Arriving into Sheffield’s Victoria station at 17 59 we had but eleven minutes to spare (and tickets to be purchased) before Bihar departed the Midland station at 18 10. With coats and cases I am sure the shoppers never knew what hit them as we deftly circumnavigated around them in a panic-ridden rush across the city. One thing I am certain of all these years later is that the frequent walks/runs between stations at many cities and towns back then was contributory in avoiding possible obesity in later life. Just making it, after running down the steps as the ‘right away’ had been given, it was some minutes while recovering our breath before we began to appreciate Bihar’s effort at the front.

  The first few miles had the novelty factor of steam ‘under the wires’, they being part of the Woodhead route, before heading north at Penistone over the Pennines via Denby Dale. Although sounding in fine fettle as she battled the gradients, this Farnley Junction-allocated Jubilee had but three weeks to go before withdrawal. Assisted into Bradford the final 10 miles from Greetland Junction, the bonus haulage with one of Low Moor’s few remaining Stanier tanks just about rounded off a very successful day. Was that it then? Never missing an opportunity of an extra run if one could be fitted in we popped back to Halifax for a run in with the 19 30 ex-Stockport, completing, Alberta excepted, a run of ten required haulages.

  The 22 00 one-coach Bradford Exchange to Huddersfield had, however, a surprise in store – Wakefield’s B1 61224. She was in a poor condition, subsequently being withdrawn two weeks later, and somehow through either wet rails or grease slipped to a stand upon departure. Minutes ticked by and concern was mounting that a replacement locomotive or substitute bus journey could jeopardise the connection into the westbound TPO at Huddersfield. If missed we would be stranded in the North East for the night. Concerns rescinded slightly as the driver skillfully coaxed his errant steed into action – the 21-mile journey being completed on time in the fifty-three minutes allowed, no doubt aided by the lax timings including a twelve-minute station stop at Halifax. Then it was back home, George and I parting company at Manchester after twenty-three hours together. That’s how it was. Would our paths cross again? With the ever-decreasing availability of steam-hauled passenger services the likelihood was almost a certainty. As for my stats – just two more NER Jubilees to get!

  The 08 05 Castleford Central to Blackpool North, seen here prior to departure, on 23 July 1966 with Wakefield’s 45739 Ulster – my final NER required Jubilee. Although I believe the train was booked for a 56A Jubilee, more often than not a returning LMR-allocated locomotive was sent out. This was the sixth locomotive of the Calder Valley ‘circuit’ (detailed in chapter 10) having started out at Sheffield six hours earlier. The 1936 Crewe-built Ulster was withdrawn in January 1967.

  Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames’ Get Away had ousted the Kinks from the top spot by 23 July, and my last two required Jubilees fell into my lap on that Saturday. Starting off on the usual 02 00 departure out of Sheffield that morning, Holbeck had turned out 45675 Hardy. What a winner! Various events as detailed in the next chapter befell us that day, but on the 08 05 Castleford Central to Blackpool North the Wakefield foreman, perhaps following a failure of the normally LMR-allocated Black 5, turned out their 45739 Ulster.

  Full of beans, literally after dining at the adjacent bus station canteen, I decided that I had blitzed the NER enough times over the past few weeks and, by changing at Mirfield, went across to Leeds for the 10 17 departure over Ais Gill to Carlisle. Once again Kolhapur took me over the Pennines although on this occasion I was to benefit from the glorious scenery missed while sleeping during the overnight travels so frequently undertaken previously. Perhaps here the opportunity presents itself for a brief history lesson about the line together with a description of the journey undertaken that day.

  The 73-mile Settle to Carlisle line, the penultimate out of twelve Pennine crossings, was completed by the Midland Railway in 1876 consequentially from ‘access’ problems with the rival LNWR when forwarding their Scottish-bound passengers north of Ingleton over Shap. The line was constructed by a workforce upward of 6,000 mainly Irish navvies, lodging in shantytowns adjacent to the work sites, many of whom perished from the hazardous conditions they worked under. To this day, their graves are still tended by locals, some of whom are descendants of the original navvies. Using pickaxes and dynamite they hewed and blasted their way through the many rock faces over the Pennines, constructing twenty-two viaducts, including the impressive twenty-four arch one at Ribblehead, and fourteen tunnels. The Midland Railway had decreed the line to be built with as few speed restrictions as possible and, unlike the majority of railways constructed during those railway-mania days of the nineteenth century which followed river valleys and avoided hills, this route was one of the straightest – the resultant maximum 1-in-100 gradients over the 16 miles from Settle to Blea Moor earning the line the nickname of ‘The Long Drag’. This decree in turn meant that any intermediate stations were often far from the villages/towns they purported to serve – an example being Dent, which was 4½ miles distant and 600ft higher than the village itself!

  Returning to that July day, I took the opportunity, it being my first daytime visit over
the route, of timing Kolhapur over the 113 miles from Leeds to Carlisle. Departing seven minutes late (10 24) nothing greater than 51½mph approaching Caverley was achieved over the 17¼ miles to our first stop at Keighley in twenty-six minutes, thirty-two seconds. With the gradient slightly less taxing, the 9 miles to Skipton, after being signal checked outside, were undertaken in just thirteen minutes, twenty-one seconds – maxing at 57mph approaching Cononley. The climb into the Northern Fells was beginning now and only the mid ’40s were achieved in the seventeen-and-a-half-minute run over the 10¼ miles to our next stop of Hellifield. The remainder of the journey is detailed in the table below and, as can be noted, Kolhapur’s low speeds reflect her struggle with the eight-coach train up the long climb up to Dent Head after which, although the fireman could rest a little and the driver having to be ever more vigilant, he could ease back on his exertions during the long descent. Window hanging, an essential practice for many a steam follower, just had to be undertaken during the thirty-minute climb to Dent Head. The annoyance of soot, grit and smuts was willingly endured in order to witness the sheer power, noise and visual effect of a steam locomotive working hard, her efforts resonating off the surrounding hills. All of this was enjoyed while passing through the spectacular scenery on offer. The terrain had become noticeably rugged with limestone outcrops now surrounding the green fields. Everywhere there were sheep. We climbed higher and nothing much seemed to separate us from an increasing expanse of sky of which, weather permitting, there was plenty of, the cloud formations being an artist’s joy.

  From a scenic point of view the line has much to recommend it and although the passenger benefits from the wildness of the Pennine countryside the weather makes a formidable enemy for the outdoor maintenance staff striving to keep the line open in the winter. To the west comes into view the black mass of Ingleborough with its curious flat top, on which, tradition has it, horse races were once held. Through Ribblehead station, dwarfed by the three peaks of Ingleborough, Whernside and Pen-y-Ghent, the line passes out onto the magnificent twenty-four-arched 100ft-high viaduct over Batty Moss. Straight up the valley from the west blow the westerly gales, and many a tarpaulin cover has been whipped off wagons as they cross this viaduct. Just prior to plunging into the 1½-mile-long Blea Moor tunnel a cluster of houses can be seen. With no approach road a small railway community once lived there – often isolated for days as the winter storms swept across the inhospitable moors. And so we dive into the inky darkness of the tunnel bored under the shoulder of Whernside and out into daylight. This is another world. Gone is the craggy bleakness, no longer the sound of hard labour from the locomotive.