When WCRC were suspended again at the end of February, the outlook for this tour looked very bleak. However, a sterling effort from all parties involved culminated in the train running as planned with a DBC Crew and WCRC stock. Running from Manchester Victoria to Edinburgh, the tour would be steam hauled north up the WCML by 46233 'Duchess of Sutherland' with a diesel hauling the return leg.
With the first Water stop being at Carnforth, there was only really one place to begin, and this was the racing ground between Preston and Lancaster. It had been 2 years since I last did a shot at Forton, and much to my surprise I was the only one there. Running right on time and with the drain cocks jammed open, the Duchess flew beneath the bridge at speed with 11 coaches in tow.
With 46233 being a class 8, you would think that it would storm up Shap as if it wasn't there. Not so today, and when the train came into view at Scout Green it was moving very slowly indeed, barely managing 20mph on the stiff 1 in 75 gradient. The times gave the tour 6 minutes to get from Tebay to Shap Summit; in reality it took 15 for the 4 miles from bottom to top, a very poor performance from one of Stanier's Express Locos.
There now only seemed one realistic place to go, and so for the first time we headed over the Border to Greenhillstairs, about 2 thirds of the way up Beattock Bank, a gruelling 10 mile climb from Beattock Village to the summit, 1016 feet above sea level. The servicing stop at Carlisle ended up taking 50 minutes longer than booked but with a new tender full of coal and fully watered, the change in performance was stunning. The climb of Beattock was where 46233 showed what she was really made of and blasted up the bank with speed not dropping below 30mph all the way up until the water stop in the loop at the summit...
