Two unusual things happened this week with Railway Timelines Limited, with the 'Cumbrian Mountain Pullman' on August 15th and the second of two trial runs for a new mail by rail service on August 18th.
On the 15th, Class 50s No. 50001 'Dreadnought' and 50017 'Royal Oak' left Cardiff Central with the MetCam Pullmans in tow as the 1Z50 06:00 Cardiff Central - Carlisle 'The Cumbrian Mountain Pullman' railtour, which they hauled as far as Carnforth. There, Ex-GWR Castle No. 7007 'Great Western' took over to take the train over Shap, and south via the Settle & Carlisle on the return leg, marking the engine's first visit to the north of England. The train is seen at Coedkernew between Cardiff and Newport, Caerleon, climbing through Cwmbran, approaching Llanvihangel Summit, passing a Transport for Wales Premier Service near Pandy, speeding through Leominster, departing Church Stretton and passing Warrington Bank Quay and Preston behind the 50s, and climbing away from Carlisle, speeding through Armathwaite, climbing to Langwathby, recovering from the speed restriction at Kirkby Thore and charging up the 1:100 towards Ais Gill at Kirkby Stephen behind the Castle. The 50s were left on the rear for the steam leg, giving 7007 a rather heavy load!
On the 18th was the second of two trial runs for a new Railway Timelines Limited mail by rail service, using two of the soon to be made redundant Class 325 dual-mode electric units, built in 1995 for mail traffic. With Royal Mail ceasing rail operations in October, 325002 'Royal Mail - North Wales and North West' and 325006 'John Grierson' were used to trial the new service, which connected the English Channel and the Irish Sea from Dover Priory to Holyhead, with diesel haulage from Crewe onwards. The pair are seen on the Chatham Main Line at Kearsney, Teynham, cresting the summit of Sole Street Bank and departing the pickup stop at Swanley. Then, now on familiar track under the wires, the pair pass Harrow and Wealdstone, the Grand Union Canal at Weedon, Atherstone and Rugeley Trent Valley. At Crewe, 50017 was employed once again to haul the train over the unelectrified North Wales Coast Line, seen at the disused platform at Beeston Castle, Abergele & Pensarn, Conwy Castle and departing the stop at Penmaenmawr.
Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
0:05 - 50001 & 50017 Coedkernew
0:29 - 50001 & 50017 Caerleon
1:15 - 50001 & 50017 Cwmbran
1:44 - 50001 & 50017 Llanvihangel Summit
2:14 - 67017, 50001 & 50017 Pandy
2:43 - 50001 & 50017 Leominster
3:10 - 50001 & 50017 Church Stretton
4:18 - 50001 & 50017 Warrington Bank Quay
4:44 - 50001 & 50017 Preston
5:30 - 7007 TnT 50s Petteril Bridge Junction
6:35 - 7007 TnT 50s Armathwaite
7:13 - 7007 TnT 50s Langwathby
8:00 - 7007 TnT 50s Kirkby Thore
8:51 - 7007 TnT 50s Kirkby Stephen
10:03 - 325002 & 325006 Kearsney
10:26 - 325002 & 325006 Teynham
10:58 - 325002 & 325006 Sole Street
11:30 - 325002 & 325006 Swanley
12:31 - 325002 & 325006 Harrow and Wealdstone
13:02 - 325002 & 325006 Weedon
13:19 - 325002 & 325006 Atherstone
13:43 - 325002 & 325006 Rugeley Trent Valley
14:11 - 50017 & 325s Beeston Castle
14:44 - 50017 & 325s Abergele & Pensarn
15:29 - 50017 & 325s Conwy Castle
15:54 - 50017 & 325s Penmaenmawr
Thumbnail - 7007 makes a steady ascent of the climb to Ais Gill with the 1Z52 Carlisle - Cardiff Central 'The Cumbrian Mountain Pullman' railtour on Thursday 15th August 2024.
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This was recorded in Train Simulator using OBS and edited using Microsoft Clipchamp in August 2024. Apologies for the choppy frame rate in some shots. I also accidentally exported it in 720p instead of 1080, hopefully the drop in quality from usual isn't too noticeable.