Description
By carriage and engine, Manchester – Morecambe – Carnforth shed.
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Tracks
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1
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We are on board the first passenger carriage, behind Black Five 45390 and a luggage van, on the Belfast Boat Express, he 9 p.m. from Manchester Victoria to Heysham Harbour to meet the night ferry from Heysham to Belfast. On the steady ascent from Manchester to Bolton we record from Clifton Junction to Kearsley, echoing against factory walls and lines of wagons in sidings. |
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2
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First stop is Bolton Trinity Street at 9.20 p.m. Here is a classic repertoire of traditional station sounds. Through the hissing steam we hear the voice of the station announcer, slamming doors, a trundling luggage trolley drawn up to the luggage van, the heavy van doors, the voices of staff loading mails, the guard’s whistle, the ‘right-away’, the deep whistle of the Black Five and its powerful bark as it echoes out of the station. |
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3
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We enter Preston station at 9.57 p.m. |
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4
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Now on the footplate of 45390, we leave Preston at 10.22 p.m. with driver Watson Sowerby of Carnforth and the fireman shovelling coal. |
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5
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We sprint along the west coast main line from Barton to Brock at 70 miles an hour. |
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6
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Blowing off steam, we enter Lanaster Castle station at 10.45 p.m. |
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7
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A spirited departure from Lancaster at 10.50 p.m., recorded from the first carriage. |
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8
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At Morecambe Promenade terminus, another Black Five, 49394, takes the train on to Heysham. |
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9
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We are back on the footplate of 45390 as it runs light, tender first, along the shores and salt marshes of Morecambe Bay, recorded from Bolton-le-Sands to Carnforth shed, arriving at 11.30 p.m.. |
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10
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The fireman throws the trackside lever switching the locomotive down the road to the water column and its flanges bind on the curve. |
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11
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Taking water at the column. |
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12
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Leaving the water column and loading coal from the overhead coaling plant. |
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13
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Moving on over the ashpit. |
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14
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Locomotives ambling around Carnforth shed yard on August 2nd, 1968, two days before the end of steam on British Railways. |
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