2nd August 1979

British Rail
Cumbrian Coast Express

Locos Used at least 25282, 40034, 850?? & steam : 4498 'Sir Nigel Gresley' & 5690 'Leander'
Stock Used 12 Mk 1's

Route :

Loco(s) Route
40034? Blackpool North - Preston
40034 Preston - Scorton (1)
850?? (2) Scorton - Lancaster
25282 Lancaster - Carnforth
4498 Carnforth - Arnside - Grange-over-Sands - Plumpton Jn - Ulverston - Dalton Jn - Park South Jn - Askham - Foxfield - Millom - Bootle - Ravenglass - Seascale - Sellafield
5690 Sellafield - (reverse of outward route) - Carnforth
40034 Carnforth - Lancaster - Preston
40034? Preston - Blackpool North

Notes :
(1) Brian Basterfield comments: My second 1979 outing on the "Cumbrian Coast Express" proved to be an interesting day. All went well to Preston, but 40034 then failed at Scorton. A following class 85 on a parcels working pushed us to Lancaster, where class 25 no 25282 took over for the short run to Carnforth. By the time Sir Nigel Gresley took over we were 78 minutes late. It was decided to omit the Grange over Sands stop (it was pouring with rain anyway) and by Ravenglass we had pulled back to 35 minutes late. And the weather was now improving, so I decided to alight here and have a trip on the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway, travelling on "River Mite" in each direction. By now, the weather was excellent, and the return to Carnforth with Leander was in glorious sunshine. The highlight of the occurred when Leander was brought to a stand by signals at Dalton Junction, on a 1 in 100 gradient. A splendid start, and once through Dalton tunnel, we roared  up towards Lindal summit. Fortunately I made a tape recording of the ascent, and so can relive the experience a quarter of a century later. At Carnforth, we found that 40034 was now back in working order, and we were back into Preston at 7.27pm, 2 minutes early. Service train haulage from Birmingham to Preston and return included Electrics 86019, 86233, 86101, and 87101.
(2) 40034 failed at Scorton, train was pushed to Lancaster by a class 85 on a parcels train.

Source : Brian Basterfield

Timings (Advertised & Actual)
(from Brian Basterfield & Alan Taylor)

Location Advertised Actual   Advertised Actual
Blackpool North 10.20d ?   20.10a ?
Preston ??.??a ~ 11.10d ??.?? ~ 11.12   19.29a ~ ??.??d 19.27 ~ ??.??
Garstang ? 11/30   ? 19/18
Lancaster ??.??a ~ 11.40d 12.23 ~ 13.02   19.03a ~ ??.??d 19.03 ~ 19.04
Morecambe South Jn ? 13/06   ? 18/59
Carnforth ??L??a ~ 12L05d 13.12 ~ 13.23   18L35a ~ ??.??d 18.42 ~ 18.53
Arnside ? 13/33   ? 18/32
Grange over Sands (30min stop) 13/38   ? 18/27
Plumpton Jn ? 13/49   ? 18/16
Dalton Jn ? 14/02   ? 17.55 ~ 17.59
Park South Jn ? 14/05   ? 17/46
Askham ? 14/08   ? 17/43
Foxfield ? 14/16   ? 17/34
Millom ? 14/23   ? 17/28
Bootle ? 14/32   ? 17/18
Ravenglass 14.04a ~ ??.??d 14.39 ~ ??.??   ??.??a ~ 17.08d ??.?? ~ 17.08
Seascale 14.22a ~ ??.??d ?   ??.??a ~ 16.53d ?
Sellafield 14L31a ?   16L45d ?


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