Four Miles of One in Seventy Five - Shap

By Ben Yates. . . . . . . . 
 

  THERE CAN hardly be a more infamous incline in british railway folklore. It’s the one quoted for steam records both past and present, the one feared by fireman, and made famous by Norman Wilkinson’s superb publicity poster of the down Coronation Scot climbing past Salterwath, and the photography of many fine lensmen including the legendary Bishop Eric Treacy and Ivo Peters.

  Yet in numbers terms it really is nothing special. The three south Devon Banks are considerably steeper, Beattock is almost as steep and far longer, and that’s before you even start to compare to Lickey or go further afield to Scotland, Wales, Dartmoor where such a climb would hardly be noticed. Even preserved lines can rival it or beat it, such as the 2 ½ miles of 1 in 49 to Goathland. Even the 3 ½ mile climb from Bury to Heywood at 1 in 80 on the East Lancs is in the same ballpark (and I have the shovel marks to prove it!).

  The magic is, however, undeniable, though today somewhat dented by the M6’s constant noisy presence over Shap Fell and as a terrible scar in the otherwise stunning Lune Gorge.

Yet one of the most surprising thing about Shap is that it were ever built. The rival proposition was a line from Carnforth through to Kendal, then up the narrow deep valley of Longsleddale past Kentmere on light grades. A 2 mile tunnel under the heart of the Lake District fells at High Street and Gatesgarth would bring the railway out in Mardale (now Haweswater reservoir) and through the Lowther valley to Penrith.

As we have seen with Stainmore, the lower capital cost of a route avoiding a tunnel was taken, at the considerable additional operational expense of slower running, steep gradients, and more than a century of banking engines at both Oxenholme and Tebay. Until electrification, double heading of diesel expresses was regular practice.

  The climb to Shap takes 2 parts – the climb from Milnthorpe to Grayrigg, an underestimated twisty, slippery climb of 1 in 100 for over 10 miles, and the 4 miles of 1 in 75 from Tebay to Shap summit. The 4 mile flat section through the Lune gorge offered a brief respite to build the fire back up, and take water at Dillicar.

  Almost all freight, and a good portion of passenger trains took a banker at Tebay – sounding a double crow whistle at Tebay no.1 Box and stopping clear of the Lune at the down advanced starter signal. The banker would buffer up but not couple, and after and exchange of crows they would set off, reportedly firing constantly to the summit, where the banker would drop off, cross over and roll back down the grade.

Some cine footage can be seen HERE, bout 7 minutes in, with a ride on the engine. 

  The loco fleet in LMS days were the Fowler 2-6-4 tanks, fitted with cab windows to protect the crews from the weather. These in turn were replaced by Fairburn's equivalents, 42110 and 42210 observed by Maurice Burns in November 1964 (see his excellent article “Last of the Shap Bankers in HR's “Steam: the Grand Finale” for further reading). In turn, these were replaced by displaced Standard 4 75XXX 4-6-0 tender locos (note the 4-6-0s were the tender equivalent of the tanks, the moguls having smaller driving wheels), Burns observing nos 19, 24, 26 (green, and with double chimney) 27, 30, 32 lasting to the end of duties on 31 December 1967.

There is mention in some sources of the use of Clayton (Class 17) diesels for subsequent banking at Tebay using Carnforth allocted locos, but this seems to have evaded photographers – answers on a postcard please!

2 of the Fairburns survive at Haverthwaite, 75027 survives at the Bluebell with another 5 classmates elsewhere. The Patriot group have announced a Fowler tank as their next project.

  The last scheduled steam working over Shap was Kingmoor's pet, 70013 Oliver Cromwell, working on boxing day 1967 taking Carlisle supporters to Blackpool and return. On the return journey, she stopped for a banker, but none was available so made the ascent unassisted, Burns reported the astonishing sound from Scout Green in the crisp night air.

  Banking on Shap has only been repeated on one occasion, with 45407 (masquerading as 45157) banked by Standard 4 mogul 76079 - highly appropriate for such a duty! - on 6 October 2001. It is thought very unlikely that this will ever occur again. The footage for this unique moment in preservation, possibly the very last steam banking over Shap Summit, can be seen HERE.  

More Soon. . . . . . . 

Signalling More Progress

  Just to show that development continues, in this blog post we share a number of images of recent progress. One of the major developments recently was the agreement between ourselves and Anthony Brailsford to use his excellent custom signals in our route. On top of this, Anthony has agreed to make some custom ones which are needed to fill the 'gaps'. 

   Scenery progress? Well, the 'short and sweet' reply from Ben was as follows - "I've done most of the KS to tebay sections aside from the terrain painting. Main gaps are currently east of Bowes, north and south of Shap and between Appleby and Temple Sowerby." So lets share some of this progress below. You'll notice a 'Thumper' Unit has got a bit lost! Also, in these images, there aren't many scenery gaps. So things are really progressing nicely!

Clifton Moor station and the West Coast Mainline are in the background with a new LNWR-type signal added to the scene

Clifton Moor Station - First station of the Eden Valley line.

A Thumper at Warcop. Warcop is the modern-day home of the Eden Valley Railway, where a preserved Thumper can be seen.

Another view of Warcop

Musgrave Station with some nice track-side detail

More appropriate motive power now, with a BR Standard Class 2, now on the Stainmore line between Tebay and Kirkby Stephen East

Between Ravenstonedale and Smardale, the line runs high above the river. We approach Smardale Gill Viaduct

And then pass under Smardale Viaduct, which carries the Settle and Carlisle line over the valley.

The siding and coal drop at Smardale station

Kirkby Stephen East with the Darlington-bound service in the platform

The signal is off. The Kirkby station area, and it's immediate environs are basically complete

As you can no doubt see, things are coming along nicely. We conclude with a few brand new shots showing the wonderful array of signals around Kirkby Stephen, made possible by Anthony's kindness in allowing us to use his signals in the route.

More Soon. . . . . . . . . .

Signalling Stainmore - By Ben Yates

 Signalling can be a challenge for any route, and it is important operationally, as well as being key to the feel of the route. A further challenge for Stainmore is the mix of railway companies and regions, and some fairly rare signalling situations that we wanted to capture.

The signalling also changed over time – particularly the rather cynical approach by British Railways in the late 1950s to carry out unnecessary expenditure on infrastructure to provide a justification for closure. Certainly the photographs demonstrate a change from NER lower quadrant signals to BR upper quadrant signals prior to closure in 1962 – yet on the West Coast line, many LNWR lower quadrants survived until electrification.

The North Eastern Railway had (it becomes apparent from photos) various designs – decorative lattice signals, slotted post signals, and simpler wooden square posts. They also didn’t take a simple approach to signalling, the adage being why use one signal when you can use three. There was also an early operational practice for passenger services to run through stations and reverse into a bay platform – the layout at Barnard Castle certainly lends itself to that, and does nothing to simplify the signalling.

The default TS16 signals, aside from being inadequate to signal parts of the route, certainly don't look anything like the signalling on the route. We are pleased to announce that Anthony Brailsford has agreed that we can use his excellent LNWR signals for the route. These are perfect for the Grayrigg to Penrith sections, and definitely look the part on the Stainmore and EVR sections.

On the West Coast mainline, the LNWR favoured tall co-acting home signals visible from long distances – certainly handy descending Shap at high speed or with a heavy train. The most well-known example was the up signal at Scout Green, which I estimate to be around 55 feet tall – other examples featured at Penrith and Tebay. There was a rationalisation of signalling by the LMS, with a number of boxes taken out and replaced with intermediate block signals – colour lights controlled by neighbouring boxes.

One of the aforementioned tall signals, this one at the south end of Tebay station

Another of the very tall signals at Scout Green

The Eden Valley line was single track, with token working split into sections. Intermediate stations at Temple Sowerby and Musgrave had cabins on the platform operating signals, though it is unclear what function these had without swapping tokens and I would surmise from the timetable, they were permanently switched out. Signals protected crossings at Cliburn, Waitby and (I think) Kelleth, worked from a ground frame.

Later in the line’s history, the Stainmore section west of the Summit was divided into sections, providing virtual single line working over viaducts at Merrygill, Belah, Aitygill and Mousegill, though both running lines remained in situ, and token exchange platforms were provided. Only 1 train was permitted on Belah at a time, and this approach was also taken on Aitygill for structural reasons. The others are not documented, but the Merrygill  signal diagram on closure certainly  reflect this operation. Following are a selection of images showing the new signals in place in and around Kirkby Stephen East station.

East of the station. The bracket is controlling entry to the Stainmore and EVR platforms, as well as sidings

Looking west, from the station. All these signals control passage to Tebay and Penrith.

Signal box can be seen in the background which controls all the signals at the west-end of the station and it's approaches.

Looking back east, an impressive gantry carries the signals for arrivals from the west.

On the left is the outer home on the approach to KSE, from Penrith. The bracket signal on the right controls approaches from Tebay.

A departure signal for trains heading to the summit

As previously blogged, the Tebay line was rationalised in 1924 following the downturn of mineral traffic leaving a long single line block from Kirkby Stephen to Ravenstonedale. Still no answer whether the Smardale Box moved to Merrygill in 1924!

Signalling on the route is pretty much complete aside from the colour light sections on the WCML to do.