LMS 6233 - The Lady In Red Returns To The S&C In Full Glory !

6233 Duchess Of Sutherland makes her long awaited return to the Northern Hills and most importantly the Settle & Carlisle Railway. Not since the 5th August 2017 has the Duchess worked over the S&C and its been even longer since she ran in her red livery in the North of England, September 2009 to be precise. The excursion for this video was a Vintage Trains special starting out from our hometown of Birmingham, with steam coming on at Hellifield for the northbound run to Carlisle over the S&C. The return leg would be steam hauled from Carlisle all the way back to Crewe.

The action starts at Little Stainforth where we are treated to one of those moments where everything comes together. Performance and lighting conditions being the major players in one of our most memorable scenes ever captured on the S&C ! We then see 6233 climbing past Helwith Bridge and then hitting the brief easing of the gradient at Arcow Quarry as it begins climbing again to Horton In Ribblesdale with its heavy train. No assistance was provided on northbound run and hopefully more of the same for the return trip.

The return section was quite late and we would need a punctual arrival otherwise we would be pushing the light. We chose Stockber for the return as this would be one of the better lit locations on the Long Drag. Stockber is situated at the bottom of the Long Drag to Ais Gill. The Duchess is seen twice working very well with some lovely clag to boot ! This wrapped up the daylight filming and we were very pleased with the results.

The final two locations start off at Langho Station on the heavily graded Wilpshire Bank, where the Duchess can be heard loud and proud tackling the 1/80 climb to Ramsgreave and Wilpshire, three angles capture the action. The final scene sees us head to Warrington Bank Quay, where the anticipation of a clear and fast run along the West Coast Mainline all came to fruition as the Lady In Red thunders through the main road at 72mph to top off one our best day's filming in recent memory, what a way to finish and to say she was going well would be an understatement !

I hope you enjoy the sights and sounds of an unassisted Duchess back over the Northern Hills.