4464 Bittern Pounds Over Ais Gill - The Cumbrian Ranger - 2014

The Cumbrian Ranger excursion would see a garter blue A4 over the S&C, in the form of A4 Pacific No 4464 Bittern. The tour would start diesel hauled from Tyseley, and head up to Crewe where Bittern would come on for a sprint on the WCML. Our first location was Lancaster, and after a points failure at Morcambe junction all other services were backed up and we was informed via Realtime Trains that Bittern would be put through platform 3 on the slow, But surprisingly Bittern was seen racing through the station at 65mph on the fast as it made up lost time.

Now at Carnforth the A4 would have to come off due to gauging issues at Carlisle. So once again and disappointingly for the passengers, they were diesel hauled to Carlisle and would miss the climb of Shap via steam traction. With plenty of time to kill we headed up to Shap Wells to catch the light engine move to Carlisle where we saw Bittern coasting up to Shap Summit. Unfortunately i have had to cut the majority of the scene away, due to the heavy wind which distorted the start of the scene.

Now for the return and leg and the reason for our trip up North. The A4 Left Carlisle for it's assualt on the S&C around 10 minutes down and headed for Appleby for a splash of water. Now topped up the Pacific would head over to Ais Gill where i captured it putting in a superb performance on it's climb to the Summit where it reached a speed of 42mph just before the top, a excellent climb considering it was hauling 11 coaches plus a dead weight diesel, bringing the load up to at least 14 carriages.

After Ais Gill we raced back in the car, and sprinted down to Ramsgreave and Wilpshire where we arrived with 12 minutes to spare, and manged to get two shots of 4464 slogging it's way up Wilpshire Bank through the station and eventually reaching the summit at 18mph due to a dewy rail so i'm told.

Back in the car again, and more fast driving as we raced the A4 down the M6 attempting to get ahead of it. We arrived at Winsford with around about 10 minutes spare as Bittern is seen twice accelerating away from a signal check as it finishes it's final stage of it's route.

Many thanks to Keith for the company and the fast driving. And thanks to Peter over at the National Preservation forum for the report, which can be viewed by clicking the link below

Hope you enjoy the footage.

http://www.national-preservation.com/...