For the past month I've been in Scotland on a study abroad trip for school. We mainly stayed in Edinburgh, checking out some of the local attractions and landmarks there but we also got to travel out to Glasgow and travel the Scottish highlands for two days! Even though I was there for school I still couldn't visit the UK without seeing a few steam engines in action, which turned out to be a pretty easy task! Overall, not bad for being my first time out of the US!
On Saturday July 23, a week into my stay, the Railway Touring Company was operating the Cumbrian Mountain Express steam excursion from Crew - Carlisle in England and the steam locomotive they had pulling it was the Duchess of Sutherland 4-6-2 #46233. This turned out to be absolutely perfect for me because we had no classes on the weekends, Carlisle was only a 90 minute train ride south of Edinburgh, and there was a carrier offering dirt cheap tickets (16 pounds round trip!) so I practically jumped at the chance. This was the first time I got to see a non-US steam locomotive in action!
The train arrived at Carlisle at around 12:45 pm where it stayed for about a half hour for servicing. After that the Duchess and the first coach uncoupled from the rest of the train, ran around it, and backed down to the wye just south of town where it could be turned around. About an hour and a half later the locomotive reappeared and coupled up to the opposite end of the train. While waiting for it to depart I manged to film a couple passenger trains from Transpennine Express, Direct Rail Services, ScotRail, and Virgin arriving and departing. A short Direct Rail freight even passed by. At around 3 pm, with all the passengers loaded up the Duchess whistled off and departed Carlisle to begin the return journey back home to Crewe. I even got a great shot of some wheelslip as the locomotive passed by.
More videos from the UK will be up soon!
