A Mega Mainline Day - Black Fives, Tornado, Leander & Britannia (2019)

One of the finest day's of British Mainline Steam in many year's would see five steam locomotives on four steam railtours all on the same day and all within close proximity. The day was Saturday 13th April 2019, and the well known heavyweights of the mainline fleet came out to play. First up was the famous Riley 'Black Fives' in the form of 44871 & 45407 and they provided a fantastic northbound run over the Settle & Carlisle Railway as the pair hauled the Citadel tour from Manchester Victoria to Carlisle. The pair are seen from three angles on approach to Horton In Ribblesdale. looking back this provided the best action of the day !

Just over two hours later we were treated to the class 8 powerhouse 'Tornado' as it also headed northbound over the S&C on the Border Raider from Birmingham to Carlisle with steam joining at Crewe. The Peppercorn A1 is seen twice at Selside Shaw on the approach to Ribblehead.

The third installment of the day would see 45690 'Leander' on the Blackpool Pennine Express, which would see the Jubilee class head out of Blackpool and over to Hellifield returning up Giggleswick bank to Carnforth. Steam tours over the Hellifield to Carnforth stretch are rare although not as rare as seeing steam at Blackpool. Three angles capture the Jubilee working well up the Bank from Settle Junction.

The final day's action would see 70000 'Britannia' on the return leg on the William Shakespeare steam tour from Preston to Stratford Upon Avon. We capture the Brit class making light work of the 1/125 slow line out of Stafford at Searchlight Lane Junction as the locomotive closes in on the end of it's journey at Crewe. This topped off an incredible day's action on the mainline and once again proving the the United Kingdom is the home of steam preservation !

I hope you enjoy the day's events.