45627 Sierra Leone AKA 'Galatea' Tackles The Peaks Express !

Our first sighting this year of LMS Jubilee class 45699 Galatea which is running in the guise of the scrapped Jubilee 45627 Sierra Leone. I'm not 100% sure when the loco will return to its original guise, though its expected that Galatea will stay in green and not its previous red livery. So, Sierra Leone is seen on the Peaks Express which was heading from Preston to Derby via Sheffield and returning back to Preston via the original outward route. Once again there was a diesel on the back, though the plan was to drop it off at Guide Bridge and send it back to Carnforth, unfortunately due to poor railhead conditions, rain, leaf fall etc, this was cancelled last minute and the diesel would stay on the rear and assist when required to, especially on some the tricky sections like New Mills Junction which is seen first in the video. Credit to West Coast Railways for the intention of running this excursion without the diesel.

The weather was grey, damp and miserable but you can always bank on a Jubilee to provide plenty of grunt. The first location is New Mills Junction, which sits on a 1/99 and 1/87 gradient, so help would be needed to get away from a standing start. Just a few miles up from New Mills at Chinley the Jubilee makes for a fine sight and sound as she roars up the 1/90 towards Cowburn Tunnel, with the diesel on the rear not overshadowing things to much upfront. The return leg of the circular excursion would head North out of Derby and towards Ambergate. For this section we chose two shots/angles which haven't been taken since 2013 and 2014, so its been well overdue. The locations are Duffield, where you can alight for the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway and just slightly up the line at Milford, where you get a fantastic view point down towards Milford Tunnel !

A decent half a days work for a Sunday and we're happy to tick off Galatea of the 'locos to see list' for 2021 ! I hope you enjoy the video.