A MERCHANT VENTURER

THE Covid-19 summer of 2020 will not feature highly in the annals of British train recording. With journeys restricted to ‘essential travel only’ or eased to an ill-defined ‘necessary’, it was both easier and safer to stay at home and find something else to fill the void.

It is therefore surprising, perhaps, to relate how steam railtours contributed to the needs of the rail enthusiast community by persevering with advertised excursions when the restrictions at last began to ease.

Tales of a superlative run with ‘Royal Scot’ No. 46115 Scots Guardsman on the Cumbrian Mountain Express tour onAugust 8 filtered through the internet, making me keen to participate in a steam run assoon as possible.

West Coast Railways was going ahead with its ‘Dalesman’ trip from Chester on September 8, and hotels in the North West were offering bargain prices to entice intrepid post-lockdown fugitives.

Would travel be safe from the potentially deadly coronavirus? On a more trivial level, would it be worth wearing a much maligned mask?

I had hoped for a clockwise itinerary with Carnforth to Preston steam, out via Grayrigg and Shap, back via Ais Gill and Wilpshire, but I should have done my homework. The train would be diesel-hauled to Hellifield, then with unspecified steam power from the West Coast pool from Hellifield to Carlisle and back to Carnforth before the diesels resumed charge.

Indulged

This was mildly disappointing but I am not sure why. Perhaps it was because I had managed to conduct a number of journeys on the ‘Long Drag’ behind various Stanier products over the years and had also indulged inthe excellent ‘Cotton Mill Express’ over Copy Pit, with No. 45699 running as No. 45562 only a week or two before house arrest. But there was the might just be available…