Just a bit of steam

At lunchtime today our normally quiet, peaceful little station at Appleby was thronging with people, all wanting to catch a glimpse of and take a picture of . . . a steam train.

It’s the first time in half a century that a steam train has operated on a scheduled main line service in Britain, which is what the locomotive Tornado has been doing this week. Organised by Northern Rail, Network Rail and Friends of Settle and Carlisle, there have been twelve steam services this week, taking passengers between Skipton to Appleby.

The event is part of the preparations for the re-opening of the line between Appleby and Carlisle, after flooding last year caused a huge landslip and closed that part of the line. The event was supposed to be a thank you to local commuters, who have endured a loss of service between Appleby and Carlisle, but apparently most of the seats have been snapped up by rail enthusiasts. 

Passengers emerged onto the platform from the train and, if doing the return journey, had three hours to find something to do in Appleby – we wished them luck with that!!
 
Here the Tornado arrives at Appleby Station, alongside a diesel waiting to leave. Another view of the engine is in Extras.