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For the first time in ages, I saw a freight train pass the Ribblehead webcam this lunchtime; and so I decided to look it up on RTT in order to discover more about it. 

 

It turned out to be 6M37 the 1125 Arcow Quarry to Pendelton; but what a roundabout journey it takes to get there. 

 

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/H11435/2017/12/13/advanced

 

 

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For the first time in ages, I saw a freight train pass the Ribblehead webcam this lunchtime; and so I decided to look it up on RTT in order to discover more about it. 

 

It turned out to be 6M37 the 1125 Arcow Quarry to Pendelton; but what a roundabout journey it takes to get there. 

 

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/H11435/2017/12/13/advanced

 

Blimey, I blame that Dr Beeching bloke!

 

Mike.

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For the first time in ages, I saw a freight train pass the Ribblehead webcam this lunchtime; and so I decided to look it up on RTT in order to discover more about it. 

 

It turned out to be 6M37 the 1125 Arcow Quarry to Pendelton; but what a roundabout journey it takes to get there. 

 

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/H11435/2017/12/13/advanced

 

Sadly not that unusual and hardly an extreme example by comparison with other.

 

For a while, the Daventry (very near Northampton) - Wentloog (near Cardiff) container train was being routed via Crewe such was the difficulty finding a path for it by a more sensible route.

 

Pick a freight hotspot on RTT then list out the details of specific freight trains and you will be surprised at some of the weird and wonderful routes they take.

 

More often then not, down to pathing constraints. but also, even when the pathing constraints don't exist, such as the middle of the night, the trains still take weird and wonderful routes because of the difficulty (or impracticability) of keeping up driver route knowledge just for one train.

 

Come December 24th, around midnight, the most ridiculous routing of all visiting every location in the entire UK should make an appearance on RTT as it has done every other year.

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I don't think its anything to do with any restrictions on the Clitheroe line, I don't think anything is restricted gauge-wise and heavy cement and log trains regularly travel the line so I don't think there is a weight/axle loading issue.

 

Is it something to do with the entrance to the Pendleton site is the wrong way round to go straight through. Not familiar with that end of the line. 

Edited by cal.n
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I don't think its anything to do with any restrictions on the Clitheroe line, I don't think anything is restricted gauge-wise and heavy cement and log trains regularly travel the line so I don't think there is a weight/axle loading issue.

 

Is it something to do with the entrance to the Pendleton site is the wrong way round to go straight through. Not familiar with that end of the line. 

 

Given the sparsity of traffic over the Clitheroe line, I would imagine the pool of drivers with the necessary route knowledge is quite small and gaining said route knowledge quite tricky when there are very few trains on which to do so.

 

Yesterday there was a sum total of two freight trains over the line.

 

A few years back, a relative told me how they had conducted a week's training course at somewhere that backed right on to that railway, not being a crank he gave the railway little thought until Thursday arrived, when there was this rumbling noise that interrupted proceedings and had the entire course making puzzled looks at each other until the lecturer pointed out, "Oh it's a train."

 

The only train they saw the entire week.

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Given the sparsity of traffic over the Clitheroe line, I would imagine the pool of drivers with the necessary route knowledge is quite small and gaining said route knowledge quite tricky when there are very few trains on which to do so.

 

Yesterday there was a sum total of two freight trains over the line.

 

A few years back, a relative told me how they had conducted a week's training course at somewhere that backed right on to that railway, not being a crank he gave the railway little thought until Thursday arrived, when there was this rumbling noise that interrupted proceedings and had the entire course making puzzled looks at each other until the lecturer pointed out, "Oh it's a train."

 

The only train they saw the entire week.

 

If anything, I think the Pendleton train doesn't go through Clitheroe is that it's too busy. 

 

There is

 

16 service trains in each direction on weekdays

2 DB operated cement trains per day nearly every day

A regularly running DRS operated Montsorrel - Carlisle Engineers Trains

Another regularly running Carlisle - Crewe engineers train (which sometimes runs as light locos for driver refreshers)

 An almost daily Colas operated Carlisle - Chirk logs train

Almost 1 steam tour every week entering or leaving the Settle - Carlisle (and often more frequent than that in the summer).

West Coast Railways use the line as part of a test path for locos

It is also used as a diversionary route for the WCML (so there needs to be a large pool of drivers available at short notice)

+ all other miscellaneous traffic you'd expect to find on a through route (test trains, RHTT trains and route learning runs).

 

Considering there is only two blocks between Hellifield and Daisyfield in Blackburn (with one intermediate block between Horrocksford and Daisyfield box) it is quite a lot of traffic to squeeze on. 

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Most of the freight paths on the Clitheroe line are pure fiction. I did a census on traffic around the area a couple of years ago and finding trains actually running other than the passenger service was difficult. If you sat in the four-foot past Horrocksford you would probably die of exposure before being run over.

 

The routing of trains these days is more to do with where crews are based for each company and making paths common for as far as possible when a quarry or such like serves several different terminals. Arcow usually loads to Hunslet, Bredbury and Pendleton on a regular basis. IIRC these trains are operated by GBRF Doncaster. The empties often go back to Down Decoy then to whichever quarry they have a load from.

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The route knowledge is definitely there, even if only among DB, DRS, Colas and WCRC crews. Today for example, the Colas logs are running, both the Montsorrel and Crewe - Carlisle Engineering trains are running today alongside the daily DB cement flow in both directions. Things often can be seen waiting at Horrocksford for the block to clear at Daisyfield

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