Back in steam days, the sight of 2 scots climbing Shap just 20 minutes apart would have been quite commonplace. In preservation, it had never happened before, until today. Heading the Lakelander from Preston up to Carlisle then back down the coast to Carnforth was 46100, while booked just 12 minutes behind was the Winter CME headed by 46115. There were 2 questions on virtually everyone's lips this morning, the first one being 'would the tours both appear on the 1 in 75 at the same time' and the second one 'which would make the fastest ascent'.
The way 46100 romped up the bank, you wouldn't believe that it had started from a stand in Grayrigg loops and that the 47 on the rear wasn't providing any assistance. The classic 3 cylinder beat of the scot could be heard a good way before it got to us as it powered up the grade, heading round the final bend to the summit at what sounded like around 30mph.
In the intervening 20 minutes, it rained. Not heavily, but probably just enough to make the rails wet. From a distance 46115 looked to be running superbly past Scout Green but as it got closer the sudden darkening of the exhaust for a few seconds made it pretty obvious that it had slipped. The loco dug in though and again sounded excellent passing the camera, rounding the bend to the summit at what looked like around 20mph before slipping for a second time...