45407 - Mixed fortunes on the climb to Glencruitten 5/9/10

The eastbound climb shows 45407 in an attempt to climb the 3 miles to Glencruitten Summit that was almost certain to fail due to a combination of train weight, 1 in 50 gradient from a standing start and a series of tight check-railed curves even with plenty of steam & a dry rail. After setting back to Oban help arrived 5 hours later in the form of 61994 which had been waiting to take the train from Crianlarich. Now over 6 hours late the K4 banked the train up to the summit without problems. Unfortunately it was now dark so no video footage of the piece de resistance.

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

• 45407
• Oban
• West
• Highlander
• Glencruitten

[2J66]

Although it still looks light when the K4 appeared it was almost dark so I had to come off the hill. I reckoned the train would have to wait until the last service train arrived so I headed back into Oban to discover the train had just left. No major problem in the dark and as you suggest the sound was fantastic with the machine gun chatter of the K4 coming & going to reveal the much slower beat of the Black 5 on the front end as they climbed away. Worth the 6 1/2hr wait!.

[tedgoater]

Thank you, yes, maybe just one carriage over ambitious. Beautiful location. Not for me to presume about where you could have been many hours later but I for one would have loved to have heard even if not seen the eventual escape from Oban. Judging by how the sound carried earlier, the 2 cyl at the front, plus 3 cyl at the back, must have sounded superb.

[60103Henry]

Nice!