Last Thursday saw the last of the steam hauled Scarborough Spa Express charter trains run between Carnforth and Scarborough, and seen here passing through platform 3 at York railway station.
The service had left Carnforth 78 minutes late, but a combination of an easy timetable with a selection of long stops on the way meant that by reducing the long stops and running harder than the schedule required, it arrived in York only 15 minutes late - 1155 according to the station clock at the left end of the footbridge, when it was scheduled to arrive at 1140.
The locomotive - 34067 Tangmere - was built at Brighton locomotive works in 1947, and was named after the military airfield in Sussex. It spent its working life in southern England.
Withdrawn from service in 1963, it was moved to a scrapyard in Barry, South Wales, where it was left to rust for a long period, before it was bought by a preservation society and moved to the Mid Hants Railway. Work to restore it didn't begin until 1995, and it finally returned to steam in 2003. A further overhaul was completed at the end of 2021, and it is now operated by West Coast Railways based at Carnforth.
The Scarborough Spa Express used to run weekly before Covid-19, but sadly since then it has been less popular with only four days of service this year. Hopefully there will be more in 2025, giving me more photo opportunities!
Thank you all for your lovely comments and favs, they are very much appreciated.
This may have been a shot of the last Scarborough Spa Express of summer 2024, but there will hopefully be a few other steam charter services in the lead-up to Christmas - there are usually several charters from different parts of the country to York for the Christmas market.
Ian
September 3rd, 2024
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Thank you all for your lovely comments and favs, they are very much appreciated.
This may have been a shot of the last Scarborough Spa Express of summer 2024, but there will hopefully be a few other steam charter services in the lead-up to Christmas - there are usually several charters from different parts of the country to York for the Christmas market.
Ian