Almost four year's ago 45699 'Galatea' and 70000 'Britannia' ran back to back up Shap Bank with just one mile separating them and many said it wouldn't happen again, or would it ?? Well the answer this time would be, Yes, kind of....well a different named engine this time around but still the same class of loco and still two steam locos over Shap with nothing in between ! On Saturday 18th May, 70000 Britannia hauled the Lakelander from Crewe to Carlisle while almost 15 minutes behind 45690 Leander was on the Cumbrian Mountain Express. This meant once again the theater of steam aka Shap Bank would play host to two steam trains running back to back over the busy WCML !
All scenes were filmed at Salterwath, which is just after the halfway mark of the climb. Britannia was up first with her 12 coach train putting on a fantastic display with her pristine set of coaches. Then not too far behind and next up the line was Leander and her usual Jubilee roar was in full working order. As you can see at the start of the video, the opening scenes to each loco are shot through the boundary fence as is the going away shot. This scene will be soon gone as new green palisade fencing is due to be erected at anytime !
A long but very well rewarded trip. Scenes like these don't happen too often and I be fool to say it won't happen again ! I hope you enjoy the drama over Shap !