78019 at Wittersham Road

The first day of the Santa Specials. A day where everything that could go wrong did so. We got through the 8 train service in the end over an hour late.

At our box we had trouble with our up home signals not going back to danger when the lever was back into the frame. No amount of cajoling or soft talking would get it to behave. Repeated working of the lever with brute force and ignorance sometimes got the right indication but not consistently.

If we couldn’t get the lever back into the frame the locking would prevent us routing trains in the opposite direction. In the end I was grateful to have a trainee who could walk along the cable run and jiggle the signal wire to get the signal back to danger. The technician was not available and his deputy was driving a train so we had to find a workarounds, which we did on the end.

Other issues involved a points failure at another station, a power cut at Tenterden, a lack of phone communications and a loco low on water. We were glad to get to the end of the service.

The locomotive is a BR Standard Class 2 2-6-0 mogul built in 1954 (a good year) known in railway circles as a Micky Mouse. I’ve no idea why. We’ve hired it in to help run the Santa Specials. Nice looking loco. Very smart.

In other news, Doreen has now caught covid and will have to remain in hospital for between 5-7 days. Whatever next?

Edit: blipper Arell suggested that 78019 is a flip star featuring in the 1955 BTF film Snowdrift at Bleath Gill:

78019 is notable for being involved in a rescue effort when 78018 got stuck in a snowdrift at Bleath Gill near Stainmore Summit at 5am on the morning of the 24th February 1955. 78018 had departed Kirkby Stephen with a 4:20am goods train, made up of 20-ton wagons of limestone and minerals. The incident was the subject of the 1955 British Transport Film documentary ‘Snowdrift at Bleath Gill’ directed by Kenneth Fairbairn.

Thank you Arell