Home»All Photographs»Year Albums»2020»December»2020_12_17 Pennine Moors Christmas Explorer

"The Pennine Moors Christmas Explorer" was one of only a small number of steam hauled main line rail tours to run in December 2020 due to Covid-19 restrictions. This train, on Thursday 17th, was steam hauled from Crewe to Blackburn using the West Coast main line to the outskirts of Preston and then returning via Copy Pit, Todmorden, Rochdale, Manchester Victoria and Newton le Willows before regaining the main line at Winwick Junction to return to Crewe. Timings were such that only two locations satisfied the criteria of no wires and reasonable daylight. Unfortunately the weather forecast was over optimistic and it turned to light rain at Hoghton summit and much heavier rain and very poor light at Copy pit. Sometimes one wins but this was an enjoyable loss if such an outcome is possible.