Blackpool North to Morecambe via Hellifield Driver's Eye View

[@ianplowman2808]

Thanks Ben, memories of living in Lower Bentham, in the 70's whilst at Lancaster Uni.

[@silurian9420]

The Lancashire countryside (and a bit of Yorkshire), Sunshine and dramatic sky makes this video. Many thanks.

[@ah260263]

Great to see footage of the Clitheroe to Hellifield section !!

[@garryteahan6375]

I would give this one 100% Cheers from an old Driver over here in Western Australia.

[@scooby2142]

Fantastic ! Parts of that journey took me back over 50 years to my childhood.

[@rogerredding5269]

Loved this journey what beautiful scenic 💕 countryside? thanks for sharing this video 😁.

[@rogerredding5269]

Loved the video 😁 beautiful countryside all along the journey.thanks for sharing .

[@mikeryan959]

Seeing Poulton-le-Fylde station reminded me of an old Instamatic photo I took of my late father on a day when we went to visit one of his friends there. I used to live in Blackburn so spent many years up and down to Preston. Now live in Lancaster, so Morecambe to Hellifield is familiar too. Thanks, a great video.

[@phillipjameson316]

Thanks so much for this, used to signal in all the boxes from Blackpool No2 to Preston PSB, it’s all changed now! Glad we still have HSTs on the test trains! Phil.

[@davidkelly8555]

Thanks for this, I used to drive out of Blackpool North.

[@chrisastrospace]

I just read (by pure luck; by pure fluke) an article in Yorkshire News about you saving an elderly woman found wandering on railway tracks near Dewsbury in Yorkshire during the morning rush hour on 27 November 2018. I am grateful that you did. ;)

[@beneliastrains]

@@chrisastrospace ah yes I was the 'hero driver who leapt from his locomotive'. It was a class 185 🤣

[@sapper82]

@@beneliastrains Come on Ben, you can't expect journalists to know the difference between a DMU and a Class 37????

[@vparry1]

Absolutely excellent, thank you! Some "new" routes for me and stunning weather, too 🙂

[@phwbooth]

Excellent, yet again, Ben. Thanks. The Little North Western and Furness & Midland route is one of my very favourites. It seems odd to me, though, that its line speed is 60 mph, while that of the Ribble Valley line is only 45 mph.

[@RichardFelstead1949]

Great video. Made my afternoon in Oz go quickly.

[@jeffreyjohnson672]

Excellent video as always and nice to here the engine noise especially when they increase the speed and also train lights that work in a tunnel 😅

[@bobmoseley4978]

Thanks, Ben, for another wonderful video! Great to see some different routes for a change. What I really enjoyed was the "clickity-clack" of jointed rail, which you can just hear on the falling gradient from Clapham when the engine was idling, I suspect that the Settle to Carnforth stretch won't have any major work done for many years - timber sleepers and jointed rail.

[@BevMattocks]

Yes, we went on the Giggleswick stretch the other year - old jointed rails. Love the sound, takes me back to my younger days before welded rails were introduced.

[@garybroadhurst3548]

@@BevMattocks Lots of that on the Clitheroe to Hellifield section too, although there's a lot of long welded rail waiting between the up rails to be installed on the down. The up looks like it's already been done in many places. I think that confirms the importance of this route, despite it now being closed to passengers (generally).

[@lesleyhirst3422]

Great video, a line I've never seen before - and GREAT views of Pendle Hill!

[@leswoodburn5764]

Best view was of Ingleborough at 1-34-32secs. great hill to walk.

[@josephinebennington7247]

@@leswoodburn5764. I just love seeing Pendle or Ingleborough come into view, whether I’m driving in the area, or spotting them in vids like this.

[@palamco]

Thanks Ben. Been hanging out here in Melbourne Australia for a new video ! It's football finals time here, but a little bit of track time is just as good.

[@patkins8319]

Very good video. Never been on the Blackburn to hellifield line and was interesting to see it. Been on the Blackpool to Blackburn (Blackpool to York) run many times as a data collector and seen the scenery in reverse . Enjoyed the "little" northwestern section as my favourite route to get from Lancaster to uni in Leeds. Didn't get to work that northern diagram

[@grahamnancledra7036]

What a wonderful ride and journey. Being from the far west of Cornwall, I don't know these lines all that well, in fact I've only ridden Blackpool North to Preston the once, Preston to Blackburn a handful of times, Blackburn-Clitheroe the once; Hellifield to Clitheroe once, by accident rather than deliberately ( a diversion between Lancaster and Preston would you believe), Carnforth to Hellifield just twice, and the Morecombe and Heysham branch just the once. So this is a marvellous record of lines I hardly know and I pass my thanks to you.

[@deltic1964]

Brilliant Journey That Ben Great to see something different than the usual really enjoyed that

[@Guard_Amos]

Nice to see some of the routes I sign or love from a different angle. Settle Junction to Carnforth is the longest block section in England. Its hard to believe that there were junctions at both Clapham (for Ingleton and Tebay) and Wennington (for Carnforth) as the original line which was built by the Midland which went via Hornby and took in a more direct route to Lancaster to Green Ayre Station. Whilst the current line was a Midland and Furness Line Joint affair. Arkholme Station used to be owned by Jim Bowen. The Morecambe branch even though looks double track is actually 2 separate lines. The UP/DOWN Heysham (40mph) and UP/DOWN Morecambe (55mph)

[@javierguidounicaud6621]

Globally nice sunny day. It was a nice and interesting cab ride. Thank you for this video.

[@chrisastrospace]

After a break, I finally watched it all of the video. I appreciate your sharing especially the fact I used to live around Ingleton. ;)

[@mrbluesky2050]

What a superb video, lovely day, great engine sounds, and three lines, that I have rarely done, ( Blackpool - Preston, Blackburn - Hellafeild ( never done it ) and Settle Junction - Carnforth, ( only one way ) and I haven't done Morcambe for quite some time either. all in all, a good Friday evening well spent, Many Thanks

[@andrewholloway231]

I am enjoying this... woo hoo those engine sounds 👌

[@richardgriffiths5920]

Great video Ben and was so taken in by the beautiful scenery of the Pennines on the down run to Hellifield after leaving Blackburn. This is a new run for me and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute.I noticed on a few occasions after Blackburn, Whalley and Clitheroe the driver seemed to be not sounding his horn passing the W signs and also coming up to crosswalks. Thanks for keeping me up to date with your lovely rail trips.

[@keefr22]

I think you can't hear the horn or other cab sounds because he stated at the start of the video that the sound was recorded in the engine compartment.

[@michealmatthews9377]

watching this video of the countryside flowing by, is like zen. its hypnotic.

[@stevefrost3484]

Excellent Video - I haven't been on that line in years.

[@jessicamorgan3073]

Thanks Ben and team for another awesome and scenic video.

[@masonlawson649]

Wonderful thank you do glad gor producing this broadcast

[@keystonedriving8180]

I assume that between Settle Junction and Carnforth 'long time in section' would be anything over an hour. Nice to see a very different part of the country. My last trip to Blackpool North was as a courier on a Merrymaker excursion from King's Lynn for the illuminations, back in 1976 I think! Thanks for the ride, the sunny day was a definite bonus.

[@jcardboard]

This is such a lovely chill video. At 1:56:30 ISH there's a rabbit that's actually going faster than the train 😂

Excellent, many thanks.

[@foxstrangler]

What a brilliant trip, apart from the S&C & WCML, tracks I am not likely to ever travel. Thank you.

[@Pinkwhistle]

Great video. Nice to see so much traffic between Daisyfield and Clitheroe. I worked in Clitheroe P/Way gang. The track on that section looks better than Settle Jct to Carnforth which has a 60mph speed on joined and Clitheroe has 45mph.

[@michaeldupree5801]

We'll this looks like a treat and a half!!...

[@K1W1fly]

That's a long way to go not very far!

[@sapper82]

It allows the whole mileage to be run in a single trip without reversing.

[@michealmatthews9377]

what an amazing amount of stone bridges ,there are in this video all virtually the same style and they must need minimum maintainence despite being 19th century.

[@heckelphon]

Thanks for another fascinating video. Just imagine if that was a viable passenger service route! I think it was somewhere near Cherry Tree where I noticed a long-abandoned crossover for bi-directional working where the optimistic board advising 15mph was still in place for the other direction, but half the crossover was missing. I imagine those tasked with lifting points don't have the removal of redundant speed boards on their job sheet!

[@stephenmartin6805]

Happy memories, ex train driver from Carnforth, signed all the route and cannot believe all the weeds around the loops at Carnforth. 😮

[@kampfhaubitze]

I know the Blackpool North to Preston route from the "Train Sim World 4". This route was created by "Just Trains". Now I see this track in the original and in the present time. Thanks for that.

[@karenbiddle1484]

Really lovely views

[@paulchapman1175]

to ben elias i enjoyed your drives eye view very good video from paul chapman at London uk

[@judgeberry6071]

Wow at first I actually thought it was a video game ha. Good quality. Quite relaxing these videos. I like to but some ambient music on in the background with it.

[@Simon-ui6db]

If anyone don't know, PLPR is Plain Line Pattern Recognition. And this thing takes over 70,000 images A SECOND!! with its cameras.

[@fatwalletboy2]

Ok but whats PSR?

[@danners4302]

@@fatwalletboy2permanent speed restriction

[@chrisastrospace]

I googled it up to see what PLPR is. Ah it is a flying banana train (ex HST-125). I also watched the video at Network Rail about PLPR and I find it very interesting. It has a fleet of 5 trains and I am not too sure if all of them are New Measurement Train (NMT). I thank you for sharing. ;)

[@Deepak-wr9pt]

Such an interesting journey, thank you. I initially thought this was the occasionally parliamentary train run on some routes (to keep route open) but this is a train involved in inspecting the tracks, I presume for Network Rail.

[@DavidPeacock1972]

I have a feeling this is going to be one of the most popular cab view vids you have uploaded so far. The little used line for passenger trains beyond Clitheroe and the jointed track of The Little North Western Line, and to top it all, a beautiful sunny day.

[@beneliastrains]

I do enjoy going over the miles and miles of jointed track at 60mph. It's a shame you can't hear the joints from the engine room.

[@DavidPeacock1972]

@@beneliastrains I remember back in the 90's boarding a three car class 144 from Carnforth to Leeds, I deliberately used the centre car as it had no underfloor engine. Imagine my surprise as we rode along the jointed tracks, even in a Pacer it still sounded like bogies.

[@DavidLancstrainspotting]

Thanks for the tones at Poulton-Le-Fylde

[@altern8tive]

This is excellent thanks :) The scenery along the Hellifield reminded of the Tissington trail in Derbyshire and had me wondering if this was what the LNWR route between Ashbourne and Buxton might have looked like 👍

[@neilsharpe7086]

Great videop, Ben. We even caught "the logs" at Hellifield!

[@eliottjeary1492]

Wow what a transformation of how things used to be with all the semaphore signals etc to this

[@liammakin4772]

I went to caravan in morecambe with my grandma and my grandad

[@macky4074]

Hellifield station looks like a big station for where it is. I used to be a courier driver around that area, from Siverdale to Settle and Clitheroe to Sedburgh and everywhere in between. Beautiful part of the country!

[@BevMattocks]

I remember back in the day when Hellifield station was derelict, possibly because they were considering closing the Settle Carlisle route. It was in a sorry state but looks much better these days.

[@macky4074]

@@BevMattocks glad to hear it 👍🏻

[@GrahamPrice-f5q]

great stuff - more please

[@martyn6792]

Another great one Ben

[@Terry.W]

Cool journey.

[@boulecoq1700]

Cracking video very well done.👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@BevMattocks]

What an unusual route (because it's a PLPR?) - thank you for this, perfect for watching while I do my indoor exercise bike training!

[@vwgolf9826]

Nice to hear the E70 brake in action.

[@MtF_EeepyGrill_Leah_QT3.14]

I can see myself and my friend at Preston. I remember seeing the West Coast Railways Bloke get onboard & briefly chatting with him beforehand. Thanks for the tones and Its awesome We are in a Ben Ellias video 😊

[@beneliastrains]

Were you overnighting at Preston last night when I came through with UTU3?

[@MtF_EeepyGrill_Leah_QT3.14]

@@beneliastrains yeah. I went up to you and asked if you was Ben Elias. I got photos of that HST & it was awesome to see you out & about :)

[@martinjh999]

Good vid as always!

[@chrisastrospace]

at 1 hour 34 mins.... oh my beloved Ingleborough Hill !

[@ChangesOneTim]

Thanks as ever for the new upload. You get some more to add to your route knowledge card😀 Interesting that 'MU' differential speeds 'oop north' don't apply to your train: Down here on the broad gauge 'MU' has always included HSTs, eg '75/ MU90' Hayes-Reading on the Relief lines introduced over ten years ago.

[@beneliastrains]

This isn't an HST, it's a train formed of Locomotive hauled Mk2 coaching stock, which just happens to have HST powercars being used as the traction! The NMT which is formed entirely of HST Mk3 coaches can do MU speeds!

[@ChangesOneTim]

@@beneliastrains Okay thanks for making that clear. Guessing that, used in this formation, it has only 'standard' LH braking rate then.

[@andrewwalsh2755]

Needs the Tangerine Dream soundtrack... Beautiful...

[@arthurrytis6010]

Surprised they haven't increased the line speed on this piece of railway to at least 90. Must be the straightest piece on the West coast !

[@arthurrytis6010]

I was a driver on the WC under Virgin . I never went past Preston. I often wondered why they didn't put Balises for tilt working between Crewe and the junction at Cheadle . Cost I suppose.

[@ChappersTravels]

Yessss. Looking forward to this!

[@geoffreymartin2764]

Thank you for a lovely relaxing trip.🏳‍🌈

[@ste6787]

Superb photography of the East lancs line and Hellifield in the sun, but there is an unfortunate paint job on a bridge in Blackburn..

[@SimonTog]

Great video Ben :)

[@henkdegroot5872]

That diesel train makes a hell of a noise.....but beautiful images of British countryside.

[@tonyelse1315]

many thanks ben

[@harleyreynolds6783]

I was on that patform across from the preston train at cherry tree

[@briancooper562]

Nice to see where the freights go from Carlisle to miss Shap and the fast passenger trains. Some are heavy. This PLPR train did not quiet catch the fault in North Manchester, the train involved came from Buxton and going south, eventually, down the WCMN

[@DaveBeaven-tx2tp]

A rather long way from Blackpool to Morecambe!

[@mikeryan959]

Over the years, many double-decker buses have hit the bridge just after the cobwall viaduct.

[@AndreiTupolev]

Interesting to hear an MTU from the engine room. There's a rather more noticeable turbo whistle than there is from outside

[@beneliastrains]

Yeah they sound a little more interesting from the engine room!

[@jeremywilcox]

Nice to catch site of the dieing specis - the Post Office train that was held for you.

[@paulmallett3576]

An excellently filmed video. Thank you so much! I only visited Lostock Hall shed once, just after the end of steam. I have no idea how I got there then, and your video gave me no real clues, either!! Carnforth was interesting, too: the link to the Furness line has gone. I suppose there was no use for it once the iron ore trains ceased running??

[@AndreiTupolev]

Since the line from Blackpool to Preston is pretty straight, apart from through Poulton, I might have thought they could allow a bit higher speeds than 60/70

[@DavidPeacock1972]

I thought that too, electifying the line would have been a great opportunity to also increase the line speed.

[@aidengillag]

I agree. I would have thought 90mph could be achieved here. I'm guessing there must be reasons we are missing here.

[@cd66061]

Track? Bridge strength? Distance between signals? Is the increased speed gonna even make much difference over such a short piece of track that might incur massive cost to upgrade? I’m only guessing, but railway speeds are usually dictated by the infrastructure in place.

[@adrianbew9641]

The trouble is more and more freight is being run on these lines, but safe distances still have to be observed so logically it's better to reduce top speed but keep all trains moving as much as possible. Station stops both improve distance and hinder dependent whether it's freight or passenger. One of the reasons supposedly for hs2.

[@DavidPeacock1972]

@@adrianbew9641 On the Fylde coast line?

[@ianinvancouverbc]

what an amazing video never realised it existed. Do we have a photo of the loco ?

[@sapper82]

Last time I did that run was on the TRU.

[@curtw8827]

Thanks for the nice video. Being I'm watching from across the pond, it'd be helpful to me if you put up a map of the route at the beginning.

[@NeilStamper-j4x]

MAGIC

[@TheFingerman37]

Thanks for watching - no, thank you for filming!

[@basingstoke63]

A fantastic video , Ben . Lovely scenery and nice clear camera work . Thanks for filming , editing , and uploading it for us . ( PS ; Is this the train that is affectionally known as , " The flying Banana " ? )

[@beneliastrains]

It's not the flying banana but it's a similar train

[@basingstoke63]

@@beneliastrains Thanks ,Ben .

[@davidchambers5196]

Great video, really enjoyed it. Can anyone tell me why the speed is so slow between Blackburn and Clitheroe please

[@MacGuyver85]

Thank you! Beautiful countryside! Would be great if image quality could be improved though as it suffers considerably, especially in the somewhat faster sections. There's also some "judder". (Watched in 4K)

[@markcf83]

You'd have thought they'd increase the line speed limit when electrification was being carried out too. Daft.

[@tidaljunk]

Geologically, a lot of the Fylde is very unstable. It may be that the ground can't take faster lines (same as the Furness Line, around Lindal, or parts of Chat Moss, or around Great Yarmouth).

[@davidgrimshaw7825]

A great video and some wonderful countryside. Why would they go that way?

[@littlemissy2883]

It seems quite a detour from Blackpool to morecambe only making one stop

[@beneliastrains]

It's for the purposes of recording the tracks. Not odd 😊

[@littlemissy2883]

@@beneliastrains oh sorry, I thought it was a passenger train

[@dpjones1]

1:48:12 could be wrong, but that was jim bowens(bullseye) old house, the old arkholme station.

[@beneliastrains]

@@dpjones1 yes I was told that by both route conductors both times I went over the route 🙂

[@dpjones1]

​@beneliastrains when I'm on the morecambe to leeds train or vice versa, i always look for the church type window that apparently has a bully in it.

[@sigil5772]

Fascinating and somewhat lonely journey! Will Morecambe-Derby be coming?

[@beneliastrains]

I recorded Morecambe to Blackburn on the way back, I was relieved at Blackburn - yes it'll be uploaded at some point

[@melhadcroft2522]

Thanks for part 1 so when do we get part 2

[@michaelritchie5303]

A question regarding the 22 mile section without any signals. How do the signallers ensure that trains are kept away from each other during that stretch? While I can guess that it's not a terribly busy line, I am wondering if they only allow one train in the 22 mile section at a time?

[@beneliastrains]

@@michaelritchie5303 yes only one train in the block at any given time

[@SteveSmithRailways]

Thats the scenic route from Blackpool to Morecambe for sure....... do you know the reason for most of the line speed up to Hellifield being 35/45? Great if you wanna watch the world go by, crap if you're commuting to Blackburn I guess!

[@beneliastrains]

I had the same question! I think the route was reopened to passengers on a budget by BR in the 90s and so was never properly improved. It's signalled for higher speeds and the track quality is generally good enough for at least 60mph as with the route from Settle Jn to Carnforth, so I think it's just a case of nobody has bothered to do it!

[@andrewrichmond5720]

@@beneliastrains It's been that way for as long as I can remember, & I've known the line for 50 years - always wondered why they never raised the line speed when it was all relaid around 20 years ago.

[@fionakierton1231]

I liked the fan under the bridge coming into Preston. There for green purposes?

[@theo-v7t]

Lines with which I am unfamiliar providing a great video! Thanking you in anticipation for the video from Morecambe to Derby??

[@ngkful]

I love how the electrification just ends once you get outside the major cities. Why would we want to just electrify a whole route like normal countries do?