46115 Scots Guardsman’s first mainline railtour since 2023! The Esk Valley | 9/10/26

Today’s video is great news for any fans of WCR’s vacuum braked fleet! LMS Royal Scot Class 4-6-0 46115 Scots Guardsman today hauled RYTC’s “The Esk Valley” railtour from Carnforth to Whitby and return. For the past few years, an ongoing dispute between WCR and the ORR about the fitment of central door locking (CDL) to their coaches has meant WCR have been forced to use a set of Mk2 coaches that were already CDL fitted. However, these Mk2s are air braked, meaning that only air braked locomotives (34067 & Black Fives) could haul WCR tours. After a series of unsuccessful legal challenges, WCR began fitting CDL to their vacuum braked Mk1 coaches earlier this year, and this is the first tour in several years to feature them, allowing a non air braked loco to haul the train! Hopefully this will also mean that WCR’s non air braked fleet, including 45699 Galatea, 48151 and 35018 British India Line, will now be able to head out onto the mainline with tours once again. Today’s tour travelled from Carnforth to Hellfield via Bentham, travelling then to Leeds through Skipton and Shipley, before travelling to York for a break. After, she continued up the ECML to Northallerton, then on to Middlesbrough and down the Whitby line through Battersby and Grosmont. The train returned via the same route, although between York and Leeds it returned via Castleford. The weather for today was a bit unpleasant in the morning but gradually got a bit brighter. Unfortunately my day out was a bit doomed from the start, as my West Midlands Railway service got delayed on the way to Birmingham and I missed my northbound XC service. This meant that my planned outward shots at York and Ruswarp were both impossible. In a bid not to waste the day, I decided to visit the National Railway Museum (NRM) and replan the return journey a little. Up first (skip to 00:40 to get past this) is a very brief look around in the NRM, with 4468 Mallard, 6229 Duchess of Hamilton, 92220 Evening Star and some of the other ‘greats’ of British Steam are featured. Later in the day, I travelled to Eaglescliffe in an attempt to squeeze a third shot out of the day. Here, 46115 is seen accelerating away from Middlesbrough, making quite an impressive sound! Immediately after this I took a train to Darlington and down to York, which arrived just moments before 46115’s arrival, but far enough before that I had a chance to set up on Platform 3 at York. 46115 is firstly seen gliding into the station under the ornate roof, coming to a very measured stop. Afterwards, she is seen making a noisy departure from Platform 5 against the beautiful evening sky, taking the train towards Sherburn in Elmet for a water stop. Afterwards, I jumped ahead to Leeds on the Blackpool North service, to Apperley Bridge where 46115 is seen making some serious noise through the station, narrowly avoiding the noise being drowned out by a freight going the other way. At that, I headed home. Thanks to everyone who made today possible, including those I spoke to today as well as the trains that got me about; thanks to the NRM and of course to RYTC, 46115 and her crew for the fantastic performances today. I hope you enjoy as I did!