37402 & 37401 - The Imperial Frontier 16/09/2026

The latest railtour from Inter City was a scenic class 37 hauled circular tour of Northern England, starting from Crewe then up the WCML to Carlisle, the Tyne Valley across to Newcastle then down the ECML to York for a break. The return took the tour back across the Pennines over Copy Pit before a fast run back down the WCML from Farington to Crewe. The return was booked to pass Copy Pit while there was still a reasonable amount of light remaining and it was well worth the drive through the rush hour traffic to get there. Running 3 or 4 minutes down the consecutive pairing of 37402 & 37401 thundered up the last section to the summit with 8 coaches in tow. I hadn't expected to get ahead of the tour again but I did so came off the M6 at Leyland and made for the station. After a wait of just over 15 minutes the headlights of 37402 appeared round the bend, both locos once again on full power as they accelerated hard away from the stop at Farington Junction.