The Little Morecambe Steam Railway runs between the former railway town of Carnforth, and the seaside resort of Morecambe. Despite the apparent tourist potential, during the time of my visit an intensive freight service was in operation, transporting wood and gravel from Carnforth to Morecambe. The intense train operation did not allow me to inspect the line and civil engineering to any great extent, but I rode on one of the freight trains (they refused to provide a passenger carriage for me, leaving me somewhat unimpressed) and then in the cab of the visiting loco from the ANLR, the Baguley diesel "Criccieth Castle"
I arrived at the Carnforth terminus, which seemed well laid out with facilities for both passengers and freight. The loco sheds are located here, with areas for preparation and disposal.
One extremely pleasant surprise was the working signalling, controlling access to the line and marshalling line. Pointwork was however, still locally controlled sadly
These passengers were uncommunicative, and made me rather uneasy
There was some strange advertising, this one explaining the presence of a "Large Pig" in the area
I was pleased to see signs discouraging the silly pastime of trainspotting
I then boarded a train of log carriers, pulled by Criccieth Castle. After refusing to provide a carriage, I had to travel standing up, luckily the wagon had handrails
The first half of the line was controlled by token, a feature that other garden lines should take note of
On departing Carnforth, the line descends very steeply, at a ruling grade of 1 in 12. This is too steep, even with fully fitted trains and the safety aspects of this hill worry me greatly.
The rest of the line is fairly flat, and Morecambe was reached without incident, passing an up train at the passing siding, handing the token over
I returned on the empty train. The track appeared to generally be in good condition, reasonably well ballasted and with good top line and cross levels. Some curves could benefit of bending of rails with a jim crow
I then rode on the loco. Here, the train is in the passing siding at the half way point. No loop is provided, so the train has to back out. This is most unsatisfactory, especially as there is room for a loop. There was a line heading off towards a tunnel that the siding formed a loop for, but for some reason it was blocked off. Most confusing.
At Morecambe, I inspected the station building, which was smaller then that at Carnforth. All the buildings on the line appeared to be in good condition.
The gravel was unloaded into a waiting barge....
...however in a incomprehensible incident, I somehow ended up in the barge as well. I've ordered that the persons in charge of the stone transfer be made redundant immediately, the idiot is clearly not capable, and rather ruined my entire visit. The general manager has been sent my dry cleaning bill.
As services were drawing to a close, the GM for some reason allowed a visiting loco from the SLR north to run....
The GRAIB report is still awaited, but it is shocking that this shambolic line is affecting operations on other local lines. I've no idea why people are allowing this to happen, and why the SLR north is still running. I would beg railway general managers not to accept locos visiting from this railway!