B1 61306 Mayflower at speed through Penrith with The Lakelander! | 14/6/25

Today’s video features LNER B1 Class 4-6-0 61306 ‘Mayflower’ hauling Saphos Trains’ “The Lakelander” tour from Leicester to Carlisle. The tour ran diesel hauled as far as Crewe, where the real show started. Unfortunately, 61306 had the ignominy of a 57 tucked in behind the loco due to fire risk, but that can't be helped. The tour travelled from Crewe up the West Coast Main Line (WCML) to Carlisle via Warrington, Preston, Lancaster and Penrith for an afternoon break, returning via the Cumbrian Coast Line through Workington and Barrow in Furness; it rejoined its outward route at Carnforth for the return to Crewe. The weather was very changeable throughout the day, varying from rain to patches of sun. Today I left my local at 6:20, travelling across to Carlisle and changing for a train to Preston. Here, Mayflower is seen pulling into Platform 6 for a lengthy pathing stop. After this, I took an Avanti service Northwards to Lancaster, where I filmed from Platform 3 as 61306 passed through the Down Fast. Unfortunately, the signallers signal checked her here and the platform was rather busy but the resulting shot I was still fairly happy with! Afterwards, I met ‪@harnettyrailways‬ for the trip North to Penrith North Lakes, where 61306 is seen absolutely rocketing through! After, a simple hop to Carlisle ensued, allowing a lunch break. After this, I walked over to the green bridge just outside Carlisle at Currock Junction, a shot I've been meaning to do for a while. We got incredibly lucky with the sun coming out at exactly the right time! A quick walk back to Carlisle followed by another break to do some editing allowed me to grab the 17:33 TPE service to Lancaster with Richard, for a re-attempt of earlier! 61306 lost a bit of time on the Cumbrian Coast and as it left Carnforth it was touch and go as to whether it would pass before the train I needed to get back to Carlisle. Thankfully it did, and it was moving faster than earlier, although at this location 61306 was merely a token on the front of the train and the 57 was doing everything. With that, I headed back home! Thank you to everyone who has made today possible, including LSL, 61306 and her crew; thanks to Northern, Avanti and TPE for getting me around as well as Richard who was in my company for most of the day, and everyone else I spoke to including Chris and his mates on the train back to Carlisle! I hope you enjoyed as I did!!