Middleton Railway - Autumn Gala 2024

Yesterday, me and ‪@CrimRail‬ went to Middleton for a day of filming their gala. It was a lovely day with lovely weather, however sadly it was the first gala for quite some time where they hadn't run any trains down the Balm Road Branch, as the ORR decided that a man with a red flag wasn't enough to stop the traffic anymore. Even so, it was still a good day, with four home fleet locos in operation, including the Sentinel '68153' and Hunslet's prototype diesel 'John Alcock'. Filming spots: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?... My band:   / indignationmeeting   My music channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0tl... My flickr: https://www.flickr.com/people/1929153... Engines featured: Sir Berkeley (Manning Wardle L Class) 68153 (Y1 Sentinel) John Alcock Austins No. 1 The Middleton Railway was founded in 1758 to carry coal from Middleton Colliery to Leeds City Centre, the first railway to be founded by an act of parliament. In 1812, the world's first commercially successful steam locomotive, The Salamanca, first ran on the Middleton Railway. As well as being the first steam engine to have two cylinders, it made use of a rack and pinion system to increase its tractive effort. In 1960, the NCB had abandoned the section of Middleton track between Moor Road and the colliery, and Leeds Uni's railway club took notice of this. Seeing the opportunity, they ran the first ever standard gauge train on a preserved railway, being a tramcar hauled by the prototype Hunslet diesel 'John Alcock'. They continued running trains over the line, these being industrial trains for the factories along the line. In 1969, they started a passenger service too, and moved to their current operational base at Moor Road in 1983. Now, they run every weekend from April to October, with diesels on Saturdays and steam on Sundays. 00:00 Intro 00:11 Sir Berkeley hauling the goods, John Charles Stadium 00:58 Sir Berkeley & 68153 exiting the tunnel 01:45 John Alcock hauling the goods, John Charles Stadium 02:33 68153, John Charles Approach 04:01 Austins No. 1 & Sir Berkeley approaching Park Halt 04:35 John Alcock departing Moor Road 05:43 68153, John Charles Stadium 6:27 Sir Berkeley approaching GN Curve 08:11 John Alcock arriving at Park Halt, with Austins No. 1 08:56 68153 arriving at Moor Road 11:00 Sir Berkeley with the goods 11:40 John Alcock with the goods 12:06 Sir Berkeley departing Park Halt 12:32 Sir Berkeley at John Charles 13:13 Austins & John Alcock departing Park Halt 13:56 John Alcock at the GN Curve 14:17 John Alcock & 68153 passing John Charles 15:09 Austins at John Charles Approach 16:18 John Alcock running round 17:12 Sir Berkeley running round 17:56 Austins & John Alcock running round 19:29 Outro