Test Train Driver's Eye View: Preston to Edinburgh (including new Carstairs Layout) 

Drivers who recognise and toot the enthusiasts taking photos and footage on the stations, are alright in my book. Great stuff.

I cannot put into words how much I wish I had this driver's job.

I appreciate how you handle the on-screen graphics - telling us what we need to know, without being visually intrusive.

At least Ben told the signaller, for a 2nd time that he needed diverting to survey a different road. He brought the train down to about 60 mph ( double yellow aspect speed) when it was green, so the signaller wouldn't / shouldn't throw the signal back on him. What a switched on driver. Also noticed that Ben has signed for a lot of roads. Well done.

Well that was an Adrenaline rush , great. Nice to get another drivers perspective. Thank you Ben & Thank-you to our driver for permission to film Thanks.

I enjoyed that too. Thank you so much and to the crews involved.

Thank you Ben. That was a brilliant example of your route knowledge and craft - "i've already got the trainspeed under control to stop at that signal" - loved it! 😊

I enjoyed your video very much,as a ex Fireman/Driver we never dreamt the speeds you drivers would work with in the future.Kind Regards 🚂🚂🚂

I once employed an ex HST driver. He left to sell photocopiers (infamously difficult job) because it was 'less stressful'.

Anyone else get a slight shiver when the Quintinshill loop was used?

Excellent! Enjoyed that. Thanks!

Amazing! Just incredible! Thank you so much. AWSOME ❤

I drive trains on this route and it's my favourite to drive.

Seat of the pants train driving, going this fast in a fibreglass cab. Almost looked like you got air a couple of times 😂

Thanks for the informative cab ride, your work and videos are appreciated!👍

Another great ride, thanks Ben, keep em coming.

Another wonderful video Ben! My many thanks!! Love the landscape around Beattock, truly stunning. Ive photographed the area around Shap many times over the years but never Beattock. I understand this was filmed January 2nd but these recent video's show how very little rail traffic there seems to be especially freight in either direction. Once again my many thanks for allowing us this view.

Fantastic quality. Many thanks for that, Ben

Thanks very much. Wonderful trip - even in the rain!

Many thanks to one & all who made this vid. possible. Really enjoyed watching it. Greatly appreciated. cheers

Thundering up Shap at 105mph in the pouring rain, just awesome!

Really enjoyed this journey. Thanks for sharing.

Brilliant video. I’ve worked all along that line from Carstairs Junction to Cobbinshaw reservoir through to Edinburgh. Weird seeing it in daylight lol !

Another nice video. Thanks.

Absolutely fascinating approach to Waverley at the conclusion. Interesting video throughout.

Ben Wicked vid sir, showing Driver route knowledge and individual skills with the weather, Brilliant concentration in sometimes difficult driving situations. More please rivetting stuff.......Cheers IAN

Superb ride along. Interesting at Carnforth and nice look at The Travellers Choice depot. Thank you for posting.

Brilliant video - many thanks!👍

These are the clearest drivers eye views I have ever seen that you produce and the sound captures are perfect. You are lucky this would be a dream job if I had the opportunity! This route makes my local Cornish main line look painfully slow.

Smashing video ! Many thanks !

I love your videos and I think its amazing you were able to negotiate a contract where you only have to work when its raining!

A nice long train ride. Always enjoy them. See you on the next. Cheers Ben! 🇬🇧👍🙂🇺🇸

Thanks for sharing the awesome video

Great video. I used to farm in Cumbria so some happy memories particularly of Penrith. When it got too much , I used to cart myself off to Carlisle station on a Friday afternoon for a few hours R and R!!

Was working at Penrith when you came through, thanks for the toot. 👍

Nicely done Ben!

Excellent video Ben.

Excellent video.

That train accelerates quite quick for a HST. Nice video, shame about the miserable weather though.

Given their record in Scotland this driver must have nerves of steel travelling at these speeds on a track maintained by Network Rail.

Always look forward to your new videos

Another great one Ben every drive up there and it always rains lol Keep up the great work also😁

Great video, first time I've ever seen a route refused and a red directly following a green.

Excellent video.😊

Another very nice video

Thanks Ben, COLAS n all!

Excellent thank you

People today, would never realise that in an area of such beauty 2 tragic events in history took place in lockerbie and quintinshill with huge loss of life. On another note i loved life driving trains first passenger then freightliner trains from crewe to carlisle. When the rail conditions were bad in the winter pulling these heavy trains uphill thro windemere to penrith was an ordeal for the engines lol. Stopping these trains on the way down in bad conditions was another story. I hear certain media having a go at train drivers and others on the railway, well theres one thing i can say. Its the one job where you can say most staff started as teenagers and its normal for them to have completed 40 years service. I was a fireman in glasgow for 11 years and i enjoyed it, but to be a traindriver you have an awful lot more to learn. Great job if you can handle the shifts. They cant show you videos at night in the dark and the fogs down, you cant see past the windscreen. You still go at the full speed for that part of the track lol, relying on route knowlege and the inbuilt safety systems. Id love for the members of the public to sit up front in these conditions, im sure you would be shocked and your heart race a bit

No silly and annoying music as well! Perfect.

Thank you from USA. Great camera work and helpful subtitles.

Great video, thanks Ben. I have to listen on mute or headphones as the sound of the DSD sends my dog wild!!

Absolutely take my hat off to these train drivers; I think they deserve every penny they get plus some. Seems to me much more arduous than flying a plane, where there is so much automation and really the only times of real concentration are largely during takeoff and landing. By contrast, train drivers must concentrate the entire time to ensure they don’t miss a red light, no obstructions on the track, etc. And all whilst belting along on old narrow track with trees and hedges alongside and even occasional level crossings to confront. And quite possibly 1000 folks on board. (I appreciate there is more to flying than just take off and landing and that a lot of expertise is required in setup, etc, but you hopefully see my point.)

Next time please make sure it is snowing. 😂 Thank you for this video. Rob.

Another great video Ben and I do enjoy these maintenance or test rides with the 'retired HST's'. I was wondering if the pine trees on the Down Midcalder section of the route about 2h.13m.10s into the video were planted purposely or have been self sown as it would create problems later when these trees have fully grown. These trees grow all the time where I live in Canada and not being deep rooted evergreens could create havoc along the tracks at a later time with low branches jutting out over the tracks. One day I shall enjoy watching a run from Preston to Edinburgh in glorious sunshine, so I can take in the glorious scenic views the WCML has to offer us. Thanks again Ben and a very much belated Happy New Year to you.

The only thing which could have improved this video for me would have been a Valenta soundtrack. The MTUs are more efficient but somehow lack the drama. Happy to hear your conversations with signalers and on train crew to ensure that you were routed over the desired tracks. It sure beats having to stop at the signal to 'have a word with the Bobby'. It was sobering to see you backing off the power to loose speed for the summits at Shap and Beatock, in days of steam they'd have been happy to be making half that speed. I'm looking forward to the next one(s).

brilliant

Thanks Ben, another blockbuster 👍When the NMT consist is just three or four coaches, is it max 100mph? It's always good to see what an improvement LED signal heads have made to the clarity of flashing yellow aspects; by literally switching off rather than just dimming the lights they are much sharper. Also Carstairs curve and new layout look much better than the old, guess being able to do 40mph must save a whole minute on Edinburgh journey times.

Is that the nostalgic sound of jointed track that I hear in those loops?!

Such a picturesque part of Britain between Preston and southern Scotland.

Nice videos

Awsome😊

Thank you very much for the upload

Interesting to note the changes on the route since the days of the 50s and 87s when I would traverse the route. Jan 02 was not a nice day anywhere in Scotland. sham about the fly-spots on the windscreen, esp the one almost dead centre.

nagyin klassz video❤❤❤

Back in the day when 40's plied this route, they were down to around 25 mph at Shap summit with 12 or 14 coaches on the hook! Progress eh!!

Quintinshill, the site of the worst railway accident in UK history. Seeing the view from the drivers cab as we entered the infamous 4 track section made my spine tingle. Over 500 soldiers on their way from Glasgow to take ship to fight at Gallipoli died at this spot due to an inexplicable signalling error that caused their southbound train to collide headlong at speed with a stationary passenger service heading north that had been brought to a stand on the tracks to the right of our train. Wooden coaches with highly varnished wood caused a funeral pyre for many; some men hacked off limbs to escape the flames. A third train collided with the wreckage shortly after, causing more casualties. The signalmen on duty were blamed; unapproved and dangerous operational practices, including falsifying the train record book, and changing working hours without authority were part of the problem, but ultimately it seems that the signaller simply forgot that the passenger train was stationary directly in front of his signal box when he set the signals to allow the troop train to continue at speed into the Quintinshill loops.

Brilliant video and incredible footage! Can i ask what the frequent multi beep alarm is that sounds like its being reacted to really quickly?

if I had my life over I wish I been a train driver

Just love the sound of that engine, so much better than a "66". Do you like driving the older traction or is it not as great as it sounds?

oh that was good

Ben, when you made your call to the signalman at 30:30, how did you know that far back that he'd wrongly routed you on the main instead of the Windermere line? Was it the absence of a more restrictive signal, or should there have been a feather signal giving you advanced warning as well as the one at the signal where you stopped? Does it often happen that you have to ask/tell the signalman to route you onto a different track? I suppose it's more common with a track-surveying trains where you specifically don't always want the most commonly-used track, in order to survey the lesss-common route. Would the signalman normally have been provided in advance with a schedule of which tracks you wanted to be routed over at places like Oxenholme, or is it commplace to have to be routed off the normal route?

Thank you for this, and for all the info on lines and speed limits. Are the speed limits given those for ordinary rolling stock?

hi thank you vell good duncan

I always remember HST's accelerate well but two power cars and four coaches it motors

Grand, with Captions as well. Pity about weather.

Any chance of doing a video of the driver's eye view of the journey from Edinburgh Waverley to Glasgow Queen Street?

Is that real time or is the video speeded up? Looks super fast

Interesting that you are having a conversation on GSM-R with the Carlisle box about being routed onto the down Windermere. I assume you were wrong routed?

Salutări din România 🙋‍♂️🙋‍♂️🇷🇴

Brilliant video. I just have a question, excluding the driver how many people work on the test train?

Great video! I have enjoyed it! I have one question: At the OHNS (neutral section) there are signs indicating the point where to switch off the main power, but no signs where to switch it on again. How does a traindriver know when to switch it on again?

Watching you hammer up Beattock at 95mph I was thinking of the old firemen shovelling coals and the drivers trying to keep a train going in all weathers with double-headers and bankers, then thinking of you sitting in a warm cab with the power set a couple of notches higher. Does that ever cross your mind?

Hey Mr. Elias, I was curious, what class are these locomotives? Also, are you driving 43272 or 43357 in this video?

👏👏👏👏👏👏🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷 Brasil

Wasn't paying attention to driver's voice, so what was the reason for the little dogleg manoeuvre south of Oxenholme? Something similar happens up at Beattock too. Is it just to prevent you getting too close to regular services much further up the line? (when i say 'up' I should probably say 'down' haha)

😊

i miss preston

Quintinshill - Wasn't that the location of a big accident in WW1 with a troop train collided with another with loss of life?

Every so often there is a yellow marker on the track followed by a chime. Why?

keep hearing rapid 3 to 7 high pitched beeps. Please tell me what they mean. BTW really enjoy you videos. Dee in Alabama

Shame it didn't run to Glasgow and I couldn't see it but oh well

How long do you drive for in one stint?

No need to use a shovel, either!

Really lovely video, glad i watched (albeit had to split into two) Got a question if you get the chance to answer: Is there any chance you might ever get to do runs towards the south, or maybe into wales? Regardless, enjoyed this one a lot!

Ahhhh Big Dobber Wood haha

Was this film made on day of train strike no trains going south

Still can't understand why they didn't reinstate the old Carstairs chord to Edinburgh. Surely that would have enabled a higher speed.

What is a test train...? (Is it testing the tracks or is it a new model maybe being tested)

Thanks so much for this. Even with the rain it's a great ride to come along with you! BTW you haven't ditched your wobblycam Holyhead ride video have you? I ask because it's a reasonable cert that in future AI will be able to process that video and remove the wobbles. It's made more straightforward because there is a constant reference of the track just in front of you. You'd then just have to trim off the margins, as they would the bits which ended up wobbling once the view straight ahead was stable. The part which would take most training would be what it would track as its reference at crossovers and turn-outs. Perhaps it could be trained to read the points?

Is there a reason why it had to go through the passenger loops without stopping ?