Tom's Photo Log: Nuclear Flask Train and Tyneside Walkabout

After weeks of trying to catch the elusive Hartlepool to Sellafield nuclear flask train, our paths finally crossed yesterday.

Surprisingly, there is not much mystique surrounding the passage of these trains. Details of their route and timings appear on the public working timetable, but their days of operation do not. However, I was given a tip-off that the trains usually run every third or fourth Tuesday.

This particular train carries spent nuclear fuel from Hartlepool Power Station, on the east coast, to the THORP facility at Sellafield, on the west coast. To that end it travels up to Gateshead on the Durham Coast Line, across to Carlisle on the Tyne Valley Line and finally down the Cumbrian Coast Line to Sellafield. The journey is reversed whenever fresh nuclear fuel is transported from Sellafield to Hartlepool.

For a bit of variety I'm also including some photos taken during a Tyneside walkabout earlier in the year.

Sad news that there was a railway fatality yesterday - almost certainly a suicide - on the East Coast Main Line at Shortridge Hall, between Alnmouth and Warkworth. Terrible for the family of the victim and very distressing for the driver of the train involved.