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Leeming
Bar to Crakehall leg
We
take our seat in the front carriage of the vintage diesel train
and look forward through the window into the driving compartment
and onto the track ahead.
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| Historic
rolling stock |
These
elderly trains were once common all over the UK offering fantastic
"drivers eye" views of the countryside and the track .
The
guard blows his whistle and the engines come to life below the floor
gently moving the coaches forward.
As
we glide out of the platform at Leeming we pass the new junction
points and another coach parked in a siding.
Past
houses and fields we head for the A1 bridge diving under the dual
carriageway and bending round to pass over Aiskew Level crossing
.
The
modern flashing lights stop the traffic on the busy A684 , many
motorist still surprised that their journey has been interupted
by a "passenger train".
Now
travelling across the Vale of York there are splendid views south
across the fields until we enter a wooded section of the line which
cures sharply round to Bedale station.
The
train stops at the disused platform while the heavy wooden gates
, freshly painted , are swung across the A684.
Some
of the cars caught at Aiskew have to stop again in Bedale .
The
line crosses the road and hugs the bank of Bedale beck , it's track
bed still looking more like a wooded avenue than a railway .
The
train is now doing 25 mph , the current speed limit , but it feels
faster because the trees are still brushing past the carriages.
The
route twists and turns past Bedale Golf course and then becomes
straight as an arrow as it passses under the A684 again and stretches
out towards Crakehall station .
The
train does not pick up passengers here , but we have to stop to
open the crossing gates.
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