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1Z64 uploaded a new video
(4 weeks ago)
Friday 30th December, and The William Shakespeare, the last steam excursion of 2011.
Originally booked for 6024 King Edward I, it was found that the...
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Friday 30th December, and The William Shakespeare, the last steam excursion of 2011.
Originally booked for 6024 King Edward I, it was found that the King no longer fits the Great Western lines that it was built for and the job was passed to 60163 Tornado.
For the opening shot, we went to a hillside to the west of High Wycombe, the scene of our very first attempt at videoing a steam train, some twenty-five years ago. Surprisingly, the increase in lineside vegetation appeared to be minimal, and the view had hardly changed in that time.
Huge advances in camera and tripod technology made for a much clearer and smoother result, but the difficulty of panning for long distances, while trying to step round the tripod, remains the same.
With only a minimal stop at Banbury, we played safe and went straight to a crossing at Edstone, on the approach to Bearley Junction, for the second shot.
The turning of Tornado, on the Hatton Triangle, was covered, first at Hatton Station, and then from the roadside near Bearley.
As well as a change of loco, the train had had a change of route and the return working was now to be via Tyseley, Nuneaton and Coventry, before joining the original route at Leamington Spa.
It must be about twenty years since we were last at Wood End. Back then it was 5080 Defiant that emerged from Wood End Tunnel, with one of a number of Tyseley -- Stratford shuttles.
It was doubtful that we would get to our next location (another of the crossings behind Shustoke reservoir) in time, but something in the Water Orton area was delaying trains, and Tornado was now running around twenty minutes late.
Finally, with darkness falling, the rain refusing to let up, a train that has probably lost its booked path and very few well lit stations, without ticket barriers, to choose from, we headed to our old favourite Seer Green.
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1Z64 uploaded a new video
(1 month ago)
A compilation of three of the four Surrey Hills VSOEs that ran in December behind 35028 Clan Line's alter ego, 35017 Belgian Marine.
The video begin...
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A compilation of three of the four Surrey Hills VSOEs that ran in December behind 35028 Clan Line's alter ego, 35017 Belgian Marine.
The video begins at Wandsworth Town, before moving on to Barnes, Mortlake and Worplesdon. The water stop at Shalford is then followed by shots from Chilworth, Ranmore Common and Buckland.
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1Z64 uploaded a new video
(1 month ago)
Wednesday 14th December, and another pre-Christmas Cathedrals Express, this time to Sherborne.
Tornado was running almost to time passing Egham, unf...
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Wednesday 14th December, and another pre-Christmas Cathedrals Express, this time to Sherborne.
Tornado was running almost to time passing Egham, unfortunately neither this nor the sunny weather would last.
With the new tunnel at Hindhead knocking ten minutes off the journey time down the A3, it was easy to get to one of our favourite locations, Liss. In the meantime, Tornado had made an unscheduled water stop at Haslemere and was now running about twenty minutes late.
From Liss it was a quick dash across to the outskirts of Romsey for a third shot. Here the late running had been cut to ten minutes.
On leaving Romsey we found that none of our planned locations west of Salisbury could be realistically reached in time, and so we decided to head for Yeovil Junction in the hope of catching the turning and servicing of the loco, but as we passed Sherborne the sight of people standing on bridges, peering into the distance, showed that the train had yet to reach there.
At Yeovil there was still no sign of Tornado and an announcement over the PA at the railway centre informed the waiting photographers that the train had just passed Templecombe. Further announcements tracked the progress until, finally, 60163 appeared and came slowly into the yard alongside the railway centre.
There then followed some shunting to clear the points before loco and support coach took off for a siding on the up side of the station to top up the coal.
Although the coaling didn't take long, it was almost dark before Tornado entered the Yeovil Railway Centre and made it onto the turntable. Having seen the loco turned, we returned to Sherborne.
Departure from Sherborne was supposed to be at 16:54, but it was almost an hour later that the train rolled into the platform. It took ten minutes to load the passengers and for most of that time the safety valves were cheerfully emptying the boiler into the night sky. It was a long time before our hearing returned to normal.
With only station platforms to provide light we moved on to Farncombe and then home to Isleworth. Here we got lucky as, at Woking, it had been decided to re-route the train straight up the main line to Waterloo, but, due to some kind of misunderstanding, it was sent back through Isleworth as originally planned. Good news for us, not so good for the long suffering passengers who now had to crawl all the way to Barnes behind the up local, and even worse for those who had de-trained at Woking in order to make their own way back to their starting point at Staines.
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1Z64 uploaded a new video
(1 month ago)
Saturday 10th December, and a Southend to Winchester Cathedrals Express pulled by 70000 Britannia. At Brentford, it was twenty minutes after the bo...
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Saturday 10th December, and a Southend to Winchester Cathedrals Express pulled by 70000 Britannia. At Brentford, it was twenty minutes after the booked time when the signal at the London end of the up platform changed from green to yellow (the sign that something is crossing Kew East Junction) and moments later 70000 hove into view, giving just enough warning for phones to be readied.
Not so long ago it was quite common for locos to take water at Chertsey, but in recent years it has become rare and so Britannia's appearance caused a lot of interest and the short stop gave the opportunity for everyone to photograph everyone else in front of the visitor.
For the return, it was down to our old favourite, Brookwood, and then back to Hounslow.
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1Z64 uploaded a new video
(1 month ago)
Sunday 4th December, a day of changeable weather as 4965 Rood Ashton Hall headed the Melton Mowbray Victorian Fayre to the town, and event, of the ...
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Sunday 4th December, a day of changeable weather as 4965 Rood Ashton Hall headed the Melton Mowbray Victorian Fayre to the town, and event, of the same name.
The day began with weak sunshine as 4965 passed Shustoke reservoir, having called at Coleshill Parkway.
By Leicester we were into full sunshine, as the train halted briefly before drawing forward into the loop at Humberstone Road for a water stop.
At Frisby on the Wreake, the sun had been replaced by a strong wind.
With 4965's low tender offering little in the way of protection, the crew had wisely erected their canvas sheet as the loco ran backwards past the site of Rearsby station, on the way to the triangle at Syston.
Having reversed at Humberstone Road and running some thirty minutes early (thank you, it was freezing) the Hall passes Cossington, on the way to Loughborough and another reversal.
With turning completed, 4965 returned to Melton Mowbray, arriving as darkness and rain were falling, and rejoined its train.
Although the Fayre ended at 4pm, it wasn't until 5.38 that the Hall pulled forward into the platform and, ten minutes later, departed for home.
Another water stop at Humberstone Road made it possible to reach Hinckley for one more shot. It was fortunate that the camera was already on, as 4965 gave no warning of its approach.
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