5043 and the Aquae Sulis

Back in action on routes which Castles were all familier with, 5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe ran once more hauling the ''Berks & Hants Aquae Sulis'' a rather unusual titled train that ran from Solihull to Bristol via Oxford, Reading West, Westbury and Bath Spa, returning via Swindon a run ironically that she did in June not long back.

The term Aquae Sulis means "the waters of Sulis" in Roman Latin which was the early settlement of Bath in Somerset during the Roman period. Sulis is the name of a Celtic goddess meant to have been worshipped in Bath around that time. Quite interesting knowing these things considering they're not rail-related.

Starting off at Leamington Spa station at sunrise 5043 recreates a near timeless scene as she excelerates loudly in a cloud of thick white clag through a station which has been kept faithfull to its original bygone era. After Leamington down south we go to Didcot were Edgcumbe having departed Didcot Parkway is put onto the Main Line (fast line)

At Crofton Canal the weather continued to play its part although as you might expect a double chimney Castle to put on a show, at Crofton recently relaid ballast meant that Edgcumbe had to be shut off just before the curve to Savernake, much to my annoyance!
The last scene captures the brief Silhouette of a double chimney Castle at speed along Newton St Loe.

All credit goes to Vintage Trains, Tyseley and West Coast Railways

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• 5043
• earl
• of
• mount
• edgcumbe
• the
• berks
• and
• hants
• aquae
• sulis
• leamington
• spa
• station
• crofton
• great
• bedwyn
• newton
• st
• loe

[acw71000]

Fantastic stuff Ryan, every shot superb. The opening scene has to be my favourite though, as you rightly say, timeless.

[GreatWestern175]

@acw71000 Ahh nice to hear from you again Austin, indeed the first shot I favour becasue it has all the elements you need for a Western mainline setting on the whole it was all really good and the weather couldn't of been better

[rab4472]

Cracking footage from beginning to end. Excellent performance by loco, crew and camerman.

Mike

[GreatWestern175]

@rab4472 many thanks for commenting Mike, the Tyseley boys really do well as always with Edgcumbe

[letmadnessbegin]

A fantastic array of clips Ryan, 5043 at her best and performing beautifully. Loved every minute of it. Good idea with the two cameras at Didcot, very handy. Don't think I've ever seen a shot taken from that position at Crofton, she was going so well it's a shame she had to shut off. Favourite shots got to be at Newton St Loe, absolutely bombing it round there! Thumbs up & Fav'd

[GreatWestern175]

@letmadnessbegin your very welcome Kristian, it all went well despite a few near misses was nice meeting you all outside Didcot aswell. I have known one person taking a similar shot at Crofton where I was standing but was tricky due to the overgrowth that had to be hacked away

[BristolSpotterHD]

shame hes not around the local area alote more..(bristol bath ect) always a great site to see him giving it all!

[GreatWestern175]

@MrMKH2010 ahh I knew who the fireman was on 5043 but he had shoved some coal since Newbury and climbing up to Savernake so its reasonable to have abit of thick black clag

[MrMKH2010]

That was nice of the Fireman to throw on the dirty socks @ 3:00.

[kebl0597]

@GreatWestern175 Was good to meet you, thanks for the info!