Uploaded September 2021 | Updated September 2026, 21 hours ago
A solo venture for myself on Saturday saw me cover 312 miles to capture LMS 46100 Royal Scot on the Magna Carta from Crewe to Salisbury and this was supplemented by LNER B1 61306 Mayflower on Day one of the Welsh Dragon tour. My attempts at trying to cover the exploits of Mayflower lead to all sorts of issues which will be explained below if you're interested in the trials and tribulations of a linesider photographer !
We start the day of at Berkswell on the Birmingham to Coventry line. Steam on this section of line is rare, the last time I filmed on this section was 2015, so it was nice to be back. While 46100 sounded well there was a lot of background noise as there was the on going construction work on HS2 which is being constructed to run right over of the top of the existing railway. Now into Oxfordshire I headed for Radley where we here the Scot working well with her heavy train as the loco tries to regain time having just left Oxford 14 late. While I'm no fan of the diesel being on the back you have to congratulate Saphos Trains and there crew on not relying on the diesel to help out and claw back time.
Now on the outskirts of Gloucester we capture our first shot Mayflower heading towards South Wales at Highnam she was smoking nicely, not one for the environmentalists, though scenes like these are rare ! The next location would of been just before Abergavenny and had the loco and train stopped at Cwmbran as scheduled I would of been set up and ready, unfortunately the train missed out the stop and was running 25 mins early so I all I could do was watch it come past with my own eyes as I had only just arrived. Having missed out on a shot I decided to gamble on a shot at Moreton On Lugg which is just after Hereford and then another shot just after a pathing stop/leg stretch for the passengers at Leominster.
With the train arriving 30 minutes early at Hereford I expected it to leave on time after its water stop, I was wrong, for some reason it was held for an extra 20 minutes, this would now likely mean the stop at Leominster would not be needed and I would be not be able to get another shot. So with the train now having arrived early at Hereford, the train now left 20 minutes late. At least we would get a fast run past at Moreton as they tried to make up time ? How wrong was I, the signalman left the semaphore signals at danger, so the locomotive and trained crawled up slowly towards us and came to stop, the driver was less than impressed and you can see and hear his reaction and they pass the camera. Shots like this usually end up in the bin, but with a slow pass you can admire the sight of the locomotive and that lovely Apple Green paintwork !
While the train was at stand I dived back in the car and headed for Wistanstow at Craven Arms, I was hoping I could just get ahead of it, thankfully the train took its operational stop at Leominster for 15 minutes and that was crucial as it meant I made it with 10 minutes to spare. The train was now running almost 20 late and unfortunately the diesel was called upon to help out over the climb to Church Stretton, was the lack of water or coal an issue ? who knows ! Either way there's very little performance to speak of, though she had a good trail of steam and still looked great as she passed through the untouched Shropshire countryside.
While I was a bit downbeat with the penultimate shot, I fancied one more shot of Royal Scot and as she was passing close to home. So I carried on to Marston Green station just after Birmingham International, where Royal Scot can be heard working nicely away from the Airport. Spirits were lifted and I could now head home relatively happy from results of the day.
If you've read the above description of the days events, thank you !
I hope you enjoy the video.
A solo venture for myself on Saturday saw me cover 312 miles to capture LMS 46100 Royal Scot on the Magna Carta from Crewe to Salisbury and this was supplemented by LNER B1 61306 Mayflower on Day one of the Welsh Dragon tour. My attempts at trying to cover the exploits of Mayflower lead to all sorts of issues which will be explained below if you're interested in the trials and tribulations of a linesider photographer !
We start the day of at Berkswell on the Birmingham to Coventry line. Steam on this section of line is rare, the last time I filmed on this section was 2015, so it was nice to be back. While 46100 sounded well there was a lot of background noise as there was the on going construction work on HS2 which is being constructed to run right over of the top of the existing railway. Now into Oxfordshire I headed for Radley where we here the Scot working well with her heavy train as the loco tries to regain time having just left Oxford 14 late. While I'm no fan of the diesel being on the back you have to congratulate Saphos Trains and there crew on not relying on the diesel to help out and claw back time.
Now on the outskirts of Gloucester we capture our first shot Mayflower heading towards South Wales at Highnam she was smoking nicely, not one for the environmentalists, though scenes like these are rare ! The next location would of been just before Abergavenny and had the loco and train stopped at Cwmbran as scheduled I would of been set up and ready, unfortunately the train missed out the stop and was running 25 mins early so I all I could do was watch it come past with my own eyes as I had only just arrived. Having missed out on a shot I decided to gamble on a shot at Moreton On Lugg which is just after Hereford and then another shot just after a pathing stop/leg stretch for the passengers at Leominster.
With the train arriving 30 minutes early at Hereford I expected it to leave on time after its water stop, I was wrong, for some reason it was held for an extra 20 minutes, this would now likely mean the stop at Leominster would not be needed and I would be not be able to get another shot. So with the train now having arrived early at Hereford, the train now left 20 minutes late. At least we would get a fast run past at Moreton as they tried to make up time ? How wrong was I, the signalman left the semaphore signals at danger, so the locomotive and trained crawled up slowly towards us and came to stop, the driver was less than impressed and you can see and hear his reaction and they pass the camera. Shots like this usually end up in the bin, but with a slow pass you can admire the sight of the locomotive and that lovely Apple Green paintwork !
While the train was at stand I dived back in the car and headed for Wistanstow at Craven Arms, I was hoping I could just get ahead of it, thankfully the train took its operational stop at Leominster for 15 minutes and that was crucial as it meant I made it with 10 minutes to spare. The train was now running almost 20 late and unfortunately the diesel was called upon to help out over the climb to Church Stretton, was the lack of water or coal an issue ? who knows ! Either way there's very little performance to speak of, though she had a good trail of steam and still looked great as she passed through the untouched Shropshire countryside.
While I was a bit downbeat with the penultimate shot, I fancied one more shot of Royal Scot and as she was passing close to home. So I carried on to Marston Green station just after Birmingham International, where Royal Scot can be heard working nicely away from the Airport. Spirits were lifted and I could now head home relatively happy from results of the day.
If you've read the above description of the days events, thank you !
I hope you enjoy the video.
