Can someone tell me which loco was going through Oxford on Friday afternoon (11/04/14)

I was in Oxford on Friday afternoon and the sound of a steam loco was booming through the city, does anyone know what it was/where it was going etc.?

 

Nope none of them seem to fit….

 

It's that phantom Bulleid, that was seen/heard last year........................................

Looks like Tangmere, but isn't, its the wrong shade of green - people on here have 'seen/heard' it, even the Mrs & one or two others I know have!!

 

Road steam perhaps? There are some noisy ones about..

 

What?................................. it made you jump & you almost spilt your pint?..............................

 

Yes, It would rather make you say that, and then wonder what was in the beer!

Still, this mystery steam loco is rather intriguing....................

 

Glad you think so too, it sounded more like a train but I could be wrong…. I was pretty close to the station however was on a canal boat at the time so couldn't get to the station quick enough!

 

I don't think you are wrong!

This was discussed some time ago on the light engine thread.......................... I wasn't going to say anything at the time until another poster said someone they knew saw/heard it in Sallisbury, and then deleted the post for fear of being perceived as having been at the wacky backy...................... until I said that my Mrs had seen it a few days earlier in Mortlake whilst waiting at the crossing gates, and some guy wandered up to the barriers on the other side, whipped a camera out of a bag and took a picture of it going past.................................. she came home and told me, I showed her numerous pictures of various loco's - she identified Tangmere, but said it was not BR green, but lighter..................... and as Tangmere is the only Spam Can on the network the mind boggles............................. and there have been other "sightings" by various people I know!

 

But that picture has never materialised anywhere on the internet has it.

 

True, but why should it...................................... not everything makes it on to the web!

There have been numerous "sightings", and the Mrs saw it - and that said, I've heard steam whistles on occasion screaming down the Chiltern main line, when no steam has been booked to run........... are we hearing the ghosts of time past?.....

As I said the mind boggles!!!

 

You'd be surprised how far sound can travel in the right conditions, when I have my bedroom windows open on a warm summer Sunday morning, I can often hear Rood Ashton Hall climbing the bank out of Tyseley with the ECS for the Shakespeare, despite being 2/3 miles distant and the background noise of suburbia.

I love the sound of the Swindon bark in the morning

 

Oh it does! eventually.

 

ok maybe I am missing something, but are the reports above someone pulling my leg or is there something going on?

 

You 'avin a wind up Jeff?????

I've got hundreds of images that'll never grace the web!

 

I don't think you are.......................... and I'm certainly not pulling anyone's leg!!

As crazy as it sounds there 'HAS' to be something going on............................. take my Mrs for example, she came home wanting to know what steam loco she saw that day, I asked where & when - checked all the usual sources, NOTHING!! so I asked her to go though various photo's of the usual suspects down here, and as soon as she saw Tangmere, said "That's it!" (except the colour was wrong) But it can't have been 34067 as she was still up at Carnforth.........

Soooo you tell me there's not something going on.......................................... the plot, as they say "thickens"...................... and as there have been various reports of sightings over the last six months..........

 

I'll apologise in advance but surely the answer is clear.........................

It's the Strategic Reserve moving to be broken up as part of Government cuts - included in a Top Secret part of the 2010 Defence Cuts but it has taken 4 years to start getting the locos into working order so they can be moved to the breakers.

 

Well, a class 66 does have the similar profile to Tangmere, specially to a woman.