Favourite Railtour

Mine must have been The Dorset Coast Express hauled by 70013 Oliver Cromwell from Norwich last Saturday, thundering along the ECML at speed was amazing and will never forget the faces of stunned commuters as we rored through the verious stations on the approach to London...


If it's a railtour witnessed from the line side it was to be when the Duchess came to Norwich last August the sound she was making on an incline just out side Norwich was amazing i have never heard anything like it in my life.

 

The most amazing sound I've witnessed (from a steam loco, at least) was in March 2006 when Leander climbed the Lickey unassisted. The roar from that engine was just incredable. There were probably a couple of hundred of us in the fields around the line that evening. Magic!

 

I saw the youtube video of leander heading through bromsgrove. I wish i'd been on it!

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Toss up for me between that run with 5690 unaided up the Lickey, 5051/5029 Taunton - Penzance in 2004 blasting over the banks like over a Castle can, or making a recent entry 46115 for destroying Shap southbound a couple of weeks ago.

 

The CE run that 70013 did from London to Bath and Bristol last year was pretty memorable for me and ranks as a favourite. Firstly because I thought I would never get a run behind 70013 as I thought that she would be forever on show at Bressingham. And secondly the performance from 70013 and her crew was stunning throughout. The sound from the Brit was superb. I will never forget the climb of Upton Scudamore bank. The run to Exeter with 70013 a few days later was one of my favourites too due to the climb of Honiton and the fast and very noisy return run. Since returning to action 70013 has provided me with several of my favourite ML moments. Another favourite was with 60007 also on a CE to Bath and Bristol. Once again we had superb performance throughout and the noise from 60007 was quite something. Speaking of A4's reminds me of another favourite. On a MHR Daylight Railtour to the SVR we had 73096 on the outward run which performed superbly and on the return run we had the magic combination of 60009 with the late Bryan Dudley-Ward on the regulator. The run through the Golden Valley up Sapperton bank was quite special as 60009, bathed in the evening sun powered up the bank in some style. I did have a lump in the throat on that day. I can't really pick an outright favourite as I have had a lot of very good runs (many with the excellent 73096) but those mentioned were the ones that really stick in the memory.

 

The Great Britain (the first one) for me. During the preceding years, as individual steam tours had covered more and more of the rail network, I'd had a silly dream that it may be possible to be steam-hauled all the way from Penzance to Thurso ... I never thought it would happen ... but it did!

 

its got to be king edward1 on the torbays its a great trip and well worth the money, \/ =D>