5043 - Earl of Mount Edgcumbe - visits Stroud

I haven't blipped for a few days because I couldn't face recording in the wet atmosphere that has prevailed. But today I definitely wanted to record the steam train excursion which was due to pass through Stroud around lunchtime.

I have known about the event for sometime and had imagined I'd go down near the former site of Arundell Mill, from where I could have a panoramic view of Capel Mill viaduct, which I had blipped a few weeks ago. I'd hoped the sight of the engine in full steam crossing the viaduct would look good. That blip will have to wait for another time, when a suitable engine passes.

We get regular visits from these wonderful steam excursions because the railway line from Cheltenham and Gloucester, which travels up this famous Golden Valley towards Paddington, is renowned for its beauty. Not only that, the line climbs very steeply for several miles till it reaches Sapperton Bank, where it then dives into a long tunnel under the highest part of this part of the Cotswolds. This means the steam engine must build up a head of steam and speed at the lower end of the valley, and the keep working extremely hard to drag the heavy carriages up the twisting narrow valley.

I was glad I chose to photograph from the platform, because I got saturated just walking from the car park into the Brunel designed station buildings. There must have been a hundred people gathered on both platforms, many with stills and video cameras, so I chose to be the furthest west to get a clear view. A small child shouted out 'I can heeeaaaarrr it!', when the engine whistled further down the track, on its approach to the pedestrian crossing at Pagans Hill.

I was ready and within twenty seconds 5043 - Earl of Mount Edgcumbe - came towards me around the curve. It was probably travelling at nearly 50mph by the time it reached the platforms, which are elevated on a viaduct over Merrywalks, right at the centre of town. For those who follow my blips regularly the Wallbridge Lock and cafe are sited about sixty yards to my left, and of course a lot lower down.


ps
the last steam visitor I saw one evening