'Earl of Mount Edgcumbe' storms up Sapperton bank

As I mentioned yesterday, I wanted to film a steam engine pulling an excursion train from Birmingham to Oxford, via Stroud and the Golden Valley cut by the River Frome. I arrived early enough at the place I'd located yesterday, but I had underestimated the number of other steam aficionados. there was no room for me to take a good position.

I decided to move along the track slightly to get away from the rather territorial video cameramen (yes, men). Some of the people were jovial and friendly but I could do without the rather dour atmosphere created by some of these train spotters.

We heard the whistle of the engine further down the valley warning us to be prepared. I was glad I had brought my long lens so I could catch a view which excluded the other trainspotters. I am blipping the final shot as it roared past me but I have added three earlier pictures to my 'Extra Photos' below, showing its ascent of the very steep incline up Sapperton Bank.

The train performed really well and seemed to be climbing as fast as the  express HST diesel trains I'd watched yesterday. The time between my first and last frame was twenty seconds, and the distance about a quarter of a mile. The rush of air and the noise of the engine working very hard was exhilarating.

On the way back up the hill to my car I chatted with Richard, who had driven from Oxford to watch this event. We had a similar background as children both enjoying time spent watching steam trains in the same part of Surrey, where the engine designs were quite different, but the fun was the same. It was good to meet him. I fear that was the last visit by a steam engine to these parts for some time, so I may have to visit heritage railways if I want to enjoy a similar experience.  But none of them will have an engine working as it was designed to do like 'Earl of Mount Edgcumbe'  managed today.

In case you are interested it was built in 1936 and was a 'Castle' Class of the Great Western Region. designed for express passenger trains. Almost certainly it would have been working on the route it was travelling here, possibly driving the famous Cheltenham Flyer Express, which plied daily to Paddington Station in London