61306 – Mayflower double-heading with a Black Five

While sitting at the dining room table this morning listening to political analysis from the US and trying to raise energy to do my exercises, I heard the distinctive sound of a steam engine's whistle. I immediately knew that it was an occasional steam train excursion running down the Golden Valley, and that I had entered kit in my computer diary.

As it happens I couldn't easily have gone to photograph it with my current mobility impaired by my hip replacement. But I decided to check if it was on a circular route or if it would return later in the day. Adfter a bit of searching I found that it was the excursion from London's Paddington station to Cardiff via Gloucester and the banks of the River Severn's tidal estuary.

This evening I was better prepared and thought I'd see what sort of picture I might get from my study upstairs. I haven't been up there much in the last four weeks but I found climbing the stairs is now easier, so lugged my heavy long lens on my camera slung around my neck and gingerly climbed the stairs.

The train was actually about six minutes late and the light was fading fast so I decided to take a simple image with as low an ISO setting as possible. I've had to crop this heavily as I need to keep the aperture as wide as possible and the shutter speed is a bit slow. But at least I've got a blip and an unusual view as I've never seen a double-header on this line before. I recognise that the leading engine is 61306 – Mayflower, but can't identify the second engine. It appears to be a Black Five.