The Cathedrals Explorer Days 1 & 2 w/35028 & 60009 - 09 & 10/05/13

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• published: 12 May 2013
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The Railway Touring Company has 'The Great Britain', Steam Dreams has 'The Cathedrals Explorer', an eight day tour running across England and Wales with a variety of locomotives and destinations. As I was limited to using the train I decided to use the last box on my rail pass for days one and two of the tour. Day one would feature a diesel run from Kensington Olympia to London Victoria. BR(S) Merchant Navy Class 4-6-2 no.35028 'Clan Line' would then take charge from Victoria, running to Exeter St Davids via the Southern Main Line. My location for day one was going to be Grateley, however, after arriving into Basingstoke to change trains only to find my train to Grateley leaving I was stuck with Basingstoke. As you can see in the opening clip it was very windy indeed. As Clan Line had been stopped just outside of Basingstoke she wasn't exactly going to be speeding through, but what that did mean is that we got the lovely 3-cylinder beat as she accelerated past. Now I could have gone for another shot but I decided not to since I could only get one more (Honiton Station), plus if I did I wouldn't have gotten back home to Swindon until 21:30 which wasn't really worth it. Day two would see Clan Line start off from Exeter St Davids and head off up the branch to Okehampton, the now terminus of of the former Southern mainline from Exeter to Plymouth. She would then head back to Exeter where after a 24 minute stop she would head along the Great Western Main Line to Bristol. At Bristol, Clan Line would come off the train where LNER A4 Class 4-6-2 no.60009 'Union Of South Africa' would take over to Shrewsbury, having a stop off at Cardiff for passengers to explore the cathedral city. We start the day off at Tiverton Parkway where we catch Clan Line galloping away in good form. Unfortunately whilst I was at Tiverton Parkway I discovered the pan tension dial on my tripod had jammed on an extremely tight setting, so quick panning proved rather difficult. A pathing stop at Taunton meant I could catch her a second time, I decided to see her at Taunton as I could get an in depth look at her. After that she is seen departing in her usual steamy style, with a typical slip which the Bulleid Pacifics were known for. My next location after Taunton would be Filton Abbeywood for 60009, this would be my first time seeing her running as the two times I'd seen her before she was just sat outside the NRM at York. I went to Filton expecting her to be working hard up the 1:75 gradient of Filton Bank, and that's exactly what I got......until she got to the bridge just before the station and shut off. So enjoy the sound of her climbing away in the distance, shutting off and then whistling past us (Don't worry about the darkness at the beginning, it's supposed to be like that). With Clan Line's part in this tour finished, she would have to run back to Stewarts Lane Depot and the main tour having the long stop off at Cardiff meant I could see her at Keynsham. It isn't the best shot in the world though as I duffed up the zooming and of course had the problem with my tripod which I explained earlier. Back to the main tour and my final shot of the day, and for this I decided on Abergavenny Station which sits at the the foot of Llanvihangel Bank, which sees gradients as steep as 1:82. I decided to park myself on the northern end of the platform so I could get 60009 shooting round the corner at speed. 60009 certainly wasn't hanging around as she blasts through Abergavenny with some very enthusiastic whistling, a very fitting way to end the day and it was lovely to see an A4 at speed again, streaking along if you will. Filmed on a Panasonic HDC-HS900 with a Panasonic VW-VMS2E microphone. Enjoy.