34046 Braunton's first Torbay Express - 18/08/13

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• published: 19 Aug 2013
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Another first for 34046 'Braunton' as Sunday 18th August saw her hauling her first Torbay Express since her return to mainline service, and only her second railtour since doing so. With my dad available I was able to chase her in the car, which meant I could film more shots and at a wider variety of locations than if I went by train as I have done with previous Torbay Expresses. As well as this run being a first for Braunton, my starting location with a first for me as I decided on Cogload Junction, a location I've been wanting to film at for a while now but never got around to it. We see Braunton speeding down the flyover, sporting the odd combination of Great Western headboard and Southern reporting discs, giving a nice blast on the whistle as she passes. I also took the opportunity to grab a second shot on the other side of the bridge with my phone (Samsung Galaxy S3) strapped to a post with a Gorillapod, with the audio from the main shot dubbed in. After this it was a mad dash to get to our second location at Whiteball. By this time it was pouring down with rain, I had planned to shoot from the little car park by Whiteball Tunnel (See here: http://youtu.be/jX3SX-6Mys4?t=21s) but when we got there, there was no space available so it was another mad dash back to Beam Bridge a little further down. By now Braunton would have been very close by so I just had to setup in the nearest decent spot, unfortunately in the rush to get setup I forgot to level my tripod, so the shot went from level to looking like Braunton with going down a very steep hill. Fortunately I managed to fix this in the edit so now it's all nice and level, but a lot more zoomed in than it should have been. After the soaking at Beam Bridge it was off to Goodrington, where Braunton is seen starting the climb to Churston, although with a nasty sounding wheeze. Apologies for the slight knock in the beginning of that clip, I accidentally bumped my camcorder with my hat, oops! Our next port of call would be Churston to see Braunton come up to be turned as well as seeing a few P&DSR services, although I didn't film this as I didn't want the video to be too long. So after Churston it was off to Paignton to get a few detailed shots of the Bulleid being serviced, and to meet up with a few friends. For the return shot I decided on Dawlish to catch her bursting out of the tunnel, now because I also wanted a panning shot my setup was a bit awkward as it meant putting my tripod over the other side of the fence and reaching through to film (See here: https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/1017017_10201227809472984_1492773663_n.jpg) hence the jerky pan. For the final shot I decided on the foot crossing just outside of Yatton Station, heavy traffic on the M5 made it doubtful that we would actually make it. Thankfully we did with five minutes to spare, with a further ten minutes to spare due to Braunton losing time between Taunton and Yatton, lucky us! So, catching some of the last rays of sun Braunton passes us for the last time, with a lovely whistle to boot! Apart from the few setbacks and indecisive weather it was a very enjoyable day's steam chasing, next thing to do now is see Braunton on a Royal Duchy! Filmed on a Panasonic HDC-HS900 with Pro Sound L92AA and Panasonic VW-VM2SE (Beam Bridge & Paignton shots only) microphones. Enjoy.