LNER A4 class No 60007 'Sir Nigel Gresley' is seen on its first full revenue earning excursion back in Express Passenger B.R blue on a Saphos Trains 'Welsh Marches Express' steam tour. The excursion started from Paignton and would head to Shrewsbury in Shropshire. The steam section would be from Bristol and it would include a return run over the hilly Welsh Marches Line.
The action is seen first from Abergavenny in Wales, where the A4 is seen approaching the foot of Llanfihangel Bank with the chime whistle being used to good affect. Just a few miles up the line and with the A4 now well into Llanfihangel Bank the Gresley masterpiece does well to haul its equivalent 15/16 coach load up the 1/82 gradient as the rain started to come down, no sanders either ! After its prolonged water stop at Hereford, we capture the A4 at Wistanstow where the loco seems to struggle after recovering from a bridge restriction near Craven Arms. The winding climb and its near 600 tonne train took another five minutes off its schedule with the excursion now running significantly late, kudos to the crew for not requesting help from the rear !
The return leg is captured first at Stapleton near Dorrington where I've had to edit the audio due to an ambulance pulling out of a side road with its sirens wailing, this pretty much obliterated some of the approach sound, so I've had to chop it out and then just go with the final 10 seconds of audio, apologies, it was either that or nothing but we felt the image was worth seeing, especially on the reverse curves. The final shot of the day was at All Stretton where the A4 is seen going well near the Summit at Church Stretton with a nice glimpse of sunlight coming through at the last second.
All in all, a good day out on the Welsh Marches Line capturing the only current working A4 class locomotive. I hope you enjoy the video.