Saturday 28th April, a day when three locos took two trains from Bristol over the Devon Banks.
First up were 34067 Tangmere and 70013 Oliver Cromwell with the Great Britain V, a one-way journey from Bristol to Penzance on the eighth day of this annual round Britain railtour.
Leaving Bristol some two and a half hours later would be 5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe with The Cornishman, although the train had started from Tyseley.
Having travelled the 140+ miles from home, we arrived at Beam Bridge with just minutes to spare before 34067 and 70013 appeared round the curve, laying down a smokescreen that hid most of the train.
While both locos took water at the site of Tiverton Junction station, we moved on to the site of Silverton station, where the rails of the siding to the paper mills are still in situ. With another exhaust-laden runpast 34067, 70013 and the Great Britain disappeared off towards Penzance, leaving us to return to Whiteball and await 5043 and The Cornishman.
Using two cameras doubled the coverage of the Castle climbing towards the tunnel, and we used the same setup at Dainton, one camera by the roadside at Whiddon and the other in the field near the top of the bank.
For the return of 5043, we planned to set up either side of Langstone Rock, but as I reached the sea wall, with over ten minutes to spare, the Earl was emerging from Kennaway Tunnel and I had to slap the tripod down in a less than perfect position and couldn't pan round. This is why the coverage looks slightly odd.
Moving beyond the Exeter water stop, we went to Burlescombe and joined the throng on the bridge to await the sight and sound of a Castle attacking the western side of Whiteball. It was strange then, that no one heard the train coming until the last moment and I'm sure I'm not the only one who was late starting the recording.