Great Western Coffee Shop

In the last ten days there have been two steam hauled railtours through Swindon.

On the 15th May the British Pullman waited for time at the station in both directions as it took people on a tour from London Victoria to Bristol Temple Meads.

35028 Clan Line hauled the train.  Seen below leaving Swindon on the homeward leg before passing Cholsey after a watering stop at Wantage Road

(http://www.mbob.co.uk/rforum/swisteam1.jpg)

(http://www.mbob.co.uk/rforum/swisteam2.jpg)

Then tonight "Black Five" 44871 took a Steam Dreams train from Victoria to Worcester Shrub Hill.  It is seen here catching the evening sun at Moredon Bridge, north of Swindon after a water stop at Kemble.

(http://www.mbob.co.uk/rforum/swisteam3.jpg)

Great pictures, bobm - particularly the first!  :D

Of course, some may think of the "Black 5" as a form of "Modified Hall," bearing in mind whose design it was and his employment history ;)

I have to say that the Black 5 is my favourite steam locomotive of all, having first cast eyes on them in the mid '60s south of Preston when they still roamed wild.  I would love to drive one, and if I ever fell into a fortune - I would want to own one!

I also have a fine model of Hall 5960 and they are very comparable objects of beauty.

Black 5s were seen in Bristol on a daily basis when I were a lad. I particularly remember 45268 which was a Saltley engine at the time and seemed to spend more time in Bristol than it did in Brum :)

Here's one I prepared earlier: https://www.flickr.com/photos/93122458@N08/15342596067/

And here's another one - not a Black 5 of course but it sounds like one  ;D

https://www.flickr.com/photos/93122458@N08/22312993800/

That same train came through Wokingham just before 10 pm on Thursday - working hard, as usual for steam, though it doesn't look like much of a gradient. I really nipped out mainly to see how we will be impacted by the recent installation of barriers. Will they find the staff to keep them operating through the evening, so we can't just wander onto the platform? I've seen them locked up quite early on, but on Thursday that didn't happen - there was still one hugely bored SWR bloke out there up to 10 pm.

So here's a picture - not a nostalgic one, it just shows that a gateline is worth much better protection from the weather than mere passengers.