70013 Oliver Cromwell, The Devonian, 25th July 2009

As a young trainspotter, the most exciting loco you were likely to see in the westcountry was a Britannia on a summer special; that high running plate made them seem really big and impressive, but most important: they were new and built in my lifetime!! I still have that same thrill when I see Oliver Cromwell on the mainline, always well turned out and just as impressive as those rare Britannias I remember 50 years ago. This solo trip over the South Devon banks has been eagerly awaited and did not disappoint, with excess steam gushing from the safety valves for most of the way, something that would have been frowned on in B.R. days but no-one can blame todays crews for playing it safe with steam pressure! The first location, on the outward leg, is from the top of Tigley bank on the gradually easing climb to Rattery and the foothills of Dartmoor beyond. Then the popular (but not today for some reason) and very windy, Coombe Fishacre on the return from Plymouth, and finally through the Killerton Estate in the Culm valley after the stop at Exeter. Unfortunately since my last visit to the last location, the grass had grown to well over 5ft, so I had to be content with a lesser view further down the hill, pull the shot right in and shoot through the grass as I had no time to change location; it was a really difficult pan but ended a day of, what turned out to be, mainly close-up studies of no.13 hard at work.

Видео 70013 Oliver Cromwell, The Devonian, 25th July 2009 канала Steamclips