5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe Thunders to Stratford-upon-Avon - The Shakespeare Express - 2024

[@JohnGillespie-s5n]

Lovely ex GWR castle

[@larx4074]

Very enjoyable, many thanks for sharing.

[@BarneySaysHi]

I've been to Stratford-Upon-Avon this year and I did see the Earl roll in with a full train. The locomotive got a bit thirsty, so its tender got filled by a fire hose connected to a fire hydrant.

[@vernongoodey5096]

Shame they don’t advertise when the loco is running instead of just either of their Castles as I’ve travelled behind Clun many times and still would love to travel behind this one!

[@steamtothewest-trecanrail]

They do on Facebook, but only about 3 days before

[@nicholaswiddup520]

My only observation as a non-railway enthusiast is that the effect of the locomotive's visit was absolutely ruined by the highly intrusive presence of the large diesel locomotive thumping away right behind the main event. I realise that Network Rail? insist on having a standby power source, but this can be done sensitively. By the way, do vintage diesel loco visits suffer the same problem?

[@steamtothewest-trecanrail]

A diesel is never normally there, and it surprised me when I first saw the train. Normally, these tours are unassisted. My guess is the locomotive scrapped through its fitness to run exam, but a diesel was required just in case of a problem.