60007 Sir Nigel Gresley at full speed along the North Wales Coast! | The Red Dragon Day 4 | 18/9/24

Today’s video sees me travel up to Abergele & Pensarn station on the North Wales Coast Mainline for LNER A4 4-6-2 Sir Nigel Gresley! 60007 was hauling Day 4 of Steam Dreams’ “The Red Dragon” tour. This would be the first time an A4 travelled along the North Wales Coast Mainline in a decade, and to add to the charm, the train would run unassisted. It originated at Holyhead, with the A4 having brought the stock there the night before. She travelled across Anglesey, then across the Menai Straits and to Bangor, where passengers would board. After that she continued via Llandudno Junction, Rhyl and Chester to Crewe where steam would be replaced by diesel for the run along the Heart of Wales line to Cardiff Central. The weather was meant to be significantly less cloudy than it was which was a shame, especially as the weather cleared up almost as soon as I’d gotten on the train home lol.
With the water stop at Llandudno I was hoping to see it twice, however I ran into trouble finding trains to Llanfairfechan or Conwy from my local at that time in the morning and I also realised that any shot done before Llandudno would make doing Abergele impossible and I didn’t fancy the shot at Rhyl much. Therefore with help from ‪@harnettyrailways‬ I managed to cover two locations at Abergele, cheers to Richard for him manning the camera on the bridge!
I set out from my local at 6:05 and headed North to Crewe, where the 08:21 TfW service took me to Chester. A quick change, and by 9:36 I was in Abergele. I firstly headed to the bridge East of the station to have a chat with Richard and set up the camera facing over the bay. Once I had done so and 60007 had departed Llandudno Junction, I ran down to the bridge West of the station where Gwrych Castle and the A55 forms the backdrop, the location my secondary planner recommended I do! 60007 came streaking along the line close to her maximum permitted speed, with whistles for everyone. At that, my short day was over and I headed home! There was a brief glimmer of hope that 60007 would be held at Chester due to lateness inflicted on it by the preceding Birmingham train which would have meant an extra shot for me but that didn’t happen. Update: However it did happen at Crewe! I'm uploading a short of 60007 coming off the train and moving to the depot, I'll post the link here once it's up: • Loco change at Crewe! ...
Thanks as always for everyone involved, to Richard, my secondary planner, TfW and WMR, and thanks also to LSL, 60007 and her crew for the great performance! I hope you enjoy this rare footage as I did!

[@DavidWilliams-p1n]

Wonderful to see , I remember as a young boy seeing her in Crewe sheds back in the sixties , my dad was a train driver and he took me to see her

[@crunchynutsteamfilms5043]

Thanks for sharing these memories and it must have been quite a sight for you! An A4 is a masterpiece of design. Regards, Dan

[@andrewjohnfox]

A classic shot of an A4 at speed . While most people know of Mallard's record, the real success of the A4 class was to be able to run all day with a heavy train at maximum line speed exactly as in your video. Many thanks for getting up early for this one.

[@crunchynutsteamfilms5043]

Thank you very much! Yes the A4s were locomotives extremely well suited to their use and I'm glad you think the video showcases that! Cheers for your comments as always. Regards, Dan

[@ldegmtrainspotter]

Fantastic video 🚂🚂👍👍

[@crunchynutsteamfilms5043]

Many thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed it! Regards, Dan

[@JWS-t3w]

Brilliant captures! 12 on and no diesel, and seeing gresley stretching its legs is absolutely wonderful!

[@crunchynutsteamfilms5043]

Thank you very much and I absolutely agree it makes a lovely sight! Regards, Dan

[@ceanothus_bluemoon]

Lovely to see her without a diesel on the rear!

[@crunchynutsteamfilms5043]

Most certainly was, in all honesty that was part of the point of me going in the first place lol! Regards, Dan

[@Phil-go8rf]

I know these days it’s mainly for operational reasons but it’s nice to see a steam hauled train without a 47 on the back.

[@crunchynutsteamfilms5043]

Oh absolutely it is, it was one of the main incentives for me to go all the way to see it! I'm very glad you enjoyed, thank you! Regards, Dan

[@Phil-go8rf]

@@crunchynutsteamfilms5043 I probably spend too much time watching the videos you guys post but I now live and work in France which has many upsides but sadly they don’t have the vibrant preservation movement that we have in the UK. There are hardly any standard gauge heritage lines and only three or four steam locomotives cleared for the mainline so there are probably as many steam specials a year here as you guys sometimes get in a week.

[@steamtothewest-trecanrail]

Excellent catch! Superb to see Sir Nigel Gresley unassisted. I hope this becomes a more frequent occurrence for Saphos and Steam Dreams.

[@crunchynutsteamfilms5043]

Cheers mate! Absolutely it's great to see and I'd love to see it become more frequent too. Regards, Dan

[@a.r.productions]

Remarkable UNASSISTED performance! Great video Sir 😄

[@crunchynutsteamfilms5043]

Thank you very much and lovely indeed to see her run unassisted! regards, Dan

[@GreatBritishRailways1]

Dan, Great captures in a nice location. Regards, John

[@crunchynutsteamfilms5043]

Cheers John, I'm very glad you enjoyed them! Regards, Dan

[@stephenbrass1808]

Very nice, cheers Steve . 👍

[@crunchynutsteamfilms5043]

Many thanks Steve! I'm very glad you enjoyed it. Regards, Dan

[@trevorveail]

As a teenager back in the early 1960 I often heard and sawA4s going at speed on the middle avoiding linesat Doncasterstation. It was always a great sight to see and hear the A4s doing their long non stop rns.

[@crunchynutsteamfilms5043]

That's fantastic! I'm very glad to have brought you back some memories and I'll bet all that was very impressive to see in person. Thank you for sharing! Regards, Dan

[@ЛЬВИНИ]

Excellent shot. Like!

[@crunchynutsteamfilms5043]

Thank you very much! It's greatly appreciated! Regards, Dan

[@AnDroid-vq5oo]

Wonderfull, and no pesky diesel on the rer.

[@crunchynutsteamfilms5043]

Most certainly a welcome sight! A large reason of why I went was due to it being unassisted lol. Regards, Dan

[@kellyashfordtrains2642]

What colour would you like to be painted if you were an LNER A4?

[@steamtothewest-trecanrail]

Polished Silver like a 2010 McLaren F1 car

[@crunchynutsteamfilms5043]

I've always loved blue on A4s, either BR or LNER. Regards, Dan

[@Hondascooterguy]

I'm well peed off the idiots running Gresley did not put it down the Welsh line, waited at a Welsh station to find 2 dirty diesels pulling carriages, I'm glad I wasn't on the carriages as I'd have demanded a refund for the audacity if there going to do a run then all the way or not at all in my opinion 🤔🙄

[@crunchynutsteamfilms5043]

Haha I'm not a fan of the diesels myself lol but unfortunately the A4 is well above the maximum weight restriction to operate on the Central Wales Line. Hopefully you'll get another shot at seeing her! Regards, Dan