AMAZING ! 14 Down and More to Come. THE GREAT BRITAIN RAILTOUR

Saturday April 13th sees the start of the 2024 edition of the Railway Touring Company’s “Great Britain XVI” steam rail tour of the U.K. concluding on Sunday 21st. Now firmly established as an annual event (with a couple of exceptions), this year’s tour does not include the far Southwest in its itinerary.
With that in mind, I thought it would be interesting to compile a history of visits to the Southwest of England, starting with the very first “Great Britain” tour back in 2007 followed by short clips of every tour since.
I hope you will find it fascinating, not only looking back at the motive power combinations over the years but also the change in video quality as camera equipment improved over the time.
For the technically minded:
This video is presented in 1920 x 1080 50P (FHD) format which involves the up scaling of most of the original clips:
The first clip was produced from a mere 720 x 405 30i (DVD letterbox) and the second clip from 850 x 480 25i (SD 16:9) both exhibit interlacing effects during fast movement when converted here to “progressive” scan.
The last two clips were captured at 3840 x 2160 50P (UHD) and therefore down scaled here. It is interesting to note that when recording in this format 50 images of 8.3Mp are captured every second and each image is close to the image quality of the very best SLR still cameras back in 2007!
All other clips were captured at 1280 x 720 25P (HD).
Chapters:
00:00 Titles & Great Britain
01:24 Great Britain 2
02:05 Great Britain 3
03:20 Great Britain 4
03:58 Great Britain 5
05:03 Great Britain 6
05:46 Great Britain 7
07:15 Great Britain 8
08:45 Great Britain 9
09:56 Great Britain 10
11:24 Great Britain 11
13:14 Great Britain 12
14:12 Great Britain 14
15:17 Great Britain 15
Links to the original uploads *:
Great Britain 2: • The Great Britain II, ...
Great Britain 3: • 44871 + 70013 Oliver C...
Great Britain 4: • 44871 + 70013 Oliver C...
Great Britain 5: • 34067 + 70013, The Gre...
Great Britain 6: • Heroic "Black 5s" to t...
Great Britain 7: • The Great Britain VII....
Great Britain 8: • 70000 Britannia "Flat"...
Great Britain 9: • 46100 Royal Scot Surge...
Great Britain 10: • 34052 + 46100 Six Cyli...
Great Britain 11: • 45212 + 31806 Top & Ta...
Great Britain 12: • Magnificent 46233 Duch...
Great Britain 14: • 6233 Duchess of Suther...
Great Britain 15: • Black 5 44932 Heads Da...
* Note: the original Great Britain tour pre-dates my current KZbin library.

[@thebrummierailenthusiasts5329]

0:30 this was the year of 5051s last mainline appearance before withdrawal and she’s now on display

[@Steamclips]

She was a good loco, maybe she will come back one day. Alan

[@tadpoles10]

'Amazing' once again you have pulled the steam rabbit out of the hat Alan .. 😅 What a joy to have this pop up to enjoy after a wild & very windy day that was storm Nelson. A mighty amount of 'motive power' with two up at times & what a sound .. 👍 Thanks as always for your dedication in bringing these clips for us all to enjoy for many years to come. atvb t .. 😉

[@Steamclips]

Hi Terry, glad you enjoyed. Thank you as always for your support, it is very much appreciated. Best regards, Alan P.S. look out for my next upload on Monday.

[@that_transport_guy5404]

Great video! Hoping to see the 1st and last leg of the tour!

[@justandy333]

What a joy to watch these clips. Thankyou for sharing with us. I especially loved the 3rd clip of Cromwell and the Black five. A wonderful shot of them, brilliant camera work, nice and smooth and steady, just the right amount of zoom, A nice long panning shot, the sun glinting off the paintwork and everyone loves a double headed train. Beautiful.

[@Steamclips]

Thank you so much Andy for such kind comments, I really appreciate it. Best regards, Alan

[@justandy333]

@@Steamclips You're very welcome. You're one of the best railway photo/videographers on KZbin. It would be rude to not show one's appreciation 😉

[@Steamclips]

Here's a heads-up for tomorrow (Monday) Andy. Should make you and like minded friends smile if you share!@@justandy333

[@bobingram6912]

An unexpected Easter Egg for the eyes and ears. I don't know what all that picture size explanation was about, a bit too technical for me but it turned out a proper job. The only steam we get round here is when I'm boiling the kettle for a brew😢😢 Thanks Alan for editing this up for us - Tangmere, Oliver and the beautiful Duchess, my eyes and ears are in your debt❤ Best wishes to you Sir.

[@Steamclips]

Yes Bob, an Easter Egg for you! but look out for the Easter Bunny on Monday !! I think you will enjoy it. Thank you as always for being a pal. Best wishes, Alan

[@Mounhas]

I love all steam locomotives especially the southern. Great compilation video, thank you.

[@Steamclips]

Hi and thank you for your kind and very much appreciated feedback. Best regards, Alan

[@wgj4813]

A wonderful record of which i partook in some. I feel the hey day of the Great Britains is now over with maroon cruising tubes and a diesel at the back spoiling the true essence of steam haulage.

[@philipizzard2584]

Some nice video clips bringing back memories,so isn’t this years tour coming to the south west at all then.??

[@Steamclips]

Hi Philip, thank you for your kind and much appreciated feedback. The last leg is from Swansea to Paddington via Gloucester and the Golden Valley, so will be going for that if the weather is O.K. Best regards, Alan

[@philipizzard2584]

@@Steamclips good luck hopefully the weather is good for you and the tour goes well.

[@kellyashfordtrains2642]

There's a Central Door Locking issue hanging over the Mk. 1 coaches at this moment in time. The Mk. 2 coaches are in use instead, meaning air braked steamies only. The Great Britain Railtour may never be seen again, unless the issue can be resolved. It's the truth.

[@Steamclips]

It will be interesting to see how it all pans out Kelly. Best regards, Alan

[@billmoore1936]

I am sure it can be resolved with a bit of thinking like they did with the air breaks some kind of electrical system Bill

[@jameshardy4354]

It's all west coast railways fault

[@steamtothewest-trecanrail]

Disappointed when I found out this years tour wouldn’t track further south than Bristol. Hardly a Great Britain tour without visiting Somerset, Dorset, Devon or Cornwall. Anyway, I digress, maybe a Hastings DEMU or Blue Pullman will make up for it.

[@Steamclips]

Hi Hector. Yes very disappointing but I will still go for the last leg: Swansea to Paddington. See you lineside sometime. Best regards, Alan

[@AndreiTupolev]

Oh yes, that's right, i thought it came to Weymouth one time, that was one of the very rare main line appearances by 31806. Will thry be using WCR stock again, or borrowing some from someone else?

[@Steamclips]

Yes Andrei, that was a most unusual leg. We will have to wait and see what the solution to the latest stock problems turns up. Best regards, Alan

[@ethan46441]

Definitely going to be interesting to see what the motive power and final route ends up being (got an email off RTC yesterday saying it had been posted out so will find out after the Easter Weekend I'd imagine; I'm expecting a lot, if not all of it, to be in the hands of Riley's various Black 5s)

[@Steamclips]

Hi Ethan and thank you for your interesting input. I am also waiting as I plan to film the last leg. Best regards, Alan

[@that_transport_guy5404]

Most of it is hauled by double headed black 5s and the Monday leg is hauled by tangmere. It’s been put up on the RTC website

[@ethan46441]

I did wonder at what point they were going to update the website. The interesting thing now will be to see if there have been some late minor adjustments to what has come in my travel pack today with the confirmed itinerary as it doesn't entirely line up

[@that_transport_guy5404]

@@ethan46441 I know that day 1 is not going to Cheltenham and not worcester

[@ethan46441]

@@that_transport_guy5404 Yeah that's right. In theory we're going out via Sapperton on day 1 vice Oxford and Moreton (particularly given we have a water stop at Challow) so certainly looking forward to the Eastbound climb (only done Westbound). Only other differences are fairly minor (booklet has us going via Ayrshire coast not Kilmarnock and going via Chester and Gresford Bank on our way to Swansea vice Crewe)

[@jameshardy4354]

What's going to happen to this years great Britain railtour with west coast railways current problems

[@Steamclips]

Hi James, your guess is as good as mine, but hopefully solutions will be found in time. Best regards, Alan