THE NIGHT OF 70000 BRITANNIA AT STONE & STOKE ON TRENT, *SPECTACULAR DEPARTURE! 27.4.2022

A small crowd assembled on Stone station for world famous steam locomotive 70000 Britannia, which was scheduled to stop there, but after a 390 Pendolino races by on the Colwich line, Britannia blasts through non stop! Britannia was travelling from Kidderminster SVR to Llandudno.
Later the same evening, she is seen arriving at Stoke on Trent, and the scheduled eight minutes stop is filmed in its entirety, such was the spectacle (for this old bloke anyway, my first steam locomotive sighting at Stoke since 1968!), and another small crowd enjoyed a long look at a pristine standard class seven passenger locomotive.
Eventually, after letting off steam enough to deafen me and leave my ears singing with the same effect as a full volume Nazareth gig (Stafford Gatehouse 1984) with a deep toned whistle she began a slow but spectacular and dramatic exit...
I've seen some good ones, but this for me was the very best in my lifetime.
Twenty years ago to the day, my dad passed away. I am grateful for him taking me to Stoke shed (5D) and other locations such as Manchester Victoria, Bolton, Stafford and Norton Bridge, to see the very last days of main line steam.
He would certainly have been there this evening had he been still alive, aged 85, but sadly cancer took him too early.
Big thanks to Dan and SJ for company, and nice to see a few familiar faces including Nathan.
The Night of 70000, tinnitus in both ears hahaha, but I'm very happy.

[@antmerritt]

Wow! That scene when the Brit pulls away at the end! 🙀 great!!! 😁👍 Some nice shots. Love the feel of your vids and always great to see SJ! You have made your Dad proud! What a top bloke he must have been. The Cheadle branch film you put up of him was great to see as I would have been exploring it about the same time with my own (now passed) family members. Bostin’ vid mate. Thanks! 😁👍👊😎

[@StaffsTransport]

Thanks for your interest. Indeed it was mind blowing, especially at night. I miss my dad, his interest in railways never faded.

[@StaffsTransport]

And thanks for mentioning SJ

[@lwerelwere8880]

Amazing xxxx SJ is the cutest xxxx

[@StaffsTransport]

She's great company Xxxxx

[@jeremywilliams7250]

Great.

[@swordstoke]

Fabulous!

[@StaffsTransport]

It was amazing, mind blowing, thanks for watching

[@SNStuart]

Very well made video

[@StaffsTransport]

Thanks. I just kept filming, didn't want to miss any of it. Blew my head off, ears still singing this morning lol

[@musictravelandtheatre]

Magnificent engineering.

[@StaffsTransport]

Absolutely, built in Crewe works, 1951

[@Savoy1984]

How did you manage to film it two separate places top work however you did it.

[@StaffsTransport]

It went into the old California Works loop for 15 minutes which enabled me to get from Stone to Stoke. Made it with about five minutes to spare. Cheers. I kept filming because I didn't want to look back on it and wish I'd got more footage. It was the most stunning blast off I've ever seen, and I have seen some great ones.

[@Savoy1984]

@@StaffsTransport Awesome stuff, got a real soft spot for Stoke station and especially seeing a train like that there is icing on the cake… always good to have more footage than you need… I still to this day can’t believe I never filmed in a video shop or cinema.

[@Muppetjedi]

How do you know about these old steam trains being on the line? I've close to Longport station and i would love to see these racing through

[@StaffsTransport]

Two FB groups: Railscene Stoke on Trent & Railscene Crewe. These usually have plenty of advance info. There is a steam locomotive through Stafford this week, as I found out last night, but not sure of the timings.