6233 – Duchess of Sutherland speeding in the night

I started out with the best of intentions today to photograph a rare steam engine on a tour from London Victoria to Cardiff, via Gloucester and Chepstow. I’d tipped off Incredibish who also likes to enjoy experiencing the passage of steam trains and we’d made tentative arrangements to meet in the Golden Valley. I wasn’t certain I’d be able to actually get there, as I’d been feeling a little unwell, and in the end we decided to make independent arrangements. In the end Incredibish had to abandon his journey because of the awful traffic chaos around Stroud’s town and valleys, partly weather related but mostly to do with the intensive digging up of local roads to replace the main sewers.

In the end I went to the nearest place where I could watch the train crossing the railway viaduct over the river Frome and the adjacent canal. Once I got there and could finally get the online Real Time train information service, which had  stalled for nearly an hour, I read the train would be 80 minutes late, so I went home. I thought I’d come back in good time as our house was only a two minute drive away. I was just making a cup of tea and then heard the unmistakeable whistle of the steam train as it approached the town, meaning it was only thirty minutes late. I rushed to the back door but only saw the smoke over the trees.

I knew the train would be returning early in the evening by the same route, so I headed to Stroud station where I knew that there was at least some limited lighting on the platform. This time it was on time. A distant whistle gave us forewarning and it was a delight to see it rush through the station at quite a good speed heading up the valley towards Sapperton Bank, a testing climb for any engines. The journey along the valley provides spectacular views of the pretty landscape, the industrial development of the former water mills on the river Frome and the intricate housing which had evolved close to the industry.

My picture is very ‘noisy’ because I deliberately used a very high ISO setting to try and get some reasonable detail in the image. Luckily I sent it to Incredibish to show him the engine, and he kindly did some heavy duty rescuing of the image and returned it to me. I have taken the liberty, with great thanks, of using his version for my Blip today. Thanks you, M.. The beer will be on me another time as agreed.

While on the platform in the few minutes I had waiting for the train’s arrival, I met John W., who it turns out had seen and photographed the same engine when it came through the station that lunchtime. He roams the country in search of trains and takes great pictures, which you can see on Flickr. He seems to particularly like ‘6233 – Duchess of Sutherland’ and this is his photo of the engine approaching Stroud station in daylight, and passing the Brunel Goods Shed which I've helped to preserve as a trustee of Stroud Preservation Trust. It was handed over to Stroud Valleys Art Space some years ago and they now successfully use it for events. This link shows information and pictures about the Goods Shed project.