Home»All Photographs»Heritage Railways»Battlefield Line»2023_02_25

The weekend of Friday 24th to Sunday 26th February 2023 was quite difficult to choose between local railway events. 5043s test runs on Friday proved to be successful and no further tests were deemed necessary. The Great Central were running only between Leicester North and Mountsorrel with two DMU rakes on both days and I had been told by a usually reliable source that Shackerstone would use a diesel locomotive on Saturdays and steam on Sundays during the school holiday weekends. On checking the Battlefield Line website however, it showed ‘Crompton’ Type 3 33 053 rostered on both days. Decision made therefore; Shackerstone Saturday, GCR Sunday as Sunday’s weather forecast was better and I thought time keeping might be better on the second day of GCR shuttles. As usual I went to Market Bosworth for the first train on Saturday 25th February 2023. 11:10 came and went without any sign of a train as did 11:20 and 11:30. It was about 11:40 when a young woman informed us that the train’s engine wouldn’t start but the 12:30 onwards trains would run as normal. My quick decision was to head for an early lunch and hope to see the 12:30 train on the way out somewhere near Shenton. I saw it but could not identify it and settled for the return run near Far Coton. The rest of the afternoon is best followed using the photograph captions.