Home»All Photographs»Mainline Railtours»Cotswold Venturer»2023_02_18

The Railway Touring Company sponsored Cotswold Venturer excursions to Cheltenham and Worcester have been very popular trips for my railway photography in recent years. The usually provide a few good locations for photography in the summer months and close proximity to Heritage Railways when the passengers are enjoying their visit to Worcester. Saturday 18th February 2023 was somewhat different in that the Heritage Railways were not running and there was no point in attempting ambient light photography much after about a quarter to five – so one shot on the return and hope the train was on time. Fortunately, it was. The locomotive was billed as GALATEA which pleased me as surely the nonsense of last year with that blend of inconsistent names, numbers and shed code would have been rectified during its winter intermediate overhaul. Surely Mr. Smith is not that strapped for cash that he can’t afford to paint the cab-sides, put on his old name and smokebox number plates for 45699 with a 22A shed plate. The other problem with these tours has been running without regard to the working timetable; facing delays due to operating reasons then cutting booked stops and ending up being out of path and stopped again. It turned out like that again on the way out, when it mattered, and, on the return, when it didn’t.