Home»All Photographs»Year Albums»2023»January»2023_01_21 GCR

Saturday 21st January 2023 was expected to be a bright, sunny, frosty day in Leicestershire with the GCR offering an expanded timetable with two steam locomotives and a diesel railcar in operation. As it was the weekend before the Railway’s Winter Steam Gala it was always possible, though unlikely, that one of the visiting locomotives might make an appearance on a test run. Also news had just been released that 9F 2-10-0 92214 had been repainted in unlined black livery and there cannot be a single railway enthusiast that is not excited about photographing it in its only proper livery. There was nothing on the website to indicate that most of the special workings were “Wedding Belle” trips. Congratulations to Poppy and Rob. I hope you had a very enjoyable day at the GCR. The day was not without unexpected events. The first DMU did not reach Leicester North and it had not passed through Kinchley Lane when I arrived there. I assumed it had been cancelled as a result of the cold weather either causing wax precipitation in the fuel lines or batteries failing to turn the engines over. Apparently the green three-car unit had departed Loughborough Station but was unfit to continue beyond station limits. It was replaced later in the day with the blue unit running as a two-car set.