Home»All Photographs»Year Albums»2023»March»2023_03_11 The Stratford Flyer

On Saturday 11th March 2023 “The Railway Touring Company” promoted a steam hauled excursion from Manchester to Stratford-upon-Avon and return. The locomotive was not announced in advance of the train running and all the information available was ‘Carnforth Pool’. With Galatea down south and Leander at the KWVR Gala I rather suspected a Southern pacific; 35018 or 34067. For once I broke my own rule of not going out if I don’t know what engine to expect. It turned out to be 46115 SCOTS GUARDSMAN which was what I had hoped for but did not expect. I had intended to try for a shot in the Black Country but chickened out because of difficult road conditions in an area not known to me. The train was running in both directions on the North Warwickshire line so I had no problem finding suitable locations. The only problem with the train running was with the reversal between Stratford and Dorridge. The path provided by Network Rail was abandoned completely and the service departure was delayed by a few minutes in consequence.