wisemanp 0 Posted September 27, 2010 Report Share Posted September 27, 2010 As I'm soon to depart north to university at Durham, I thought I'd head south and follow the last 'Torbay Express' of the season, this one to be headed by the now famous new build A1 60163 'Tornado'. A great day out! First shot is in the village of Flax Bourton, about 6 miles out of Bristol which is where the steam begins. There is an incline most of the way from Bristol up to Flax Bourton and we were right near the top. Pictures were tricky due to early morning sun conditions! The route then takes the train into Weston-Super-Mare before heading south to Taunton where it stops for 30 minutes to take water. The next spot for us was near Wellington, south of Taunton, on the incline up to White Ball summit. (For those of you not into railways, most people attempt to see trains on uphill sections because that's where they are working hardest, make the best sound, etc!) Can you spot our navigator and timetable reader? Walking along to find a good location, a First Great Western 125 came through... The locals wondered what was going on... I'm yet to decide between these two! Here is the accompanying video, shot on my phone which was held by my little finger whilst taking shots on the Canon! cZGERBi0Pp4 The Express then heads south through Tiverton, has 2 minutes stop in Exeter before hitting the Exe estuary and the seafront past Dawlish and Teignmouth before a 10 minute stop in Newton Abbot. We therefore raced it down the M5 and headed straight past Newton Abbot. On the way out of Newton Abbot, the line splits at Aller Junction as the Plymouth line heads for Totnes up Dainton Bank, whilst the line to Torbay heads up an incline of its own. This location is just after the junction. First was a 153 on a local passenger train. Tornado arrived, this time a few minutes early! The trains heads down into Torquay and Torbay before running on the preserved South Devon Railway from Paignton to Kingswear, which is just across the river from Dartmouth. We decided to head further south for a pub lunch and some body boarding at a place called Bantham. Just testing out the close-up settings... The sea and some surfers On closer inspection... look who's catching a wave! The food having taken a while to come, we rushed our time on the beach and headed back along the coastal road, along Slapton Sands (Famous to anyone who's done A Level geography!), and across the ferry from Dartmouth to Kingswear. It was looking as if we weren't going to catch the steam on its ascent from Torquay up through Torre (The other side of the bank the last shot was at), and we were stuck behind a camper van and also faced the wrath of the Torquay traffic light system! However, we thought we'd divert in there just in case, and sure enough a spotter was still on a bridge with his camera! I dropped Dad and Charlie off, parked and ran down to the bridge myself and this is what I saw! None of the fast demolishing of banks we're used to from Tornado, this was a slow effort that really brought out the best chuffing... Next we headed up the motorway to catch her on the northbound ascent of White Ball. Backlit conditions with the sun setting, I went of a distant shot across the fields. Dad and Charlie were caught out as it was early and only just managed a shot from the bridge over the line! The ascent (From Exeter to the tunnel) was timed at 18 minutes 38 seconds, 40 seconds slower than last week's record by 71000 'Duke of Gloucester' but with an extra coach... This was the biggest roar I've ever seen at this location. The next spot was after the Taunton water stop and just outside Burnham on Sea, with the train again arriving 10 minutes early. However it was pitch black so no shot was possible! Finally, since there was a 10 minute stop in Weston, we managed to get to Yatton which is on the dead straight section before the ascent to Flax Bourton, and famous for high speed passes. And this was one heck of a high speed pass and I was amazed this shot came out! KKCH6PlrPxo I hope you enjoyed this post, it may be my last of this type for a while! Link to post Share on other sites
ddavid 149 Posted September 27, 2010 Report Share Posted September 27, 2010 Diddy David Cameron?!? Thanks for sharing, Phil - makes a change from clouds in the sky! :smile: Cheers - Dai. Link to post Share on other sites
hurricanemk1c 195 Posted September 27, 2010 Report Share Posted September 27, 2010 Great shots Phil - of those two you are undecided on - I think No.2 looks best! Love the 153+143 combo - two appalingly bad trains together! Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted September 28, 2010 Report Share Posted September 28, 2010 Keep them coming, Phil. You do great work. John Link to post Share on other sites
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