Durng the West Somerset Railway's Spring Steam Gala 2014, one guest locomotive made a splendour appearance to the line for the first time ever. GWR 4300 Class 2-6-0 mogul No.5322 which is owned by Didcot Railway Centre, a 1917 built Churchward design, with an unusual copper capped chimney which was built with in service. As the 4300's were the maids of all work on the Great Western network, the Minehead branch had a number of 4300's run over the line during the 1950's to the early 60's carrying summer holiday traffic, as can be seen on existing pre-1971 photos of the WSR on wsr.org.uk.
With a BR black mogul running on the line, an archetypal one for the route, it easily impressed the photographers, visitors and linesiders alike. And for me I felt the need to capture the loco in its fine form and running. Scenes feature the loco running on the WSR including the final two shots of it pairing with GWR 2884 Class No.3850, another fine BR black workhorse.
These shots along with much more various shots of the gala will be featured on the 'WEST SOMERSET RAILWAY AUTUMN STEAM GALA 2014' DVD or BLU-RAY. See www.ovpsteam.co.uk for more details.
29 мар 2014
