It has been a while since the Western has been out and although I have a few photographs of Champion I haven’t got a decent one of her in Maroon. I was hoping to change that today when D1015 worked the first leg of ‘The Royal Duchy’ tour from London Paddington – Westbury.
My knowledge of locations in the Westbury area is pretty slim so after browsing a few galleries I noticed that was a decent shot near Hawkeridge Junction. The forecast was set fine so I decided it would be worth the effort to travel to Westbury. A small gallery gathered as the time drew nearer with probably a dozen or more photters awaiting Champion and just a couple of minutes late in glorious spring light D1015 eased the 1Z52 London Paddington – Par around the curve at Hawkeridge.
Another Saturday, Another Tug! The Saturday running of the Theale tanks seems to be regularly producing a class 60 and today was no exception and to top things off despite the weathermans best efforts the weather was an absolutely glorious spring day.
As the clocks changed last weekend it means the sun doesn’t hit the front of westbound trains until gone 13:00 now which limits the shot choice a bit. I keep doing the shot at Shrivenham as it is easy so opted for the view at Knighton Crossing instead. 60024 was providing todays power for the 6B33 Theale – Margam as it rolled through the Vale of White Horse. Note the exceptional blue sky in this shot is due to the use of a polarising filter to bring out the sky, and the shot you see above is directly out of the camera.
