As we did, briefly, during Saturday May 26th at
the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway’s Cotswold Festival of Steam.
With four guest engines, including a resplendent King Edward II from Didcot and
Oliver Cromwell from the GCR, together with some decent weather, we could
hardly go wrong. However, the star of the show for me was the recently restored
Merchant Navy No. 35006 Peninsular and Oriental S.N. Co., which I last saw in
scrapyard condition at Barry docks in 1967.
Getting a nice picture on festival days is a bit problematic
with so many folk milling around, but hey-ho, that’s the way it is at a gala. I
have no sympathy with the habitual moaners who attend such events and then
expect the sea of humanity [of which they, themselves, are just one small drop
in the ocean] to conveniently part to allow them their one-to-one with the
locomotive. Then they complain when the staff in high-viz vests encroach into
their view finder, while just doing their job keeping everyone safe.
There are photographers’ charters and lineside permits
available for a clearer view, if that is really what you insist on - or try
travelling earlier or later in the proceedings - or not on gala day at all. A
heritage [or any] railway bereft of passengers and admirers would be a
contradiction in terms. Instead, rejoice that 35006 has come back from the
dead, that the GWSR has returned to play on the Broadway stage and that an army
of volunteers from across the country have invested so much time and effort into
making sure we all have a good day out.
Eventually, I got my snaps to record the star turns, even though
I had to excuse myself when gate-crashing an already bulging first class
compartment to get my window-framed shot of a passing nameplate. I also had to include
a random head when I managed to find an open window in a carriage door which had
been carelessly unguarded for a millisecond by its resident for the day. Perhaps
he finally had to go for a wee, before reclaiming his territory.
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