Guardsman for a Day: 5th of July 2025

The weekend of the 5th and 6th of July 2025 would see the Severn Valley Railway hold their Railway 200: Trains Through The Ages event, featuring the Inspiration exhibition train and the HydroFLEX Class 799 at Kidderminster. The home running fleet for this event would be ex-GWR/BR Hall no. '4930, Hagley Hall', ex-BR Standard 4 no. '75069' (standing in for last-minute failure Mogul '13268') and ex-GWR/BR 14XX no. '1450' on autocoach services. Also in attendance were two narrow-gauge engines at Highley, these being De Winton 'Chaloner' and Hunslet 'Holy War'. Due to the landslip near Eardington, the railway was still only running between Kidderminster and Hampton Loade; however, for not much longer, as the repair work is due to be completed towards the end of the month. However, the focus of this video is on visiting locomotive no. '46115, Scots Guardsman', an ex-LMS/BR rebuilt Royal Scot, drafted into action as a replacement for the original attendee new-build LNER/BR A1 no. '60163, Tornado'. Like the majority of the WCRC fleet, it is a pretty much mainline-exclusive locomotive and does not visit heritage railways; its last venture to one was in 2014 to the Mid Norfolk Railway. Being honest, I hadn't planned to attend this event, but when 'Scots Guardsman' was announced, I knew I had to head down and get behind it. This is probably the most detailed video I've done on a locomotive before, featuring extensive Windowside coverage of the engine. From a few coaches down, allowing you to fully see the engine in motion, to up close and personal for the best soundtrack, this video will for sure entertain your Stanier craving. So, if you've come here for coverage of the Trains Through The Ages event, this video isn't really for you; however, there are shots in places featuring activities outside of 'Scots Guardsman'. But if you're looking for some LMS three-cylinder action, you've clicked on the right one. Due to this video’s length, it has been broken down into ‘Chapters’ where certain parts of the video have been labelled correspondingly. Here, you can choose which parts of the video you want to watch without having to search the entire feature. LS = Lineside; all shots taken from stations and vantage points. WS = Windowside; all shots taken from the droplights of passenger trains. The locomotive/s hauling it will be added to. You can view these chapters in the video playback bar or the description, where they’ll be listed with their time codes. LS: Kidderminster station - 0:00 WS: '46115', Kidderminster to Hampton Loade - 2:56 WS: '46115', Hampton Loade to Kidderminster - 18:30 LS: Kidderminster station - 32:21 WS: '46115', Arley to Hampton Loade - 34:43 WS: '46115', Hampton Loade to Kidderminster - 43:42 LS: Kidderminster station - 59:41 WS: '46115', Kidderminster to Hampton Loade - 1:02:54 WS: '46115', Hampton Loade to Kidderminster - 1:18:01 LS: Kidderminster station - 1:32:25 ______________________________ If you enjoyed this video and would like to see more of the content I produce, check out my other social media outlets. Links to them are below; feel free to follow/like them if you enjoy what I make and want to be one of the first to see new content when I release it. Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/kljtransport... Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kljtran... Current equipment as of 2025: Photography — Nikon D3400 w/ Nikon AF-P DX VR 18-55mm lens Video — PRIMARY: Panasonic HC-VX1 w/ Rode VideoMic Pro+ microphone SECONDARY: Panasonic HC-VX870 ACCESSORIES: K&F Concept 62mm Variable ND Filter (For video) All opinions that may be expressed are my own.