An Afternoon With A Weathered Bulleid In The Cotswolds

Hello & Welcome to Harnetty Railways In this video we have what could be our only visit of the year to The Gloucestershire & Warwickshire Railway during their revised Purple Timetable operations. During the time of our visit part of the line near Gotherington suffered a minor landslip which upon the time of our visit repairs were nearing completion & the speed restriction was increased to 10mph from 5mph previously. The visit was to compensate for not attending the annual Cotswolds Festival of Steam Gala. The visit was to finally after 3 years in the making getting our 1st ride behind Southern Locomotives Ltd's bulleid pacific 34070 Manston which was starting her 3 month visit from her home on The Swanage Railway. We start at Cheltenham Racecourse as we see Manston arrive from Broadway sounding slightly out of beat when going tender 1st. Here we join her train for the run to Broadway when going backwards she was not in the best of health however when going forwards she sounded like her normal self. Manston sounded magnificent especially on acceleration and she did so all the way to Broadway with 7 coaches in tow. There was a threat however that she might not have done the full route due to her leaking badly & faulty injectors when over hearing her crew but Manston pulled through & went on with her diagrams as planned. We end as we begun at Cheltenham as we only did a round trip to get our 1st mileage behind the bulleid & now after 3 years of waiting we can finally lay it to rest. This was to be the last time we see her in her current weathered condition just how she was when she was withdrawn by British Railways back in 1964. As upon the end of her 3 month visit to The Gloucestershire & Warwickshire Railway she would be moved by low loader to Herston works to commence maintenance work & within that getting repainted giving her a fresh look. Wait a moment it's not the end of the video quite yet as we have bonus footage for you all. During our visit 34070 Manston was supported by resident new build The Betton Grange Society's 6880 Betton Grange fresh from her appearance at The Swange Railway's Spring Steam Gala who was also in action during our visit. We see the grange in action at Cheltenham Racecourse & Winchcombe the sound of his departures from both stations during the day was tremendous & the sound from his exhaust. Thanks for reading enjoy the film. #34070manston #steamtrains #gloucestershireandwarwickshirerailway