Jubilee 45596 'Bahamas' | At speed with 'The Windsor Flyer' - Saturday 2nd September 2023

#steam #train #ecml
Saturday 2nd September would see the Railway Touring Company run a tour from Norwich to Windsor and return, a repeat itinerary from May 2022 which was hauled by 6233 'Duchess of Sutherland'. With 'Duchess of Sutherland' out of action at the moment this years tour was to be hauled by Jubilee no.45596 'Bahamas', with large parts of the route being new for the locomotive. Starting from Norwich early in the morning the tour ran via Ely and Cambridge to join the ECML at Hitchin, then running down as far as Finsbury Park before crossing London via Willsden to finally run via Brentford to reach Windsor & Eton Riverside. The tour would then run empty to Acton from where 'Bahamas' would return to Southall as the return leg would be diesel hauled.
So to the day, and what would also be a train strike day and a home football day with Brighton taking on Newcastle. With the previous Saturday also being a strike day I had sold my ticket for the West Ham game the week before, which turned out to be a good move, and planned to drive down for the Newcastle game rather than take the train, taking the opportunity to follow 'Bahamas' at the same time. We start at Ashwell & Morden, a few miles in the wrong direction initially but I wanted both the opportunity to catch 'Bahamas' working hard up the 1 in 183 gradient towards the station and give myself time to get beyond the Potters Bar stop. Two cameras see 'Bahamas' working hard speeding through the station. Next after a drive down the A1 its Hadley Wood, arriving about 10 minutes before gave me time to set up two cameras at the south end of platform 1 and we see 'Bahamas' power through the tunnel and through the station getting back up to speed after the Potters Bar stop. Finally its Wraysbury, and two cameras again see 'Bahamas' power through the station on the final leg to Windsor. With kick off not till 5:30pm there was no rush so I waited around half an hour and filmed 'Bahamas' get dragged back through the station on the ECS to Acton.
All in all a nice morning, which was followed by an excellent evening and a brilliant 3-1 at the football! Huge thanks as always to all involved in running the tour!
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