Bahamas Dominates Dainton Bank: The South Devon Explorer - 27/05/23

The end of May bank holiday once again saw LMS Jubilee No.45596 'Bahamas' back out on its rounds in the South West, as it worked the Bristol - Plymouth - Taunton legs of the Railway Touring Company's 'South Devon Explorer' tour, which started from, and returned to, Woking under diesel power. This would see the 'Super Jubilee' right on its limit, as it took load 9 over the notorious South Devon Banks.

We kick off in the wavy fields of Somerset, as Bahamas is seen getting up to speed near Victory Crossing, following an unscheduled stop in Taunton, accelerating nicely in readiness for the long westbound climb to Whiteball Tunnel. Apologies for the slight buzzing that can be heard here, that's not interference on the mic, but actual on location sound, coming from the electrical cabling behind the camera.

A traffic ridden chase down the M5 brings us to the first of two shots on the South Devon Banks, specifically Dainton Bank. Having done Rattery Bank several times over the years now, I figured it'd be a nice change of pace to revisit the field near the summit of the climb inside Dainton Tunnel. Because of how short the shot had become, due to lineside vegetation and general tree growth, I hadn't done this spot since 2016. It's still very short, mind you, but not quite as bad as it has been. With gradients on the latter stage of the climb ranging from around 1 in 55/44, along with a very short section at 1 in 36, it was a mouth watering prospect to see how Bahamas would perform. Running early and, with a good wind behind her, she absolutely ate up the bank with ease!

After some high Class 7 performance up Dainton, it's time for more of a slog, as the final shot sees Bahamas, now heading back east, making steady progress up the 2 mile long 1 in 42 climb of Hemerdon Bank, seen near the summit of the climb at Sparkwell Bridge.

Timestamps:

00:00 Victory Crossing
01:41 Dainton Bank
03:05 Hemerdon Bank *

Additional stabilisation applied in post

Filmed on a Saturday 27th May 2023, using a Panasonic HC-X1500 with an Audio-Technica BP4025 microphone.

I hope you enjoy the video. If you did, please like, comment, subscribe, and click the notification bell, so you never miss a video; it really does help a lot! Thanks.

Facebook:   / speedtothewest