Chiltern Castle: 5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe on 'The Shakespeare Express' - 07/04/2024

Continuing the West Midlands theme, Sunday 7th April saw me once again, this time for Tyseley's Castle, 5043 'Earl of Mount Edgcumbe' which was rostered to work the first Shakespeare Express of the season from Birmingham Snow Hill to Stratford-upon-Avon and return via Solihull & Dorridge.

Unlike the usual itinerary for 'The Shakespeare Express' which sees the tour run tender first down the North Warwick Line' via Shirley & Whitlock's Ends, the tour would be diverted via Solihull & Dorridge in both directions, this was due to engineering works taking place over the weekend between Tyseley & Wilmcote.

We kick things off at Birmingham Moor Street, where 5043 is seeing emerging from Snow Hill Tunnel with the first outward run of the day, a brief stop at Moor Street to pick up passengers. Whilst waiting for 5043 to depart, I took the opportunity to record some 'close up shots' of 5043, however just as I was about to reposition the camera to get a close up shot of the cabside numberplate and tender, 5043 whistled, a quick reposition of the camera sees her as her exhaust echoes across Birmingham City Centre.

Our second shot was a little more by chance than planned... a result of me not reading the Realtime Time Trains schedule correctly, this resulted in a second tender first shot of 5043 as she's seen passing through Lapworth for Stratford.

For my third shot and the first Chimney first shot of the day, I decided to head to Widney Manor, a shot I've used several times, here we see 5043 as she rounds the curve from Bentley Heath with the 12.49 service return service from Stratford-upon-Avon to Birmingham Snow Hill.

Retracing my steps once again towards Birmingham, I decided to head to Solihull to capture 5043 running tender first with the second run of the day down to Stratford.

My final shot of the day saw me head a footbridge just the south end of Dorridge station, this shot was something that I had seen other peoples videos, and was a shot I was curious to try myself.. with luck it paid off... Here 5043 seen... and heard, and she makes her voice known, as she is seen working the return journey back to Birmingham.


Timestamps:
00:00, Birmingham Moor Street
02:26, Lapworth
03:16, Widney Manor
04:10, Solihull
05:07, Dorridge

Filmed on a Panasonic VXF990 with a Takstar SGC-598 Microphone

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