Double Headed Castles Pound The Devon Banks

For the first time in 20 years, the Devonshire hills would echo to the sounds of double headed Castle Class locomotives storming up over the South Devon Banks, as 7029 'Clun Castle' and 5043 'Earl of Mount Edgcumbe' worked 'The Mayflower', a Vintage Trains excursion from Birmingham to Plymouth and back. With strong winds and a few ill-timed bits of cloud, it would prove a challenging day behind the camera, but the sound and sight of a pair of double chimney Castles hard at work makes it all worthwhile.

Having taken over the tour at Bristol - worked from Birmingham by a pair of Class 20s, which would go on to shadow the tour to and from Plymouth, then take over again at Bristol - we pick up the action on the hill at Beambridge, where we catch the Castles charging up the 1 in 80 climb to Whiteball Tunnel, narrowly avoiding being bowled by an eastbound Voyager. Now crossing over from Somerset to Devon, the next shot sees the pair in fine voice, as they battle the climb of Rattery Bank, having just come off the steepest part of the climb at Tigley. The wind was at its worst here, with the exhaust being thrown over the side of the train and my filming being rather messy, to say the least, so some degree of stabilisation was required in the edit.

As always with railtours down to Plymouth and beyond, the main event of the day was the ascent of Hemerdon Bank on the return run. Having waited 3 hours in periods of gorgeous sunshine, an untimely bank of cloud rolled in at the wrong moment, casting an almighty shadow over the scene. Clun and The Earl do their best to brighten things, with a symphony of sound as they easily lug their 12 coach train up the 1 in 42 gradient. 10 minutes later, the sun was back out!

For the final shot of the day, it was off to Stoke Canon, where we catch the Castles into their stride after the water stop at Exeter. Unfortunately, another ill-timed cloud bank put paid to what could have been some spectacular light to end a turbulent day of filming. Oh well.

Big thanks to all those behind the scenes at Vintage Trains and Network Rail for putting this tour together, it's greatly appreciated after a drought of Great Western steam down this way for so long!

Filmed on Friday 27th June 2024, using a Panasonic HC-X1500 with an Audio-Technica BP4025 microphone.

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00:00 Whiteball
01:30 Rattery
03:49 Hemerdon
06:12 Stoke Canon