Rare Steam Over Stunning Viaduct! With 45699 Galatea

In this video, we capture a very rare sight of a steam locomotive crossing the stunning and largely forgotten about Dukes Drive Viaduct in Buxton on the Hindlow Branch to Briggs Ground Frame on the former LNWR line to Ashbourne.

Doing the honours being non other than one of the preservations finest, LMS Jubilee No 45699 Galatea still in identity crisis as scrapped sister locos 45627 Sierra Leone & 45562 Alberta hauling The Buxton Spa Express!


We first capture Galatea at Dove Holes on the very steep 1 in 58 incline as she heads towards Buxton sounding fantastic with only a little assistance from Class 47 47802 on the rear.

We then headed over to Dukes Drive Viaduct where we see the tour crossing over in the stunning autumnal afternoon sunlight very early indeed! It was assumed as the tour was due to pass between 15:20 & 15:30, however, the tour was allowed up the Hindlow Branch over 30 mins early and passed over at 14:44 catching many people including ourselves out meaning we could only get one angle of this shot unfortunately with a dog barking through it.

This was also the case for Dove Holes as unfortunately at one of the bridges before the station a border collie would not stop barking and neither would a dog in the house next to the bridge and with little time to spare we decided to lose the shot and just photograph it instead. As a big lover of dogs, it's a real shame that some people cannot train their dogs properly!

We then see 47802 bringing the tour back to Buxton with Galatea on the rear passing us at 15:21, around the time the tour was originally due to head up the branch and for lighting terms thank goodness it came early as all the glorious sunlight had disappeared behind a massive cloud!

Overall it was great to see this rare sight of not just steam around Buxton but steam on the uphill section to Bibbington Summit, just south of Dove Holes for the first time since 2014 and on the Hindlow Branch for the first time since 2018 during the Beast From The East snow storm. It certainly is a real credit to the Railway Touring Company for making this rare tour happen!

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