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Britannia Eats Up The Miles: Steam Dreams Excursion to Bath

Published on Fri, Aug 23rd 2024 Autos & Vehicles Rectangular HD

It's been a while since I last had a chance to film 70000 'Britannia' on the main line, especially over my way, so I was quite happy to see the loco allocated to a Steam Dreams tour from London Paddington to Bath and back. The booked route for the tour was an unusual one, heading out of Paddington and along the Chiltern Main Line as far as Bicester, where it made a sharp left turn across to Oxford, then down to Didcot to join the Great Western Main Line for the remainder of the outward run. The return out of Bath would head along the Great Western Main Line, then turn right at Bathampton Junction onto the Wessex Main Line, before joining the Berks & Hants Line around Westbury. A left turn around Reading would bring the tour back onto the Great Western Main Line to head down to Didcot, back up to Oxford, then Bicester and, finally, back over the Chiltern Main Line to Paddington.

This short video captures the tour on two occasions. The first shot sees Britannia barrelling along the Great Western Main Line in the pouring rain at Bourton, on the outward run. Moving into the evening, we then see the Brit charging along the Cherwell Valley Line towards Oxford, passing by Radley Station at speed, with a nice blast on the whistle to boot.

As ever, a fine showing from the mighty Brit. Lovely to see it again.

Filmed on Thursday 22nd August 2024, using a Panasonic HC-X1500 with an Audio-Technica BP4025 microphone.

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00:00 Bourton
01:31 Radley