Saturday 7 June 2014

Wizards Express

I picked up on the UKsteam info web site many weeks ago now that 5972 Hogwarts Castle was to haul a charter train between Carnforth and York. The date was added into the diary but the details of timings and route were only posted the day before the scheduled run. 

The locomotive in question is the Great Western Railway 4-6-0 steam locomotive No. 5972 Olton Hall. Olton Hall and its red carriages starred as the Hogwarts Express in the Harry Potter films and the steam locomotive was renamed Hogwarts Castle in the films. 

The location chosen for taking pictures was close to Milford Junction in West Yorkshire. It’s a location I've used before and usually gives satisfactory results. However the weather decided to play its part with plenty of clouds and rain around.

The trains progress from Carnforth was tracked on Realtime Trains and in general the locomotive was on or a little in front of time as it headed for York.
As the smoke from the locomotive almost merged with the dull grey of the sky as it came into view. Fortunately the heavy rain which had been falling held off for a few minutes.
Like all the main line shots it was all over quickly as the train steamed past us on its way to York. My video of the locomotive and train is shown below.


Another journey with the same locomotive is planned for early July.


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