"Blackpool Tower" en route to Yarmouth 20241214--027
37407 Blackpool Tower leads the "Off the Beaten Tracks" mini-tour part of the UK Railtours "Carols at Norwich Cathedral" special along the "Acle Straight" between Acle station and the Branch Road overbridge at Stracey Arms. This section of the tour was the Norwich to Great Yarmouth leg of 1Z40 12.10 Norwich - Lowestoft (via Great Yarmouth), and 20142 Sir John Betjeman and 20189 were on the rear (standing in for 37423, which had failed the previous day with flat batteries). [Pole, 5/6 sections (~6.8m)]
The full tour ran as follows:
1Z39 07.22 King's Cross - Norwich via the East Coast Main Line, Peterborough (reverse) and the Ely West Curve;
1Z40 12.10 Norwich - Lowestoft via Acle, Great Yarmouth (reverse), Berney Arms, Reedham (reverse), Lowestoft Yard (reverse) and Oulton Broad North Jn. (reverse);
1Z42 15.26 Lowestoft - Norwich;
1Z43 16.10 Norwich - King's Cross via the Ely West Curve, Peterborough, Spalding, Sleaford, Grantham and the East Coast Main Line.
The train was operated by Rail Adventure, with 37407 supplied by Europhoenix, and the coaches by West Coast Railways (which had acquired the assets of Riviera Trains a few months earlier, hence the blue and grey mark 2 coaches). 37407 is, of course, no stranger to this line as it was one of the DRS-owned 37s hired to Greater Anglia to operate the "short set" a few years ago.
I'd photographed 1Z39 west of March with the 20s leading, and had planned to chase it to somewhere near Prickwillow, given the schedule included 43 minute wait on the Ely West Curve. However, with the train being 40 minutes late leaving Peterborough, I expected I'd not make it in time, and decided to drive straight to the other side of Norwich via the A47. I'd never been to this location before, but arrived in plenty of time to park in a nearby layby on the A47, walk a short distance back along the road and then down the path to the crossing.
The cloud was clearing from the north-west, and weather forecasts suggested it wouldn't break here until about midday, and then there would still be some cloud about for the rest of the day - and, as can be seen, this was the case. Those of us stood here were very lucky, because as the train passed Acle the sun was heading towards a cloud, and it began to run along its upper edge - but at the critical moment the sun had hit a "dip" and came out completely on almost the entire train (there's a slight shadow on some of the coaches towards the rear). The train had passed Acle four minutes late.
After this, I headed for the classic spot on the Berney Arms line very close to the former Breydon Jn., where a large gallery was gathering (in fact, it was quite tight parking and I had to tell someone they could block me in). Unfortunately, the train left Great Yarmouth two minutes late, and the sun went behind a cloud as it approached the divergence, but began to clear the cloud seconds before we began to press the shutter - meaning the leading locos were fully lit, the first couple of coaches partly in cloud, and the rest of the train in shadow.
Visit Brian Carter's Non-Transport Pics to see my photos of landscapes, buildings, bridges, sunsets, rainbows and more.
"Blackpool Tower" en route to Yarmouth 20241214--027
37407 Blackpool Tower leads the "Off the Beaten Tracks" mini-tour part of the UK Railtours "Carols at Norwich Cathedral" special along the "Acle Straight" between Acle station and the Branch Road overbridge at Stracey Arms. This section of the tour was the Norwich to Great Yarmouth leg of 1Z40 12.10 Norwich - Lowestoft (via Great Yarmouth), and 20142 Sir John Betjeman and 20189 were on the rear (standing in for 37423, which had failed the previous day with flat batteries). [Pole, 5/6 sections (~6.8m)]
The full tour ran as follows:
1Z39 07.22 King's Cross - Norwich via the East Coast Main Line, Peterborough (reverse) and the Ely West Curve;
1Z40 12.10 Norwich - Lowestoft via Acle, Great Yarmouth (reverse), Berney Arms, Reedham (reverse), Lowestoft Yard (reverse) and Oulton Broad North Jn. (reverse);
1Z42 15.26 Lowestoft - Norwich;
1Z43 16.10 Norwich - King's Cross via the Ely West Curve, Peterborough, Spalding, Sleaford, Grantham and the East Coast Main Line.
The train was operated by Rail Adventure, with 37407 supplied by Europhoenix, and the coaches by West Coast Railways (which had acquired the assets of Riviera Trains a few months earlier, hence the blue and grey mark 2 coaches). 37407 is, of course, no stranger to this line as it was one of the DRS-owned 37s hired to Greater Anglia to operate the "short set" a few years ago.
I'd photographed 1Z39 west of March with the 20s leading, and had planned to chase it to somewhere near Prickwillow, given the schedule included 43 minute wait on the Ely West Curve. However, with the train being 40 minutes late leaving Peterborough, I expected I'd not make it in time, and decided to drive straight to the other side of Norwich via the A47. I'd never been to this location before, but arrived in plenty of time to park in a nearby layby on the A47, walk a short distance back along the road and then down the path to the crossing.
The cloud was clearing from the north-west, and weather forecasts suggested it wouldn't break here until about midday, and then there would still be some cloud about for the rest of the day - and, as can be seen, this was the case. Those of us stood here were very lucky, because as the train passed Acle the sun was heading towards a cloud, and it began to run along its upper edge - but at the critical moment the sun had hit a "dip" and came out completely on almost the entire train (there's a slight shadow on some of the coaches towards the rear). The train had passed Acle four minutes late.
After this, I headed for the classic spot on the Berney Arms line very close to the former Breydon Jn., where a large gallery was gathering (in fact, it was quite tight parking and I had to tell someone they could block me in). Unfortunately, the train left Great Yarmouth two minutes late, and the sun went behind a cloud as it approached the divergence, but began to clear the cloud seconds before we began to press the shutter - meaning the leading locos were fully lit, the first couple of coaches partly in cloud, and the rest of the train in shadow.
Visit Brian Carter's Non-Transport Pics to see my photos of landscapes, buildings, bridges, sunsets, rainbows and more.