A look back to the lead up to Christmas when there were several steam locomotives visiting York bringing charter services from a variety of places for visitors to enjoy the York Christmas Market.
This shot shows the former Great Western Railway 'castle' class locomotive 'Clun Castle'.
Although a Great Western design, the construction of Clun Castle wasn't completed until 1950, after Britains railways were nationalised. It had the distinction of hauling the last official steam train out of London Paddington (to Banbury) on 11 June 1965. It was officially withdrawn in December 1965 after a relatively short working life.
It was bought for preservation, and has since then been based at Tyseley in Birmingham. In 1967 it worked a special train through Doncaster that I was there to witness, the first time that I had seen a Great Western locomotive at work.
I love this. So nice how you’ve got up close, I can almost smell the burning coal. Such an intimate shot with the steam billowing around the scene, fav.
Thank you all for your lovely comments and favs, they are very much appreciated.
Steam locomotives tend to visit York in clusters, and the period leading up to Christmas is one of them, with charter excursions to bring visitors to the York Christmas market. I missed several of these excursions, but caught three in a four day period from 15th December.
Ian
December 29th, 2021
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Thank you all for your lovely comments and favs, they are very much appreciated.
Steam locomotives tend to visit York in clusters, and the period leading up to Christmas is one of them, with charter excursions to bring visitors to the York Christmas market. I missed several of these excursions, but caught three in a four day period from 15th December.
Ian