Bristolian - Part 13 - Across the causeway!

[Kevin Wilson-Smith]

Nice shots.............

Last one is especially nice.

[John Ashworth]

Kevin, do you know which bridge this is?

[Kevin Wilson-Smith]

Nope - but it is impressive which is why it is also puzzling me!

Bob said in his original e-mail...

Starting in London the tour ran to Bristol and from Plymouth ran to Birmingham and over the northern Fells of Shap and Beattock to Glasgow. From there it ran to the east coast of Scotland to Aberdeen and Inverness before heading to Kyle of Lochalsh. From there is ran south via Inverness to Perth and Edinburgh back to London

I do not have a suitable railway map book to work this out. Anyone else?

[Steve Appleton]

Firth of Tay bridge. The column foundation stumps of the original (disaster) bridge are visible in front, sticking put of the water in the first picture. I too am confused that this is purported to be the Bristolian. I rather think this is one of the Railway Touring Company's mainline steam tours.

[John Ashworth]

That's what I thought, Steve. So have I missed something in the first 12 posts (which I can't be bothered to reread), or is the Bristolian far from its normal stamping grounds?

Edited to add: Ah, I've just seen Kevin's post above, so now all makes sense.

[Steve Appleton]

From what I read, the Bristolian runs the original GWR named route (Paddington to Bristol) and, ocassionally off route but nearby. This trip headed all over the place and looks like one of the RTC round Britain tours.

[Chris Janisch]

Quite right Steve.
This train was in fact the "Great Britain 3" which was steam-hauled throughout its tour of Britain.
Phenomenal organisation and pulled off against the odds again. Talk is of another one next year!

[Kevin Wilson-Smith]

The pictures were recieved in one Bristolian e-mail. Individual pics were not indentified.

Steve - you seem to know what is potting - would you like to now change the headings from Bristolian to Great Britian III Tour where revelevant?

A query with Dave yesterday brought forth this further information....

There has been some confusion when the pics were uploaded on the FoTR website.

The Bristolian was a one-time named train that ran from London Paddington to Bristol. As part of the GWR 175th anniversary arrangements were made to carry water tanks in the maroon bogie van and recreate the non-stop run in April. So the shots with Castle Class 4-6-0 No. 5043 with a Bristolian headboard were this run.

Bob Green's earlier pics were all taken in Scotland on the Great Britain III tour which was entirely steam hauled! This basically started in London then travelled to Plymouth before heading north through Birmingham, Crewe and the West Coast mainline to Glasgow. From there it ran first to Stranraer then back to Glasgow with double-headed Black 5 4-6-0s then to Aberdeen then onto Inverness with Britannia No. 70013. A number of the photos were taken on the really scenic line from Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh using 3-cylinder Class K4 2-6-0 The Great Marquess. Returning to Inverness the train was doubleheaded on the Highland mainline to Perth by 70013 and 61994 thence by 70013 across the Tay and Forth bridges to Edinburgh. It was No. 6201 Princess Elizabeth that ran via Newcastle to York and finally A4 pacific No. 60019 Bittern for the last leg back to London.

The Bristolian was one week after this tour.

Dave