An Unexpected Double Header: 71000 Duke of Gloucester & 61306 Mayflower Step Into Christmas - 2025

A short trip to Bath for a rather unusual outing. 71000 Duke of Gloucester and 61306 Mayflower double heading, confirmed only the day before. On Tuesday, 71000 was declared a failure at Bristol due to an AWS fault. The problem was resolved on Thursday morning, but it was too late to take the locomotive back to London ahead of Friday's tour to Bath. 61306 Mayflower was substituted in. However, later on Thursday afternoon, it was confirmed that the duke would head back to London behind the B1! An unexpected surprise and I was feeling very lucky to have randomly chosen to follow this tour.

The day began in the Wylye Valley; the B1 heading up the grade towards Warminster. The satnav said I would arrive at my next location, Corston, at the same time as the Mayflower, and I would need a miracle from the gods to get a shot. As it would happen, a lengthy stop in Westbury would save the day, and I arrived with a comfortable margin. After that, it was off to Bristol, to see the Duke. With light fading, the safe shot of Keynsham was chosen. Ultimately though it was too dark, as I would lose focus as the pair of locomotives came through. Shots were taken at:

00:00 Hindon Crossing
01:10 Corston
04:54 Bristol East Depot
08:55 Keynsham

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Find a south-west railtour calendar, along with a heritage gala calendar and my best photos at:
https://www.trecanrail.com/

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