47787 Challow 17 April 2010

47787 Windsor Castle passes the site of Challow station on 17 April 2010 with the Railtourer 1Z51 06:25 Skegness to Oxford railtour, with 47826 just visible on the rear of the train. It was a toss up between staying local and seeing this Class 47 railtour as well as the first non-stop steam hauled London to Bristol train for over 40 years, or traveling to Yorkshire to see the first Class 70 hauled railtour. No contest really! Ideally I would have chose a different location for this tour, but it was selected in order to be able to photograph 5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe, which was obviously the highlight of the day. The steam special had passed only a few minutes before, but already the large crowd had dispersed, leaving just me on the bridge.