55022 Charlbury 3 September 2011

In the gathering darkness on the evening of 3 September 2011, 55022 Royal Scots Grey races through Charlbury station with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z76 15:36 Weymouth to Crewe 'Dorset Deltic Explorer' railtour. It is using the recently reinstated down line, but the limitations of this partial redoubling are already evident here. 166221 is having to wait to gain entry to the single track section with the 1P75 17:44 Great Malvern to Paddington First Great Western service, which although it arrived on time, is now eight minutes late. Note the cloud of dust being thrown up by the special, as with a solitary weekday exception every train normally stops here, so this is one of the few fast trains to pass through since the new ballast was laid. Given the rarity of the traction (is this only the third time a Deltic has traversed the Cotswold Line?), I was surprised at how few photographers there were, just the two at the end of the platform, and four of us on the new footbridge.