73963 Charlbury 20 June 2018

The first ever Class 73 hauled train over the Cotswold Line? 73963 Janice storms through Charlbury station on 20 June 2018 with the 1Z73 07:14 Paddington to Long Marston GBRf special, run in connection with the Rail Live event. The stock is the London Transport liveried 4-TC set, and 73962 Dick Mabbutt is bringing up the rear. Due to the historic nature of this working, I wanted to photograph it at an identifiable location, and passing Brunel's wooden station building at Charlbury seemed to fit the bill. What was surprising was that nobody else had the same idea, and I was the only photographer on the station. Unfortunately problems with the stock on the return working resulted in the train travelling ECS to Worcester, and then with both locos on the front, running as the 5Z74 17:40 Worcester to Eastleigh Arlington (via Bristol) ECS. By the time this information came to light there wasn't enough time to travel to Cheltenham area for a picture.