60007 Sir Nigel Gresley explodes with steam out of Kingswear - English Riviera Express - 03/06/2023

The first of many tours down in the south West for LNER A4 no. 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley began on Saturday the 3rd of June from Slough to Kingswear with Sir Nigel Gresley taking over at Taunton down to the beautiful English Riviera. The day turned out to be a day to forget and as you can see this one shot of Sir Nigel Gresley shattering the peace and tranquility of Kingswear was the only great shot out of a possible four. However, it was a pretty dramatic departure for the A4 out of Kingswear. The weather was absolutely scorching and gorgeous. On the same day, the Torbay Airshow was in full swing in Paignton which could propose an opportunity to film both the A4 and the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight including the spitfire, Hurricane, and Lancaster in one visit. Unfortunately, they were on display in Paignton around the same time as the A4 heading back, so I couldn't see them. The engine departed bang on time and the beautiful chime whistle echoed across Kingswear and Dartmouth then suddenly the safety valves roared to the max. The driver compensated for this by opening up the cylinder drain taps to try and relieve the pressure which made it even more spectacular. Then the safety valves were off followed quickly by the cylinder drain taps and Sir Nigel Gresley started to accelerate nicely away with some cheerful chime toots from the driver, as the engine sounded brilliant towards the steep hill to Churston.
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