Black Five Sunday at Droitwich.

[TimBrown]

A few grainy shots of The Welsh Marches Express today Sunday 27 November 2016 at Droitwich en route to Cardiff via Foregate Street , Malvern and Hereford. Two Black Fives 44871 and 45407 headed the train and 47802 was on the rear, presumably for train heating and traction back-up in the unlikely event of one of the steam locos failing.

[MattW]

Nice one mate and thanks for the info.
One from me at Malvern Wells - I managed to video with the other hand so will post that once it's uploaded.

[TimBrown]

Nice one mate and thanks for the info.
One from me at Malvern Wells - I managed to video with the other hand so will post that once it's uploaded.

That's a superb shot; the train left Birmingham International about 30 minutes down but made back most of that lateness by Hereford. The funny thing is that in their heyday the Black 5's were so numerous that very young trainspotters like me in the 1950s took very little notice of them. In my dotage I have read that they were, and are, very well respected locomotives, economical with water and coal, free-steaming and capable of quite high speeds (80 MPH has been recorded) on passenger trains and equally at home on long distance heavy freights - truly a 'maid of all work'.

[MattW]

Thanks Tim. Not bad for a camera i bought for £25 in the sales, whilst holding my phone in the other hand!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcdBwQocOas

[chason]

Superb pictures and video - thanks chaps.

I agree with Tim about Black Fives. In my trainspotting days it was something of a disappointment when one turned up but they are excellent machines. I can't ever recall seeing one through Malvern even in the latter days of steam when some of the old regional boundaries became a bit more flexible but Droitwich must have seen them fairly regularly.

I recall seeing The Devonian at Shrub Hill on many occasions. For some reason, only the southbound train called there (at about 2.15 pm if I recall correctly) with the northbound taking the direct route via Spetchley. It was usually Jubilee hauled but occasionally a Black Five would stand in.