The Return of 35028 'Clan Line' & The Mid-Hants Railway Spring Steam Gala - 27/04/2024

Two railway worlds in 1 day, with the mainline and heritage railway scenes coming to life
Saturday 27th April 2024 would mark the 50th Anniversary of 35028 'Clan Line' in preservation as the locomotive fresh from a 2 year overhaul would commemorate the occasion with "The Clan Line 50th Anniversary Pullman" running from London Victoria to Bath Spa & return utilizing the heavy Belmond Pullman rake
The outward leg of the unassisted train sees 'Clan Line' bellowing past Potbridge between Winchfield and Hook on the fast line, just as it should be!
Inbetween catching 'Clan Line' we headed over to the Mid Hants Railway for their annual Spring Steam Gala, with Ivatt 41312, S15 506 and visitors 45690 'Leander' (in its final few weeks of its boiler ticket), 34070 'Manston' & Lamton Tank no 29 in action during the afternoon, seen at a variety of locations including Bighton, Northwood Lane, Medstead & Hampshire Hunt Bridge, Leander on this occasion carrying a wreath in memory of support crew member Craig Potter whom sadly passed away a few days ago
For the return of 35028 we headed over to Upton Scudamore in Wiltshire and what followed next was truly one of the most spectacular performances i've ever witnessed as a solo 'Clan Line' demolishes the 2 mile 1in70 climb without breaking a sweat with 500 tons behind the tender, a real testament to the skills of the DBC footplate crew and the hard work by the MNLPS & Leaky Finders that's gone into the restoration, perforamces like this are amongst some of the real rewards shown, who says Bulleid’s can’t bark!
Following this we capture the Pacific further as the weather started to take a turn for the worse, next seen at speed through Andover and finally at Virginia Water
Thanks as usual to ‪@themodster‬ for his assistance today and for ‪@Flyin9Scotsman‬ for getting the second Upton Scudamore shot on my backup camcorder
00:00 - 35028 Potbridge
01:33 - Mid Hants Railway
11:18 - 35028 Upton Scudamore
14:13 - 35028 Andover
15:32 - 35028 Virginia Water