70000 Britannia hauls The Garden of England Lunchtime Tour & Sunset Steam Express - 06.08.24

70000 Britannia would once again grace Kent and Surrey as she took charge of another week of Steam Dreams “Garden of England” and “Sunset Steam Express” tours. On this occasion, the ‘Brit’ would be sporting a 73A shed plate, representing Stewarts Lane depot.
Starting with the Garden of England circular round Kent, Britannia is firstly seen cresting the summit at Sole Street through a fairly strong wind, taking it easy to cut back on the fire risk. The next shot comes from Canterbury East, as we witness Britannia departing from the water stop, heading for Dover. The next shot should’ve been at Folkestone, however my SD card suffered a malfunction and didn’t fully save the recording, so the shot was unusable. We therefore move onto Pluckley, where Britannia cruises through as she heads back towards London. Moving onto the Sunset Steam Express, we head to Chilworth station to capture the soundtrack of the Brit working hard up Gomshall bank, making for a great performance for the locals.
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[@SimonTog]

Klasse video Thomas :)

[@themodster]

Thank you Simon.

[@callumthornelow2936]

Excellent job Thomas.
I wonder why a Stewart's Lane head code was applied?

[@themodster]

Cheers Callum. It was fitting, given the fact the Brit went there inbetween the two tours, and two Brit's being based there back in steam days to cover the Golden Arrow.

[@user-ld7ru7kz3n]

70004 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE.70014 IRON DUKE. 1954-1957.​@@themodster

[@user-ld7ru7kz3n]

My apologies they were both their in 1952​@@themodster

[@chrisguy4661]

I was on the lunchtime tour yesterday with my 3 sons, very enjoyable day behind a classic main line steam loco of the 1950's, Britannia!
Is she the only one of her BR Standard class 7P still operating today or are there a few others ??

[@themodster]

Two of the Class survive, the other being 70013 Oliver Cromwell, which is currently in overhaul.

[@chrisguy4661]

@@themodster Thanks for the info, much appreciated!

[@MalcolmCrabbe]

Don't you feel sorry for the guys on the platform (4.00 min mark) - excellent video, just love the echo as it pulled out of the station at the beginning of the video...

[@themodster]

Cheers Malcolm, the departure from Canterbury did sound excellent. Yes, it was a risk there at Pluckley, so the bridge was chosen.