5043 Rousham 18 April 2010

Castle Class 4-6-0 5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe is pictured at full speed leaning into the curve at Rousham on 18 April 2010 as it heads the Vintage Trains 1Z50 12:35 Slough to Solihull special, returning the locomotive back to its Birmingham base after its triumphant Great Western Mainline non-stop run of the previous day. This is one of the marginally better locations for a northbound train between Oxford and Banbury at this time of day, but even so is very backlit. As I suspected, I was the only person to walk the mile or so from the nearest road to get to this spot. Very careful timing was required here, in order not to get the loco partly obscuring the ancient tree on the left.