GWR "Castle" class no. 4079 "Pendennis Castle" runs round at Cheltenham Racecourse, Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway
Date: 27th December, 2025
Photograph Reference: P40880
Camera: Sony A7III
ISO: 1600
Exposure Time: 1/500sec
Exposure Time: 1/500sec
Aperture: F7.1
Focal Length: 24mm
Modifications: RAW modified
The locomotive returned during the 2025 Christmas period, and I and my mother made a post-Christmas visit to the line, in part so I could get a signed copy of Neil Parkhouse's latest book (I managed to be first in the queue). We then did a round trip behind the locomotive which perhaps demonstrated that it was perhaps not the best of choices for a winter's day, as it could only steam heat when running forwards (evidently as a express passenger class of locomotive, it was never really conceived that it would do much tender-first running).
I hadn't intended this as a major photographic session, and only produced two photographs; this one and one at Broadway. It was a fairly overcast day, and this is probably the better of the two, as the sun did make a brief appearance.