On Saturday 25th March 2006 there were three steam hauled charter trains running; one form the Midlands to York with an A4, another running in South Wales with 6024 but the one that we really wanted a recording of was planned to run from Tyseley to Bristol and back with LMS Jubilee 4-6-0 5690 'Leander'.
Partly due to the need for a reversal at Washwood Heath and to provide a banker on the Lickey this train was also intended to employ one of the Tyseley Halls which should have worked the train out of Tyseley in the morning and then run light engine to Bromsgrove in the afternoon to bank the train up the Lickey and work the train back to Tyseley from Washwood Heath.
As we have seen all too often, railtour plans are forced to change, often at short notice and this train was no exception.
The first change was caused, presumably, by the same problem that 6201 encountered when it was discovered that there were clearance problems on the route to Bristol and the train was re-routed to run to Cardiff.
We only discovered what the other change was when the train arrived on the Lickey.
Conditions at Barrow Hill had been pretty good. It was fairly mild, the wind wasn't too bad and there was plenty of sun but, by the time we arrived at Pikes Pool Lane bridge, it was very windy and was raining quite heavily.
In view of the conditions, the position I had recorded 6201 from wasn't a possibility as it was far too exposed so we moved down to a spot below the crest of the hill, nearer the line, and awaited events.
A little after the time that the train had been due through Bromsgrove, steam could be seen rising in the distance, just about in the right place to be at Stoke Works Jc. but it wasn't moving. Was it the train or was it a factory?
After a procession of trains had passed going up the incline the steam began to move but there only appeared to be one column of steam. What was the banker doing?
All became clear once the train was onto the gradient - there was no banker. Apparently, although the Hall had worked the train to Washwood Heath that morning there had been some kind of problem which had prevented it from leaving Tyseley to go to Worcester that afternoon but it was felt that, as 'Leander' only had 6 coaches behind the tender, there would be little risk in allowing the ascent to be unassisted.
And, as you can hear in this recording, this proved correct. With the engine being worked as hard as this there was no risk of stalling on the 1 in 37¾ climb.
While I would not claim to be a great fan of Jubilees, I will admit to enjoying the sound of one being thrashed and this one was - thoroughly!