A ride behind 37703 'Vulcan' at the Paignton & Dartmouth Steam Railway, in action due to fire risk.

Due to the prolonged hot weather the U.K. has experienced in recent weeks and risks posed by the changing wind direction that have the potential to spark lineside fires, the Paignton & Dartmouth Steam Railway are airing on the side of caution this weekend, and replacing steam haulage with diesel traction on the 15.30 and 16.45 departures from Paignton Queens Park Station, in an attempt to mitigate any problems during the peak of the heat in the late afternoon.

Friday saw ex DRS 37703 ‘Vulcan’ looking resplendent in its Railfreight Coal Sector Trainload Grey covering these services, and Saturday and Sunday will see the task handed over the the P&DSRs other resident Tractor, BR Blue 37275.

This made the journey down the M5 to Paignton this afternoon an irresistible opportunity, particularly given 703 has only undertaken a handful of runs during its time here and it didn’t disappoint.

We see BR Large Prairie 4110, which has now returned from the East Somerset Railway, arriving and handing over to the 37 before a great leisurely run down along the coast and Estuary, laying down the power to Kingswear where the 37 ran around and returned to Paignton.

It was then a rather ambitious dash off the train to the infamous spot overlooking the climb it of Goodrington, given the 16.45 was already running late, and with the fire at Paignton Mainline Station closing the roads, plus the mainline barriers going off, even driving down Cliff Park Road we managed a couple of shots.

We finish with shots of the 37 passing Waterside before the resident 03371 shunts the loco and some stock back to the shed, and lastly take a look at the fire damage to Paignton mainline station, and temporary platform system in operation whilst ongoing repairs take place.

I hope you enjoy this video and thank you for watching! If you like what you've seen, please head over to Instagram https://www.instagram.com/brunelheritage/ and Tik Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@brunel.heritage for more and please feel free to leave comments, ratings, and subscribe to the channel.

#Class37 #EnglishElectric #Vulcan #CoalSector #TrainloadGrey #Railfreight #Paignton #Churston #Kingswear #Dartmouth #heritagerailway #diesel #locomotive #BritishRailways #BritishRail #PaigntonandDartmouthSteamRailway #LargePrairie #dieselshunter #heatwave #seaside #Devon #railwayvideos #trainvideos #trains #railways #August