'The Chopper Topper Returns' - Class 20s to Shrewsbury - 02/07/22

To catch our next railtour on film for the 2022 season, we decided to travel up along the Welsh Marches mainline from Pontypool to Shrewsbury, where the latest Pathfinders railtour, 'The Chopper Topper Returns' would be stopping at Shrewsbury for an hour's break.

After getting to the station by train and looking around Shrewsbury city centre to kill some time, we filmed several Transport for Wales and West Midlands Railway passenger service trains, before the railtour finally arrived.

'The Chopper Topper Returns' was on a freight line excursion from Burton-on-Trent to Shrewsbury, with two sets of Class 20s placed on each end of the train. 20007 and 20142 were on the front end of the train, whole 20205 and 20189 were on the rear of the train. The tour dropped off passengers on Platform 4 before it went off to the outskirts of the station to be prepared for the return run home.

An hour later, 20189 & 20205 were leading the tour coaches back into the station to pick up the passengers. The front of 20189 had two nameplates on the front, one with the Pathfinders logo, and the other was a memorial dedication to our good friend, Alistair Grieve, who had sadly passed away earlier this year in February 2022, aged 55.

We knew Alistair for almost ten years when we first met him at the Pontypool and Blaenavon Railway in July 2012, and we believe that he was the co-owner of one of the blue Class 20s that was on the tour, so seeing this dedication to him on the locomotive was really touching in my opinion.

After everyone got back onboard, the 'Chopper Topper' tour heads away from Shrewsbury to begin its journey back home to Burton-on-Trent.

RIP Alistair Grieve
1966 - 2022

Filmed at Shrewsbury on Saturday 2nd July, 2022.

Filmed by
Scott Coombes
Thomas Coombes

Produced by
Thomas Coombes

(C) 2022 Marches Productions