The Dean Forest Foray Railtour and Other Mixed Trains - Saturday 6th July, 2019

Saturday 6th July was a day of mixed traction trains in the forms of both modern and classic examples, as we travelled to the Dean Forest Railway to catch the Hastings DEMU Thumper Unit on its railtour charter, 'The Dean Forest Foray', from Hastings to Dean Forest Railway.

We started the day at Newport (South Wales), where we managed to catch two freight trains, a GWR 158 unit and a 143 Pacer unit, before travelling on a 170 CrossCountry unit up to the Dean Forest Railway in Lydney.

After having dinner and waiting around for a while, the Hastings DEMU Thumper Unit eventually arrived at Lydney Junction, where passengers from Hastings got off the platform to take photo opportunities, and wait for the railway's steam service to come down from Norchard. The railway's Prarie Tank 5541 was running the passenger services.

For filming these two trains, we split off to different locations along the railway. I stayed down at Lydney Junction, whilst my dad went over to St Mary's Halt to catch the Thumper from the recently reopened and restored Victorian footbridge.

After we filmed both the steam service and the Thumper Unit heading up the line, we returned home, filming a CrossCountry 170 at Lydney, and filming two Transport for Wales services at Pontypool & New Inn to finish the day.

Filmed on Saturday 6th July, 2019.

Filmed by Scott Coombes and Thomas Coombes.
Produced by Thomas Coombes.

(C) 2019 GrimlockTrainz Productions