'Black Five' no 45212 heads the Cathedrals Express

I only remembered late yesterday evening that this steam train was rostered to visit our Golden Valley on the return journey to London of its day long excursion to Worcester. By the time it arrived today it was thirty minutes late, but I don't think it was a fault with the engine, rather that there were general operational difficulties for the Network today.

This particular engine is one of a type of rather eminent workhorses of the London Midland and Scottish Regions of the national railway system prior to the demise of steam trains in the 1960s. I have only ever seen one of them in these parts some years ago, so I felt I should take a picture to record the event.

It has been a beautifully sunny spring day which has been very busy. I managed to get a variety of tasks done, most of them related to my imminent loss of my laptop again, which is returning to the Apple doctors for another bout of tests. The recent visit which ended up with a new screen hadn't resolved the random shut-down/crashes I've been having for some time. There is a chance of another solution which I don't want to get too excited about in case it doesn't happen. Tomorrow may bring some resolution.

The train was due at 7pm and its delay put back my cooking of our evening meal. That in turn delayed my much needed bout of printing, which has only just finished before my bedtime at midnight. Now I have to run a final back-up of the whole machine ready for the journey to Bristol for the Mac doctor.