The Train Going Through Beccles.....

This post is made 100% in Beccles, which makes a change from China I guess! On Sunday a charter train headed by steam locomotive The Mayflower traversed the East Suffolk Line, and from all reports half of Beccles turned out to see it in something resembling The Railway Children! Amongst the merry throng were the Pursey family, who wasted no time in sending me some really good shots of the train. We start with this pic by Jamie Pursey, who appears to be as good behind the camera as he is in front of it! If it wasn't for the modern signalling this could have been taken 50 years ago.

61306 "Mayflower" with The Easterling tour at Beccles       pic (c) Jamie Pursey

Now I'm not suggesting there's any family rivalry but minutes after Jamie sent me his pics I received another email from his Mum, Nicky, swearing blind she was NOT a train geek (yeah whatever) and asking if her pics were better than Jamie's! Impossible to say, Nicky, as they are completely different and anyway I want to encourage the competition as I'll probably be the beneficiary of it! Here is the first pic of Nicky's, and I only wish the white car was replaced by Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, remembering that famous scene from the film.

Have to say that is an awesome sight     pic (c) Nicky Pursey

Now I have said many times that I'm not a great fan of steam. It played no part in my youth so no memories are stirred by it. But when you get really up close and personal to these great machines there is a feeling of awesomeness (made up word) and respect such as I felt at Victoria one day when I got very close to the Flying Scotsman. I imagine Jamie felt the same when Mayflower hissed past him today. Not the sharpest of pics but I think that adds to the pic as you can imagine the sound and smell and anticipation. That's three things I'm jealous of now, Jamie!

I wish pictures came with a soundtrack! Great pic       pic (c) Jamie Pursey

Nicky's second pic shows the unsung heros os these magnificent beasts - the crew, looking exactly as they do in those old black and white movies, in fact I'm pretty sure f you put a black and white filter on that pic it would look really olde worlde. I might just try that but here is the original.

Casey Jones on the footplate!!        pic (c) Nicky Pursey

So with a bit of tinkering it now looks like this.....

Not bad eh!!

Yes I'm wondering what Jamie's first pic would look like too given the same treatment!

Perfectly acceptable is the answer!

Finally we do have a soundtrack, as Beccle's other star, Tim Miller was on hand with his video camera to get this superb video of the event. My thanks, to Jamie, Nicky and Tim for making this another great post to write.