© Geoff’s Rail Diaries 2013 The “Welsh Borders Steam Special” had been on the “to-do” list for some time. The train would be running from Bridlington (!) to Shrewsbury, where participants would be turfed out of their nice warm train to wander the medieval streets in the Arctic conditions... Diesel-hauled as far as Crewe, it was then to be steam-hauled via Chester to Shrewsbury, to arrive a little after 1.30pm. It would leave with its frozen passengers at 17.10, returning direct to Crewe. I did wonder whether the others knew something I didn’t, as we stood beside the bridge at Haston, about 5 miles north of Shrewsbury. There was no-one else there! Perhaps they knew about the unavoidable ankle-deep mud on the lane from Hadnall (”Unsuitable for motor vehicles” - true. Unsuitable for humans too...), and it was rather nippy in the steady easterly breeze. The steam would be on the wrong side for the light, of course, but sunshine was forecast for the evening. Perhaps the loco would be working hard enough to lift the exhaust? It might have been, if had been 44932, which was listed earlier in the week, but in the event 8F 48151 was subsituted. It’s limited to 50mph, and as can be seen from the video, achieved that speed about a quarter of a mile away, which is probably why the driver shut off steam. Half an hour after the train had passed, the sun was shining brightly.