Through the mist…

The scenery that the Swanage Railway runs through is pretty stunning, so when the opportunity came up to take part in a photo charter on the line I accepted straight away.

The distinctive sight of a ‘spam can’ on the Swanage Railway

The motive power for the day was to be Battle of Britain class locomotive 34070 ‘Manston’ which was an added bonus. The “air-smoothed” appearance of the class (nicknamed ‘spam cans’) has made these locomotives some of the most distinctive to roll off the production line in the UK. I for one am glad that they escaped the cutters torch as the preservation scene would be much poorer without them.

Unfortunately, I pulled back the curtains to a distinctly foggy morning in Swanage but such is the gamble of a photo charter! The day progressed from thick fog to mist with hardly a glimpse of sun or sky, but Manston looked and sounded wonderful nevertheless…

Un-rebuilt Battle of Britain class No. 34070 Manston on the Swanage Railway

It was slightly galling to learn that the fog had burned off just about everywhere else but had stubbornly clung to the Isle of Purbeck for the entire day. We barely got any sight of the sun through the mist, let alone any blue sky, but in spite of this I’d still happily repeat the experience given the chance!

Gallery