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Eight-cylinder effort as ex-Great Western Railway 4-6-0s 5029 Nunney Castle and 6024 King Edward I, accelerate away from Bristol Temple Meads station, with The Capital Castle special train, bound for London. 19 May 2001. Roger Griffiths: roger.griffiths@hotmail.com

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On 30 August 2004, ex-GWR 4-cyl 4-6-0 5029 Nunney Castle, made only the second run in over 40 years, of a Castle Class locomotive to Carmarthen in West Wales. The return route took in the Swansea District Line, a steeply graded route which today is used only by freight trains. The lowering sun glints off the side of 5029 as she passes Llangyfelach, once the site of an immense steelworks employing thousands of men. Today only landscaped fields mark the site of that once huge factory. Photo and scan Roger Griffiths; jrcs@blueyonder.co.uk

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It is mid-afternoon in high summer, but Britain's very changeable weather creates an autumn evening-like situation with low cloud, humidity and a cool temperature. The exhausts of ex-GWR 4-6-0s, 5029 Nunney Castle and 5051 Earl Bathurst hang in the damp atmosphere as the locomotives charge up the 1 in 38 (2.63%) gradient at Combe Fishacre, in South Devon, returning from Penzance to Exeter. 31 May 2004. Photo and scan Roger Griffiths; jrcs@blueyonder.co.uk

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A day under 12 weeks later the same pair of locomotives are again seen at Combe Fishacre, but in very different conditions. The warm afternoon sunlight glints off the copper and brass fittings of 5029 and 5051 as they make another assault on the steep gradient to the western portal of Dainton Tunnel. Gone is the heavy atmospheric situation of 31 May, with almost perfect grey exhausts marking the locomotives' spirited and awe-inspiring progress. 21 August 2004. Photo and scan Roger Griffiths; jrcs@blueyonder.co.uk

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A rare opportunity to see a steam-worked train over the recently re-opened, freight only branch line from Bristol to Portbury Dock. Ex-GWR Castle Class 4-6-0 5029 Nunney Castle bursts out of Ham Green Tunnel and approaches the weed-overgrown platform of the long-closed Ham Green Halt; 9 May 2004. Photo and scan Roger Griffiths; jrcs@blueyonder.co.uk

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Carrying the "Pembroke Coast Express" headboard, 5029 Nunney Castle makes a rare journey into West Wales. The gleaming 4-6-0 leans into the curving track beside the sand dunes at Pembrey, with a special train from Newport to Carmarthen; 30 August 2004. Photo and scan Roger Griffiths; jrcs@blueyonder.co.uk

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A little later in her 30 August journey back to Newport, 5029 made a very fast and noisy ascent of the 5 miles (8kms) climb to Stormy Down Summit, breasting the hill just in time for the last rays of the sun to once again glint off the side of the locomotive. Photo and scan Roger Griffiths; jrcs@blueyonder.co.uk

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Photograph of GWR Castle Class 4-6-0 No 5029 "Nunney Castle". Location Hay Bridge Severn Valley Railway. . Date 22nd Sept 1996. SVR Autumn Steam Gala. Photo by Eric W. Samuel <samuel@nildram.co.uk>

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Eight-cylinder effort as a pair of ex-GWR Castle Class 4-6-0s attacks the 1 in 36/44 gradient (2.78/2.27%) to Dainton Tunnel, in South Devon. 5051 Earl Bathurst and 5029 Nunney Castle, create a grandstand spectacle for hundreds of photographers as the locomotives make steady, but very noisy progress with a special train from Taunton to Penzance. 29 May 2004. Photo and scan Roger Griffiths; jrcs@blueyonder.co.uk