Brilliant that you could go into the cab.

Yes, one of my favorites too, but to drive them... wow, what a great privilege!

Glad you like them!

Many thanks 👍

Yeah they are awesome... 🙂

In my childhood the numbers stopped at (i think) 309 and the high numbered locos were all based in Scotland and usually didn't venture south of the border. Some of the 47s were the same so you had to go to them. I spent a week in Scotland with a Scottish Rail Rover ticket in 1981. That was a ticket that gave you free travel in Scotland. I spent one day going to the Kyle of Lochalsh. That was the first time i ate haggis. Haggis and chips at a chippy near the railway station. I've got photos of pink seagulls at, if memory serves, Inverness. I don't think it rained all week. I remember pitching my tent on wasteground behnd a line of parked lorries at a lorry park one night in the dark. A lorry driver got out and nearly beat the crap out of me thinking i was trying to break into his lorry. I protested i was just trying to find a spot for my tent. He had a very thivk Scottish accent and at 15 years old, i didn't understand half of what he was saying, but i understood F OFF or pitch it there or i'll brain ya! I pitched it right where i was. There was something under the ground sheet. I thought it was dog muck. when i got up in the morning it was a dead sparrow. That explained the smell too. My last night before catching my train back home to Birmingham early the next morning i had about a pound left. Enough for one last meal. It was a toss up between a chippy or MacDonalds. I chose MacDonalds. I bought my first and last macburger. It was so bad i've never had anything else from there to this day. Loved my week in Scotland on the trains though!

It was the nickname for 'Sir Robert McAlpine', the founder of Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd, the construction company. And is the nameplate on the other side of the loco. 🙂

Many thanks, and I welcome your feedback. This video is a bit of a compilation and will be made up from footage on various devices, dating back a few years now. I strongly consider myself an amatuer videographer, so naturally I'm constrained by budget limitations, but take your point on board (always learning). I just love to share the conent I capture with fellow enthusiasts in the best way that I can to the best of my ability. 🙂