The BR Class 8 Steam Locomotive Trust had a long-standing promise to fulfil upon completion of The Duke’s third overhaul in preservation – to let all the Trust members (The Duke Family) ride behind him on a loaded test run.
The accompanying photographs were taken during the glorious 8th October, 2025 of those fortunate to take up the opportunity to ride The Impossible Dream Express around the ‘Telford Loop’ on The Duke’s second loaded test run.
The photographs above were taken during the long wait for things to settle down in the wider rail network. Much discussion and conversations amongst like-minded people. There was so much network disruption that the station announcements flowed into each other. The excuses for the various delayed trains grew by the minute. It was suggested the announcer was working from a playlist. We even got a ‘Bridge Strike’ in there late on!!
On board the Members Charter walking through the carriages was a pleasure as everyone had huge smiles on their faces. The Duke was performing well and sounded sweet. On our table we had a guessing game going on with a speed app – who could guess the correct speed. We were quite surprised at one stage when we had to guess speeds of over 70 mph.
It was a great day out with The Duke Family and we look forward to other such occasions in the future.