The National Railway Museum's Southern Lord Nelson class 4-6-0 no. 850 Lord Nelson has been 'split' (ie, the locomotive and tender separated) ready for the road journey to the Great Central Railway at Loughborough. Here, the locomotive will undergo further running in.  The Great Central - which uniquely has a stretch of double-track main line - is passed for 60mph* running for non -passenger-carrying trains.  It is thus an ideal line on which to undertake further higher-speed running for the locomotive, before it returns to its rightful place on the national network hauling tours at speeds up to 75mph.

Also during the week, heavyweight champion Black Prince is expected back to Toddington after its starring appearance at the East Somerset Railway's 'Quarry Weekend' at Merehead Quarry.  Here, performed in company with American S160 class 2-8-0 no. 5197 (which was due to visit the GWR a couple of years ago**). Black Prince hauled stone trains in excess of 1,000 tons - doing exactly what it was designed to do.  The engine behaved faultlessly making an extraordinary crescendo of sound as the exhaust blasted skywards.  The cacophony was particularly impressive when the two engines were double heading.

Also visiting Merehead Quarry was previous GWR visitor, Hall class 4-6-0 no. 4936 Kinlet Hall. Several members of the GWR locomotive department visited Merehead for this amazing occasion - which, because of recent change of ownership of the stone quarry (said to be the largest in Europe), is likely to be the last.

Black Prince then went on to the nearby East Somerset Railway's Cranmore depot for a couple of weekends' work over this often-overlooked but very attractive railway. It was a nostalgic visit for both the engine and its owner, David Shepherd: the engine was based at the ESR for many years before moving to Toddington.

Enjoy our little gallery of Merehead pictures, taken by Ian Crowder. Click on the images to enlarge .  They show Black Prince, the S160, Kinlet Hall and two smaller locomotives that were providing brake van rides and demonstration freight runs: No. 813, the Port Talbot Railway 0-6-0ST that featured in last year's GWR Cotswold Festival of Steam, and the diminutive LSWR Beattie 'Well Tank' 2-4-0WT no. 30587.

*In company with the majority of heritage railways, the GWR's passenger trains are limited to 25mph under the terms of the 'Light Railway Order' under which they operate.

** The S160 class were built in the USA in their thousands - click here to read a News Extra feature on the S160 class, written when the engine was expected to visit the GWR.