Last night, Bittern made her first run in Scotland since the 60s when she hauled the last A4 service from Glasgow - Aberdeen. She arrivied in Edinburgh bang on time at 19:00 at the head of "The Coronation". The iconic A4 whistle could be heard throughout the station. I should know...because I was the OPPOSITE end of the station from which she arrived!
A ScotRail worker told me it's likely the platform I was on (Waverley's layout is so confusing I can't remember the platform number!) but she arrived in the same platform as the Northbound HSTs usually do. All I heard was a whistle in the distance, glanced over and saw the steam rising out. I was gutted cause I wanted to see her arrive! What's more, they didn't even have her whistle when she and her train were towed out. That was very disapointing as the other two steam-hauled tours I've seen (Miss Cromwell and the Black Fives at Glasgow Central) gave us whistles upon departure, plus the A4 whistle is iconic!
Still, I did get to put my hands on her nameplate, boiler, face and tender. I adore A4s, but this was the first time I've ever seen any in person, so it was great despite everything else. Beautiful loco. Pictures do not do her justice!
Thought about getting a model of her, but the Bachmann A4s (of which Bittern has been made) are seemingly crap compaired to Hornbys. Attempting not to collect two models of the same loco, I'm not going for Hornby's BR Green 60022 Mallard as I already have LNER Garter Blue 4468 Mallard. I've decided I'm going to get Hornby's 92220 "Evening Star" instead!
All my pictures can be found here!
A ScotRail worker told me it's likely the platform I was on (Waverley's layout is so confusing I can't remember the platform number!) but she arrived in the same platform as the Northbound HSTs usually do. All I heard was a whistle in the distance, glanced over and saw the steam rising out. I was gutted cause I wanted to see her arrive! What's more, they didn't even have her whistle when she and her train were towed out. That was very disapointing as the other two steam-hauled tours I've seen (Miss Cromwell and the Black Fives at Glasgow Central) gave us whistles upon departure, plus the A4 whistle is iconic!
Still, I did get to put my hands on her nameplate, boiler, face and tender. I adore A4s, but this was the first time I've ever seen any in person, so it was great despite everything else. Beautiful loco. Pictures do not do her justice!
Thought about getting a model of her, but the Bachmann A4s (of which Bittern has been made) are seemingly crap compaired to Hornbys. Attempting not to collect two models of the same loco, I'm not going for Hornby's BR Green 60022 Mallard as I already have LNER Garter Blue 4468 Mallard. I've decided I'm going to get Hornby's 92220 "Evening Star" instead!
All my pictures can be found here!
Last edited:
.