Reaching the summit

Unique Class 26 3450 was withdrawn in 2004 and it took a lot of effort to restore it to service in 2018. Whilst it has since hauled a number of passenger services it does not normally get a chance to haul freight. The FarRail tour saw Derick du Toit, owner of the Ceres Rail Company, reach agreement for the locomotive to haul a train consisting mainly of wagons loaded with cement plus several vans giving a total weight of around 690 tons. It is seen here a reaching the 1212ft summit at Mowers, 14 miles east of Worcester on the former New Cape Central Railway on a run to Ashton.