New Territory for 34028 'Eddystone' on "The White Rose" - 11/07/2026

A new route for West Country Class no 34028 'Eddystone' in its mainline career would see the loco take on a favorite route for mainline steam on the East Coast Mainline hauling Railway Touring Company's "The White Rose" from London Kings Cross to York & return via Lincoln, on Saturday 11th July 2026 Much like with 35028 'Clan Line' a few days previously the continued hot weather meant the under code red steam would have limited power on the front end with the diesel on the rear providing all of the work Firstly seen heading north through Sandy in Bedfordshire on the outward leg, later on after a detour via Lincoln the train heads through Doncaster having re-joined the fast line and plenty of whistles and steam to spare from the Bulleid For the return leg 34028 would run direct from York to Doncaster on the ECML and is seen at speed pass Fenwick, another detour via Lincoln and now in darkness sees 'Eddystone' head through Knebworth, originally booked on the up-fast late running LNER services prevented this With most of the network now under a code black for which no mainline steam is allowed, until we see substantial rain soon this may well be one of the last steam hauled trips on the mainline for at least the next few weeks, we wait and see what happens 00:00 - Sandy 01:08 - Doncaster 03:08 - Fenwick 04:11 - Knebworth