Driver Eddie Jones and I shared the driving and firing on 'Sir Gomer' at the Battlefield Line on Sunday 8th June 2008. It must have been the hottest day of the year and we were both suffering from the roasting heat. On the last round trip, when Eddie said "The band should be at Shackerstone when we arrive", I thought I was hallucinating, but the band were there. Eddie plays in Black Parrot Seaside (known to the cogniscenti as 'BPS'), a four-man group who offer "folk with attitude". They were going to take some publicity shots around the railway, and Liz was there with her camera.
I decided I should take some shots as well and, later on, other Shackerstone members arrived with their cameras. An improptu performance of 'Requiem for Steam' recorded on the day appears on their website. This number, by Dave Goulder, they describe as "a serious and rather wistful song about the end of the steam locomotive in Britain".
My pictures of BPS at Shackerstone show the group around 'Sir Gomer', on the signalbox steps and on Platform 1.
BPS play on the steps of Shackerstone signal box (with unscheduled diesel loco horn accompaniment).
BPS play on Platform 1 at Shackerstone Station.
