An hour or so later City of Truro made an even more aggressive assault on the fearsome 1 in 36/44 (2.77%/2.27%) grades of Dainton Bank. Seen here on the last section of the hill before entering Dainton Tunnel, the City is travelling at 36.5mph (58.4kph), which was the fastest that any preserved steam locomotive had achieved on this stretch of line. True, the load is light, but what a tremendous performance from a machine 101 years old!

Photo & scan Roger Griffiths; jrcs@blueyonder.co.uk