I amused a couple of trainspotters by sprinting up to the bridge, jumping off my bike and whipping my phone out in time to capture this photo of something steamy (but I suspect not coal-fired) on the GWSR near Southam earlier:
I explained that I'd heard the whistle about half a km back, and reckoned if I gave it the beans, I might be able to make it to the bridge / level crossing by the time it arrived.
Interestingly, I caught up with the same train again after Winchcombe. Without the aid of a tunnel. That's a pretty slow train!
Why do you suspect not coal fired, Kim?
Most heritage railways are trialling coal with added "stuff" to make it less ungreen. The Government, of course, wants us all to import Russian coal, rather than use the absolutely perfect stuff that many railway locos were designed for, from Ffos Y Fran, near Merthyr. Obviously far greener to import filthy low grade coal from across the world, than use our own much higher grade stuff... The coal used by heritage steam is an absolutely tiny fraction of that used by the cement industry and the steel industry, but they'd rather destroy an entire tourism and heritage sector than insist those industries make a 5% reduction in coal use. Grrr...