SEVERN VALLEY STEAM 2016

By Steam Valley Productions. Available from all Severn Valley Railway shops or www.severnvalleysteam.com RUNNING TIME: 2hrs 45mins PRICE: £15.00 plus £1.50 P&P RATING: ★★★★★

there’s something for everybody in the annual compilation of Severn valley railway steam action, filmed by charter organiser Matt Fielding. Headline acts during 2016 were, of course, Flying Scotsman and Tornado, both of which feature though not as much as you might expect in the case of the ‘A3’. Mind you, making up for this are a couple of dramatic sequences giving a ‘worm’s eye view’ of both ‘pacifics’, with the camera on the ballast in the ‘four foot’! Also featured only briefly is newly overhauled pannier tank No. 7714, but among the other Southern, LMS and GWr motive power, ‘Small prairie’ No. 4566 is perhaps the star as it bows out at the end of its boiler ticket. it features in an unusual ‘driver’s eye view’ with the camera mounted on the right-hand tank, and makes a fitting finale in the very last clip as it heads into Foley park tunnel. Sound quality has been an issue in previous instalments of this series, but in this case there is a marked improvement. the only real issue is the length - at nearly three hours, it’s longer than most films - but otherwise, a very good record of the Svr’s year.