Peter Kerslake says " This is when too much steam can completely ruin a cameraman's day, especially if the wind is blowing the wrong way as it is certainly doing here.
Not only has "Apollo's" driver put on steam but his locomotive's safety valves have lifted and for good measure the whistle appears to be sounding as they storm non stop through Didcot heading towards Paddington on an express from South Wales, the locomotive, earlier shedded at Old Oak Common, having been transferred to Cardiff Canton in December1956.
The main line to Oxford curves away to the right, with Didcot Motive Power Depot hidden from view, now the site of the Great Western Society and its locomotives.
Transfer of ten "Britannias" in December1956 to Canton from Laira, Old Oak and Newton Abbot took Canton's total to fifteen, but their original five were by far the best of the bunch, well maintained and well liked by the crews from their arrival in late 1952.