Birmingham - Cardiff express running under the Severn & Wye line by Severn Bridge station. View NE, towards Gloucester; ex-GWR Gloucester etc. - South Wales main line, passing under the Severn & Wye (GW&LMS) Joint line, Lydney - Sharpness - Berkeley Road. Severn Bridge station is up on the left, the Severn Bridge itself being to the right.

The Severn Bridge and the line between Lydney and Sharpness were closed abruptly after a colliding barge took out one of the central piers and two spans in the night of 25-26/10/60. Subsequently the line remained open Berkeley Road - Sharpness until 2/11/64 (goods 3/1/66).

The express is headed by 4-6-0 No. 4953 'Pitchford Hall' in nice clean condition. This 'Hall' was built in 8/29 and withdrawn in 5/63, but was saved from scrapping: it was acquired by the Pitchford Hall Locomotive Society, restored to working order at Tyseley Works and is currently (2011) kept on the Great Central Railway at Loughborough.

Peter Kerslake adds "4953 "Pitchford Hall" looks in fine condition in this nicely composed view with her driver at his cabside and the splendid bridge in the backgound, the date being 9th August 1951.
One of the early examples of her class 4953 was built at Swindon in August of 1929 and was at Cardiff's Canton Depot in the mid 'fifties.
This view is from the main line from Gloucester running down to Chepstow and South Wales on the north western bank of the Severn, the location being shown as Awre, between Gloucester and Lydney."