Class 60

• 60008, 60046 and 60049 form an 0Z96 Immingham - Washwood Heath light engine movement, seen here passing Barrow-on-Trent at 14:17 on Thursday 21st September 2006. All three had recently been re-instated to traffic after a period out of use.
• 60018 coasts past a newly re-modelled Ryecroft Jct with 6G22 Washwood Heath - Bescot at 18:45 on Wednesday 30th July 2008. It was hard work finding a decent angle here after the lollipop speed signs were planted.
• 60019 coasts downhill through Leamore (between Bloxwich and Walsall) with a coal train from Mid Cannock. This shot was taken at 11:43 on Saturday 15th February 1997. It's the train rather than the loco which is really of interest here. The sidings at Mid Cannock were being used as an opencast disposal site at this time, and I recorded this train as being destined for Daw Mill (where the load would doubtless be blended with better quality deep-mined coal). In 1996 similar wagon-sets had been used to deliver coal from places like Maltby to Mid Cannock, again for blending. The empties off that service also ran through Bloxwich as 6P60 Mid Cannock - Toton, but this loaded train makes for a better picture. Although coal trains still rumble around the Black Country en route to and from Rugeley power station, all the local sources have now gone with the sole exception of Daw Mill. The last pit in Staffordshire was Littleton, which closed in 1993.
• 60021 heads the 6M11 Washwood Heath - Peak Forest stone empties through Willington at 10:20 on Tuesday 18th September 2007.
• 60038 had only just been re-painted when this picture was taken at 15:24 on Thursday 28th March 2002, and by the look of the silver buffers and white tyres it had been tarted up for its re-naming ceremony ("Avesta Polarit"). It's trundling along Elford loop with the 6M00 tanks to Kingsbury, a train which would later be operated for a period by Freightliner Heavy Haul, before DBS regained the traffic. 60038 went into store in December 2008, and was moved from Toton to Crewe DMD in January 2009. It was still stored at Crewe DMD at the end of 2012.
• The 6E59 Kingsbury - Lindsey empty tanks heads north past Elford at 16:33 on Saturday 2nd August 2008. The loco is 60040, which had recently been re-painted to celebrate the centenary of the Territorial Army.
• 60040 worked a Liverpool Bulk Terminal (Gladstone Dock) - Ironbridge coal train on the morning of Saturday 7th February 2009. Here's the return empties passing Cosford at 13:24, where it was slotted in between the 12:47 Shrewsbury - New St (Cosford 13:17) and the 12:20 Wrexham - Marylebone (Cosford 13:30). The train is formed of a rake of HTA hoppers with buffers at the outer ends.
• 60041 trundles down Elford loop at 15:10 on Wednesday 21st March 2007. The train is 6G47 Mountsorrel - Bescot, which ran via Loughborough, Sheet Stores Jct and Burton, unlike the outbound working which went via Nuneaton and Leicester. Taking a circular route meant that the loco didn't have to run-round the wagons.
• 60041 again, this time heading a late-running 6M11 Washwood Heath - Peak Forest past Washwood Heath yard at 11:40 on Wednesday 31st October 2007. The train is a mixed rake of wagons in RMC and Cemex liveries. Mexican-based Cemex bought the RMC Group in 2005.
• Only 14 Class 60s were in active pools by the time this picture was taken on Saturday 21st February 2009. One of them was 60044, seen here taking the 6M57 Lindsey - Kingsbury tanks through Willington at 11:20. Some regular 60 turns were handed over to Class 66s during February 2009, including this one - a Class 60 being used only occasionally thereafter. The refurbishment program for 60s, and their subsequent resurgence, saw this train once again become a solid 60 turn in 2012.
• For a short period in summer 2007 the Margam - Corby coil trains were diverted to run from Wolverhampton Steel Terminal, for reasons that I've already forgotten. This led to trains of coil, loaded on open wagons, running over routes that don't normally see this sort of traffic any more. In this shot 60045 leads 6M96 Wolverhampton - Corby past the site of Sutton Park station at 12:44 on Wednesday 8th August 2007.
• This train proved popular amongst photographers in the summer of 2007. Firstly because it ran at a very useful time for a midsummer shot, and secondly because in the week commencing 30th July it was regularly producing a Class 60 and HTA wagons. This was a rare combination in the Midlands and south as only a few HTA rakes have conventional couplers on the outer wagons. The train is 6V17 Bescot - Portbury, formed of empty coal hoppers off a Fiddlers Ferry - Bescot working. This view was taken at 17:03 on Thursday 2nd August, and shows 60056 passing East View Road (Wylde Green) on the Sutton Park line. Pete Tandy also shot this train at Croome Perry nearly two hours later in the last of the evening light.
• 60068 worked a 6Z00 Lindsey - Kingsbury tank train on Friday 6th April 2007. It arrived in Elford loop at 15:25, and didn't depart until 16:15 so there was ample opportunity to do it both arriving and departing. This picture shows the 20-bogie train climbing past Portway at 16:17.
• A shot that required two attempts. 60077 crosses Stambermill Viaduct, Stourbridge, with the 6M41 Margam - Round Oak steel. This photo was taken at 18:02 on Wednesday 14th May 2008. My first pop at this ended in failure a few days earlier. On that occasion an appointment with dinner saw me walk away from the shot at about 18:20, after a 50 minute wait. M41 turned up about three minutes later, just as I was getting into the car, but at least it was only a 66. On this second attempt I turned up in plenty of time to ensure that I didn't miss it on a lovely sunny afternoon. In the event I had to wait an hour, but it was probably worth it. Stambermill Viaduct stands in the middle of suburban Stourbridge, taking the railway over the River Stour and the A458 Birmingham road. The river follows the curving tree line to the right, and goes under the arch beneath the second wagon. The road is further to the right.
• 60500 passes Barrow-on-Soar with 6E52 Peak Forest - Peterborough. This train was booked to run on Mondays and Wednesdays at this time, and the shot was taken at 14.14 on Monday 10th October 2005. The MBA wagons convey limestone. The footbridge in this shot was destroyed in an accident on 1st February 2008. A lorry engaged in railway engineering work clipped the deck causing it to collapse and foul the railway, which was open for traffic. A Class 158 ran into the wreckage, injuring the driver. A new bridge was eventually provided, and is visible in this shot.