Recent updates

• New photo added on Saturday 14th November 2009...
• On the dark damp afternoon of Saturday 14th November Pannier tanks 9600 and 9466 hustle their train across Newton Jct. The train is 1Z52 Ironbridge - Kidderminster, which was due to stop at Bescot for water between 12:40 and 13:50. In the event it also had to stop for water at Wolverhampton, and didn't arrive at Bescot until around 13:40. This photo was taken at 14:30, using ISO800 1/400 f4.5, plus some noise reduction in the post-processing.
• New photo added on Sunday 25th October 2009...
• 08393 was returned from Daventry to Bescot in mid-August. It subsequently spent some time in active use at Bescot, primarily as depot pilot, but was put into store at the end of September. For several weeks it was dumped in the Down Storage Sidings, where this photograph was taken on the afternoon of Sunday 25th October, but in early November it was returned to the depot.
• New scans added on Saturday 24th October 2009...
• In the 1980s most Tyseley DMUs were three-car Class 116 sets, but there were also a number of mixed sets containing vehicles of other types. They never had many Class 100 Gloucester-built units, but there were one or two odd cars in use at various times. In this shot a Class 100 DMBS peeks out into the evening sun while standing at New St (platform 10b).
• 37688 and 37380 approach Oxley with 1A44, the 1010 Aberystwyth - Euston. This photo was taken at 13:21 on Saturday 25th June 1988. Buxton-based no-heat 37s were the booked traction for Cambrian summer Saturday trains at this time.
• 73133 and 73105 pass Bescot at 14:06 on Monday 18th November 1996. This was an Eastleigh road-learning trip, and the EDs returned south via Walsall and Sutton Park. 73105 was already "dud" for Bescot, having appeared on at least one previous turn (Thursday 7th November, with 73134).
• 47851 slows on the approach to Aston at 14:22 on Friday 29th March 2002. The train is 5H28 Oxley - Birmingham International, from where it formed the 15:16 to Manchester Piccadilly.
• 56006 climbs away from Ryecroft with 6E08 Wolverhampton - Scunthorpe. This shot was taken at 09:37 on Thursday 15th May 2003.
• New photos added on Monday 14th September 2009...
• Summer belatedly arrived in mid-September, and fortunately I was able to get a few days off work to enjoy the sunshine. I started off at Branston, south of Burton-on-Trent, on Thursday 10th September. The objective was the 6Z57 Boston - Washwood Heath steel train, but while I was waiting for that 4O54 Leeds - Southampton came past at 09:18. 66567 and 66956 were at the head of the liner.
• The outbound 6Z56 Washwood Heath - Boston and the 6Z57 return working were 56303's first outing since being painted in green livery. I couldn't see from my perch, but the Grid must have been re-starting from the loop because it was screaming its head off as it passed me at 10:30.
• The next move was to Willington for a 1Q14 test train, which was pootling around the East Midlands for much of the day. At lunch time it was due to work from Derby to Burton, and is seen here passing Willington footbridge at 1140. 37609 led, with 37059 at the rear. The vegetation alongside the down line is beginning to get intrusive now, and the northbound shot is the better one in my opinion.
• 1Q14 returned north at 1203, with 37059 now leading as it headed for Syston via Sheet Stores Jct. Although I quite like the elevated view off the bridge here, I thought I'd give the ground level shot through the bridge a go. Works OK I think, even though the sun was off the nose by this stage.
• On the afternoon of Friday 12th September I had a trundle over to Barrow-on-Soar, for no other reason that I like this spot and fancied a crack at some gypsum trains. 66703 had done the morning train to Hotchley Hill, but I didn't arrive in time to see that train go south to Leicester to run-round. I did, however, catch 66732 heading south with the afternoon train, which passed Barrow at 14:35. This is 4M82 Doncaster - Hotchley Hill, which originates as 4D55 Drax - Doncaster.
• By the time 66703 returned north I'd moved around to the footbridge, but it used the fast line where there isn't really a shot. 66732 came north on the slow however, passing Barrow at 15:55. This was my first time on the new footbridge, which doesn't have high sides and is therefore photo-friendly. It does bounce around when a fast express goes underneath though, much more so than the old bridge I think.
• Part of the plan on Friday 11th was to pop by at the GCR on the way home, as it was the first day of the autumn diesel weekend. Woodville was inevitably a bit of a crowd scene, and I had no desire to linger long. Three trains passed in the 30 minutes that I was there, of which the second was 33116 (D6535) hauling the 4-BIG on a Rothley - Loughborough working, pictured here at 16:36. The Crompton has received a welcome lick of paint since I last saw it, although for some reason it carries no number.
• On Saturday 12th September the SVR diesel diagram was in the hands of D1013, and the prospect of a blue Western in near guaranteed sunshine was hard to resist. I had a pop at the 13:20 from Kidderminster at Foley Park, but although the lighting was perfect the messy background of factory units rather spoils the shot. The sedate progress of SVR trains means that it's easily possible to have another go, despite the winding country roads and slow traffic through Bewdley. Here's Western Ranger climbing Eardington bank at 14:28, against a rather more picturesque background.
• The afternoon train leaves Bridgnorth at 15:30, and was photographed descending Eardington bank at 15:40.
• New photos added on Sunday 30th August 2009...
• Off to the SVR on Saturday August 29th, where D1062 worked the diesel diagram again. On this occasion D1013 was parked in the headshunt at Bridgnorth.
• The LNER teak coaches were used with the Western, which rather spoils this otherwise convincing BR(WR) scene. The combo is caught in a brief glimpse of sunshine waiting to depart from Bridgnorth with the 15:30 service.
• Back at Kidderminster new arrival 20059 was standing on the turntable. It appears to be mid-way through a paint job.
• 37670 and 37401 came south to Bescot late on Saturday 29th, and the next day they worked a 6P03 spoil train to a worksite just north of Hamstead station where the up line was being renewed. Engineers trains were running southbound on the down line, with three spoil trains on site at lunch time. After their train had been loaded the 37s drew the train forward to this spot just north of Hamstead station, where another spoil train stood a few yards ahead. By this stage the early sunshine was long gone, and it was pretty dull. But there was at least some sort of photo available through the Walsall Road bridge from the up platform.
• New photos added on Friday 21st August 2009. Lazy afternoon at Cossington...
• A few shots from a spell of just under three hours at Cossington on Wednesday 19th August. Happy to find some sun on a day off work, and photograph anything that came past. First one that made the cut was 156410 heading south at 16:08, and forming the 14:35 Lincoln - Leicester. It's been two years since I was last at this location, and many of the passenger trains seem to be sporting different liveries from when I was last there. Paint suppliers seem to be one of the more obvious winners from railway privatisation.
• I don't get to see HSTs often these days, so they're beginning to have novelty value. This one was photographed at 16:54, and was forming the 16:28 Nottingham - St Pancras. Due Leicester at 16:55 it was running a few minutes late. New power car paint job, but old trailers, I think.
• Four freights passed while I was there. All were conveying different cargo, and all were operated by different companies. They all went north, and they were all on the slow line. The last of the four passed at 16:55, and was the best lit. 66715 is on hire from GBRf to Fastline, and was hauling the 6A61 Daw Mill - Ratcliffe coal.
• This HST was forming the 16:15 St Pancras - Nottingham. Due off Leicester at 17:30, it passed Cossington at 17:38. This one has matching power car and trailers.
• New photos added on Saturday 25th July 2009...
• On Saturday 25th July - for no special reason - I had my first haulage behind a Western for about 35 years, so excuse the surfeit of platform-end photos. I can't remember exactly when I last had a Western on the main line, but it wasn't in their last couple of years, and I don't remember ever riding behind one in preservation. Pretty much all my Western mileage occurred in Somerset and Devon, in the period from about 1968 to 1974, when I was still at school. Much of this was done with a Western Region Area 4 runabout ticket, whose main-line boundaries were Yatton and Totnes. D1062 worked the diesel diagram at the Severn Valley Railway on 25th July, and is seen here arriving light engine at Kidderminster at 09:19.
• A few seconds after the previous shot D1062 runs onto the stock for the 09:50 Kidderminster - Bridgnorth. By chance D1062 was my very last Western for sight. I no longer have the date, although it would have been summer 1972 or 1973. I do remember that it was at Plymouth station, and Courier had arrived from Penzance. In those days many trains were re-engined at Plymouth, and buffet cars were added to up services and removed from down ones.
• D1062 stands at the head of the 09:50 to Bridgnorth, shortly before departure.
• During the layover at Bridgnorth the pilot engine, a very smoky D3586, shunted D1013 off the shed. Here it is heading south at 11:14...
• ...and back through the platform passing D1062 at 11:18. Not a great angle, but two Westerns in one shot was too great a temptation to resist.
• New photos added on Thursday 25th June 2009...
• 57316 passes Dorrington with 1V31 Holyhead - Cardiff at 08:24 on Wednesday 24th June.
• The return working, 1W91, heading north away from Craven Arms at 17:43 on Wednesday 24th.
• New photos added on Thursday 4th June 2009. Sunny Shropshire...
• A lovely sunny day on Monday 1st June offered the opportunity to have a crack at the "WAG express" somewhere on the North & West route. I hadn't originally planned to cover it but a 5Z97 Derby - Shrewsbury special required only a small diversion. Here it is passing Admaston just west of Wellington at 16:11. The same consist of 97301 and two coaches made forays from Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth on the following three days.
• 57313 was on the WAG express, the 16:15 Cardiff - Holyhead, a train run on behalf of the Welsh Assembly. It's seen here passing Stokesay, just south of Craven Arms, at 17:49.
• Tuesday 2nd June was still mostly sunny, and I fancied another crack at the WAG. With no reason to stop en route I was at Craven Arms early enough get some shots of trains and semaphores. Class 175s dominate the passenger services nowadays, and this is 175007 forming the 14:30 Manchester Piccadilly - Milford Haven. Due at Craven Arms at 16:07 it actually arrived at 16:20.
• The 13:10 Milford Haven - Manchester was worked by 175102. Due at Craven Arms at 17:28 this service was also late, turning up at 17:36.
• Cloud had been building for an hour or more before the WAG was due, but things were looking OK in the preceding 30 minutes. In the event 57313 turned up on time at 17:50, blasting up the straight from Stokesay just as a shade line crept along the tracks in the other direction. Ten seconds earlier and there'd have been no problem, but in the event the light started to die in the foreground in the few seconds it took the train to travel the final 100 yards to the point at which I'd planned to press the shutter. That second shot was OK after some editing to lift the foreground, but in the end I preferred this first "backup" shot.
• New photos added on Saturday 30th May 2009...
• 47760 climbs past Bordesley Jct with a 1Z57 Skegness - Cardiff charter at 10:20 on Saturday 30th May. A large tree directly behind the camera makes the shot of southbound trains awkward nowadays.
• Tram 15 heads south towards Hill Top tunnel at 16:26 on Saturday 30th May. The tunnel is half-way between Wednesbury and West Bromwich, a couple of hundred yards north of the Black Lake stop. Note how the trees are engulfing the OLE masts in this area.
• New photos added on Friday 29th May 2009. RGB at Ryecroft...
• Three photos from a two hour session at Ryecroft on Thursday 28th May. Starting with blue, represented by 20304 and 20303 which were in charge of 6M67 Bridgwater - Sellafield. This train passed at 17:13, the consist of three flasks from Hinkley Point being something of a mega load for this train.
• Over an hour elapsed before there was any sign of another freight, but then three came in short order. Representing the red team was 66111 on 7G22 Washwood Heath - Bescot. This train passed at 18:17, and conveyed the usual load of new railway sleepers. Perhaps one more year and the trees will completely hide the "new" houses, and also the palisade fencing in the bottom right of the shot. The view will then revert to looking once more like the rural idyll that it most assuredly isn't, albeit much more dominated by trees than it once was.
• Next up was 66622 with an empty coal from Rugeley, heading for Bescot to run-round. It passed Ryecroft at 18:24, and right behind that was 66611 on 6M51 Hull - Rugeley, also Bescot-bound. Here's 66611, rounding the curve at 18:27. The set of major freight operators should have been completed by GBRf's 66731 on a Kilmarnock - Laira stock move, but it seems to have been diverted via Bescot and New St.
• New photos added on Sunday 24th May 2009...
• Wrexham and Shropshire ran three additional trains in connection with the Shrewsbury - Gillingham play-off game at Wembley on Saturday 23rd May. The first was a relief train, propelled by 67015. The second was a footex top-and-tailed by 67010 and 67021. The third one was also a footex, and the most interesting of the three as it used a pair of Class 168 units hired from Chiltern. These units aren't normally seen north of Birmingham. but 168215 did a test run to Shrewsbury on Tuesday 19th May. The footex itself was formed of 168216 and 168217, and ran as 1Z03 10:07 Shrewsbury - Wembley - Marylebone. It's seen here passing Hamstead, a few minutes early, at 10:58.
• 57005 passes Dosthill, between Kingsbury and Tamworth, with a 6Z95 Cardiff - Stockton empty scrap train. This picture was taken at 16:51 on Saturday 23rd May.
• New photos added on Wednesday 13th May 2009. Another couple of tram shots...
• Everything's gone pink. New-liveried tram number 05 approaches the bridge over the Tame Valley Canal near Hill Top in West Bromwich. This shot was taken at 15:12 on Monday 11th May. Other trams in the new colour scheme are 07, 09 (below) and 10.
• Tram 05 again, this time half a mile further south, passing a nice display of broom on the approach to Black Lake station. This was taken at 16:33 so number 05 has taken around 80 minutes to do a complete circuit of the line.
• New photos added on Monday 11th May 2009...
• Tram 09 is seen on the approach to Hill Top tunnel, West Bromwich, at 15:26 on Monday 11th May. It's about to cross over Bilport Lane via the bridge with the blue railings, and it will then cross the Tame Valley canal by a bridge alongside the photographer. Number 09 is one of at least four trams which are now painted in the new pink and silver livery. It looks horrible but is easier to photograph than the more contrasty original livery. There's no obvious reason why the line needs to kink here, it's otherwise dead straight from the curve in the distance to the southern portal of Hill Top tunnel, a distance of about 1500 yards in all.
• Co-incidentally this is also tram 09, seen approaching Hill Top tunnel from the Black Lake end on its return from Birmingham. This shot was taken at 16:08, so it's taken just under 40 minutes to make the round trip from Black Lake to Snow Hill and back. It re-appeared at Black Lake at 16:46, having taken another 38 minutes or so to make the round trip to Wolverhampton and back.
• New photo added on Friday 8th May 2009...
• It isn't often that a new bridge has a lower parapet than the one it replaced, but that's what happened at Littleton St West as part of the new ring road works in Walsall. There's no sign yet of any improvement in the traffic flow, but it has opened up this shot looking north towards Ryecroft Jct. No steps are required, but trees on the left make it a summer only shot. My visit on Thursday 7th May was intended to bag the Berkeley flask, but I couldn't make it in time. Consolation prize was 66560 with a loaded coal train for Rugeley, seen here at 16:50 heading towards Bescot to run-round.
• New photo added on Saturday 2nd May 2009...
• 37670 and 37401 round the curve at Wistanstow with a 1Z51 Mossley Hill - Cardiff charter, booked to run via the Central Wales line. This shot was taken at 09:55 on Saturday 2nd May, another day when the West Midlands weather forecast was hopelessly awry, at least with respect to the amount of sunshine. Fortunately a 90 minute break in the otherwise continuous cloud cover co-incided with this train's journey through Shropshire.
• New photos added on Saturday 25th April 2009...
• To Bredicot near Worcester on Saturday 25th April, where two HSTs went south in fairly quick succession while I was there. This is the second one, the 10:05 Edinburgh - Penzance, photographed at 15:36.
• The main objective of this outing was 5Z46 Loughborough - Landore, formed of 47818 and a barrier wagon returning an outshopped HST power car (43056) to Swansea. It was only three minutes behind the HST, presumably having emerged from the loop at Bromsgrove. The lineside cabinet is a bit more distracting than I anticipated.
• New photos added on Friday 24th April 2009...
• On Wednesday 22nd April there were two 37 hauled trains due to pass Walsall within an hour, a very rare occurrence nowadays. According to the weathermen sunshine was pretty much guaranteed, and I could photograph these trains after work, so no time off required. In the event the sun had gone by lunchtime, and despite some small breaks in the cloud I didn't see any sunshine afterwards. I had to go though, in case by some miracle the light improved. It didn't, and it was pretty dull when 37087 and 37688 passed Ryecroft at 18:12 with 6M67 Bridgwater - Crewe. The marker lights tell the tale. 37670 eventually appeared at 18:49 with 6G45 Toton - Bescot, by which time some cars had their lights on, and the light was truly grim.