Category Archives: Thames Valley

Thursday 29th March 2012

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The sun keeps on shining so I keep going out to the line side to bag some shots and in fact it reminds me of a week I had on the S&C when I had wall to wall sunshine all week which is pretty much unheard of up there. As I have been out so much this week I am trying to mix up the locations so I don’t keep repeating the same view and I think I have been pretty successful.

I decided to start the day off out West at Uffington for my first shot. My intended target was the 4O51 Wentloog – Southampton liner which was in the hands of 66420 which is still in DRS livery but while waiting I found out it was running some two hours late! Luckily I had a backup with 66556 hauling the 4L32 Bristol – Tilbury liner which is scheduled only half an hour behind 4O51 so I did not have long to wait.

I do quite like the Class 70s so when I saw that one was heading to the coast on a liner I decided to head over to Lower Basildon on the main Thames Valley route. The bridge at Lower Basildon has just been replaced and only open a week to traffic and luckily it is not a monstrosity like the two over at Moreton cutting which means you can see over the side without steps. 70008 was doing the honours on the 4O49 Crewe Basford Hall – Southampton liner with a lengthy load today.

After the 70 I made a brisk drive back West to the other side of Didcot for the highlight of the day the Theale tanks. I opted for the shot at Grove as I hadn’t been here for a while and had a pleasant wait in the spring sunshine but didn’t have long to wait until 60079 eased the 6B33 Theale – Margam empty tanks past my location and into the loop at Wantage Road.

I was bit undecided on where I should go for the final shot of the day but settled on Cholsey in the end. The daily 6O26 Hinksey – Eastleigh engineers had run approximately 2 hours late in the morning which meant the return 6V27 Eastleigh – Hinksey would be returning at a much better time for the shot at Cholsey. As an added bonus it had a pair of sheds at the head of today’s working with 66135/037 in charge.

Wednesday 28th March 2012

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This is now my fifth update in five days thanks to the gorgeous weather which has got to be a record for me. For today’s activity I started out at my old haunt Moreton Cutting, this used to be one of my favourite locations thanks to the quietness of the location plus the bridge used to have lovely low sides which was great for photography. Then last year the replaced the bridge with a tall metal structure which ruined it.

The new bridge sides are so tall that you now need a stepladder to see over, even for me at my height that is impressive! It was a pleasant wait in the warm sunshine while I waited for my first shot of the day. I had barely seen a Class 70 for months but this week I have bagged loads, first up was 70008 hauling the 4O49 Crewe Basford Hall – Southampton Freightliner.

As 4O49 was running a few minutes early this gave me the chance to move on to my next location which was Hinksey Yard, Oxford. Although it does offer a nice shot throughout the afternoon I don’t visit here very often for some reason, probably because the weekends don’t offer much afternoon traffic on this section of line. I didn’t have long to wait until 66167 hustled through with the 4O23 Hams Hall – Southampton Intermodal.

Now this is where I bag my ‘Brucie Bonus’ for the day! I had decided I wanted to move away from the usual afternoon shots in the Cholsey area and wanted something different so I headed up to Kings Sutton where I planned to bag the afternoon Land Rover cars. I checked out the platform shot from the station but decided I preferred the foot crossing view so set off across the fields. I had been there no more than five minutes when the unmistakable nose of a Class 37 appeared. I was not expecting this as there had been no mention at all on the gen lists which is very unusual especially as it was some quality traction. Shortly afterwards I discovered that 37261 top and tailing 97301 were working the 1Q13 Tyseley – Old Oak Common test train running a whopping 100 minutes early!

After that excitement I could now calm down and await my intended working the Land Rover train. It was running bang on time today as 66009 eased the 6O42 Halewood – Southampton through the reverse curves at Kings Sutton. Although not quite as open as the wagons on the Ford Dagenham trains you can still see through the wagons to view the cars onboard and is nice to see something a bit different.

Tuesday 27th March 2012

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Only a short update today as I decided to take advantage of the glorious weather and played a round of golf at Hinksey Heights Golf Course which gives some fantastic views overlooking the spires of Oxford. The round of Golf over I decided to head out and bag some late afternoon freight workings.

The first working I wanted to photograph was the car train out of Dagenham as it provides an interesting contrast to the normal staple of containers boxes flying up and down the Thames Valley line. I nearly bagged it yesterday with DBS liveried 66101 in charge but it passed as I was walking across the fields which I was a bit annoyed about but made up for it today as 66027 powered the 6X44 Dagenham – Didcot Ford cars through the fields at Cholsey.

Now that the clocks have changed this opens up the opportunity for more freight in the evening and I thought I might be able to bag a shot at Culham. It was just about on which was good news as I knew 70019 was heading my way on 4M99 Southampton – Trafford Park and bang on time it stormed around the curve in the final dregs of light.