Monday 23rd January 2012

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Thames Rail

The night phot of the VSOE at Didcot on Saturday has given me the bug to take more time exposures so I got browsing to see what was about and I stumbled across the loco hauled workings on the Chiltern line and in particular the 1H08 Banbury – London Marybelone. The empty stock is booked to arrive in Platform 2 from Wembley before crossing over to the North of the station and then running back into Platform 3 ready depart South giving me ample time to get some shots.

As the train is booked to depart at 06:53 it meant an early 05:15 wake up call to ensure I was there in time and it will probably catch up with me later in the day! I arrived shortly before the stocks booked arrival time of 06:30 and walked onto the platform to see the DVT gliding in on a rather lengthy 7 car set although a bit of a mish mash of liveries with Blue & Grey and ex Virgin stock. The ECS waited for a southbound Chiltern unit to pass before crossing over and running back into the station. I was quite pleased with the celebrity livery on the train as 67018 ‘Keith Heller’ in DBS red was the power for todays working and my first photo of this loco.

Saturday 21st January 2012

Posted on January 21, 2012 by Thames Rail

After some lovely winter light to start off this year it was decidedly grey today but that would not be a problem for what I had planned. It has been a while since my last night phot and today’s target looked like it would fit the bill. I had noted there was a VSOE trip to Bath Spa today running via the Thames Valley but looking at the timings I noticed it was booked a few minutes at Didcot in both the morning and evening, this immediately suggested to me that it was for a crew change so come early evening I packed up my camera gear and tripod and set off expectantly.

I arrived early just in case but unfortunately the prior HST was running 20 mins late for some reason so I had a chilly wait in the windy conditions but just a couple of minutes behind the HST 67017 turned up on the 1Z93 Bath Spa – London Victoria VSOE stock and stopped for the crew change as I had expected. The stock had gone down top and tailed with 67025 but the return was just 67017 up front so not sure if a problem with 67025 or a planned move to leave it at Bristol?

Saturday 14th January 2012

Posted on January 14, 2012 by Thames Rail

Today we had a bit of local action as Pathfinder were running the ‘Abercot Generator’ tour taking in the rare Didcot Power Station loop and Appleford sidings and motive power was a bit of personal treat for myself. I would have liked to got a shot of the tour exiting the Power Station but alas thanks to the bank now being planted with trees and large security fences which were put in place after protesters occupied the site back in 2009 the shot is no longer possible so I decided to opt for a shot at Oxford in the morning and a shot on the GWML in the afternoon. Things did not go to plan as user error meant I missed the shot at Oxford and maybe because of a jinx I seem to have with this loco, who knows!

The loco in question is 66002, something of a pet shed when I was more into the spotting side and which I saw brand new at Cardiff Canton just a couple of days after landing at Newport Docks. Once I had seen all the 66s I set myself the task of then seeing them all in order, well I saw 66001 within weeks of setting myself the challenge. 66002 then continued to evade me for well over 5 years and I had pretty much given up, that was until today when I bagged a rather nice shot of 66002 working the 1Z55 Appleford – Aberthaw as it passed through Uffington on a lovely winters day.