Friday 6th April 2012

Posted on April 21, 2012 by Thames Rail

The Easter weekend wasn’t looking too great weather wise but the Good Friday dawned dry and bright so I decided to make the most of it. There isn’t a great deal of freight about as it is a Bank Holiday but noticed a couple of liners were running so I decided to head over to Oxford to see what I could bag.

As I mentioned I knew there were a couple of liners heading my way but they had been retimed so wasn’t really sure when they would turn up but I didn’t have long to wait before 70001 eased into view with the 4O27 Garston – Southampton. It was held just North of the station for a couple of passenger movements before departing with a pleasing thump.

Sunday 1st April 2012

Posted on April 6, 2012 by Thames Rail

As per last weekend when I mentioned I like to keep an eye on the gen lists to see if there as are any interesting weekend engineers workings about again this Sunday I saw there were a couple of workings that would be passing through the Vale of White Horse. They were a bit early for the Western mainline really so I picked the best spot locally which is Uffington.

The engineering works were taking place on the Berks & Hants near Theale with the two works trains in question having run up from Westbury during the night and then they would return back West via Reading and a trip along the GWML. The first ran with 66513 top and tailing 66619 with a rake of JNAs heading to Westbury but the working I really wanted was 66618 top and tailing 66621 with a monster HOBC working heading back to Fairwater Yard, Taunton. The train had been looped at Challow and I could hear it probably 3-4 minutes before 66618 came into sight working extremely hard to get this heavy load backup to speed.

That normally would have been it for the day but I was in for a rare treat. The previous day the 6A11 Robeston – Theale tanks had run into problems in the Bristol area when one tank had to be deposited in Bristol East Yard and eventually arrived at Theale 400 minutes late. The return was then rescheduled for the following day thus producing the rare sight of a 60 on a Sunday. The return was scheduled to depart Theale a bit later than normal so I opted for Uffington again although just up the line slightly to photograph 60079 with the 6B33 Theale – Margam return empties.

Thursday 29th March 2012

Posted on April 1, 2012 by Thames Rail

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.