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59001 Yeoman Endeavour
ambles along the down relief line at Waltham St Lawrence with the 6A11
10:05 Acton to Merehead Foster Yeoman stone empties on 5 March 1988. To
modern eyes the mix of up to date high performance locomotive and vintage
4 wheel PGA hopper wagons looks a little out of place, but a large
proportion of the Foster Yeoman stone trains used these wagons for a
number of years after the introduction of the Class 59s. |
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59001 Yeoman Endeavour & 59103 Village
of Mells pull away from Dawlish station with the 1Z96 07:52 Bristol
Temple Meads to Paignton Mendip Rail 'English Riviera Special' railtour
on Bank Holiday Monday 3 May 1999. This was the annual railtour for
Mendip Rail staff. With 6,600hp and 227,100lb of tractive effort
available there were no problems with haulage capacity here, as an
eleven coach load is a modest load for even a single Class 59.
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59001 Yeoman Endeavour
pulls slowly out of Woodborough loop with the 7A09 07:05 Merehead to Acton
Yard 'jumbo' stone train on 27 October 2003. The three portions of this
3000 tonne train can clearly be seen, with different wagon types
indicating the destination, Crawley (front), Purfleet (middle), &
Brentford (rear). Although most of the day was sunny, this morning started
misty, and although the sun had been out while the 59 was sat in the loop,
there was only a trace of brightness when the train departed. |
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59002 Yeoman Enterprise
works wrong line past Brentry on the Avonmouth to Filton line, with the
6C31 11:34 Henbury to Merehead stone empties on 25 June 1993. This short
term contract was to bring stone in from the Mendips for the construction
of the approach roads to the new Severn Road Bridge, which was opened
three years later. |
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59002 Yeoman Enterprise
passes Shrivenham with the 7C48 12:38 Appleford to Whatley stone empties
on 17 December 2007. Unfortunately this was just as the sun disappeared
behind a cloud, although luckily it was only thin and there is still some
light. This location is getting progressively more difficult, as the
lineside bushes on the right now cast shadows over the line in the winter. |
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Less than a month after
the commencement of Foster Yeoman Class 59 operations in this country,
the as yet unnamed 59003 passes Fairwood Junction with the 10:03
Merehead to Eastleigh stone train on 11 March 1986. Unthinkable
politically in the 1960s, the purchase of US designed locomotives in
preference to British built designs was to gain momentum, resulting in
the situation twenty years later, when virtually all freight locos in
the UK were foreign built. The tracks in the foreground are the Westbury
avoiding lines, while the train is on the original main line, as it will
run round in Westbury Yard, in order to gain the former Southern Railway
route via Salisbury. A very misty day, with the fog not long cleared and
the trees in the distance only just visible in the murk. |
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59004 Paul A Hammond
passes Manningford Bruce with the 7C77 12:40 Acton Yard to Merehead empty
'jumbo' stone train on 12 April 2007. This is an ideal location for
photographing westbound trains in the afternoon, but totally useless for
anything coming the other way due to overhead wires close to the bridge
and lineside trees and bushes. |
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59004 Paul A Hammond approaches
Hungerford with the 7A09 07:12 Merehead to Acton Yard Yeoman 'jumbo' stone
train on 30 July 2007. This was a very lucky picture, as not only was it
in a very short sunny spell (note the clouds building up in the
background), but a Class 180 unit on a down working which would have
blocked the shot had only just disappeared around the corner! |
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59005 Kenneth J Painter
passes Kintbury on 2 April 2007 with the 6V18 12:43 Hither Green to
Whatley stone empties. The location is next to the Kennett & Avon
Canal, and is an excellent spot to observe westbound trains in the afternoon. |
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59005 Kenneth J Painter
passes Waltham St Lawrence with the 7A09 07:12 Merehead to Acton Yard
Yeoman 'jumbo' stone train on 27 July 2007. You can clearly see the three
portions on this train, which will be split to serve different
destinations once the train reaches Acton. While watching the 59 approach,
I could hear an HST approaching from behind, which while not completely
blocking the shot would certainly ruin the picture. Luckily as the 59 was
moving so slowly and the HST was going so fast, it has turned a near
disaster into a pleasant passing shot. |
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59101 Village of
Whatley passes the Rover car works at Swindon with the 6A43
Appleford to Whatley ARC stone empties on 26 October 1992. The car plant
manufactures car body panels, opening as Pressed Steel Fisher in 1954 and
trading under various names since then, culminating in Swindon Pressings
Ltd. The photo was taken from a very conveniently placed footbridge that
crosses the Great Western Main Line next to Highworth Junction. |
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In crisp autumnal light,
59101 Village of Whatley & 59001 Yeoman Endeavour pass
Bourton (near Swindon) with the 1Z30 09:08 Castle Cary to
Stratford-on-Avon Mendip Rail private charter on 17 October 1998. Class
47/7 47736 can just be seen on the rear of the train providing heat.
Unfortunately the sunny weather did not last and arrival at Stratford was
in very poor light. |
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59101 Village of Whatley
passes the site of Patney & Chirton station with the 7A09 07:12
Merehead to Acton Yard Yeoman 'jumbo' stone train on 9 August 2007. Even
though the station was closed in 1966, the footbridge survives marooned in
the fields on a little used footpath. This is the view looking west from
the bridge, with the space on the right marking the site of the Devizes
branch lines. The station had four platforms, which explains the extreme
length of this footbridge. |
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59102 Village of Chantry
passes Fairwood (near Westbury) with the 6Z20 09:45 Whatley to St Pancras
stone train on 11 September 2007. The train is just accelerating away from
a short 20mph restriction under the bridge in the background, caused by
track repairs following severe flood damage a couple of months previously.
Note the mix of ex RMC (at the front) and ex National Power (at the rear)
hoppers in use on this train. |
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The 7A09 07:12 Merehead to
Acton Yard Mendip Rail 'jumbo' stone train wasn't quite so jumbo on 23
November 2007, with only one of the normal three portions making for a
very short train. 59102 Village of Chantry rounds the curve near
Aldermaston past a number of trees still showing some good autumn colour.
Note the stone dust blowing out of the last wagon. |
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In the pouring rain on 3
May 2004, 59103 Village of Mells comes off the Frome line at Clink
Road Junction with the annual Pathfinder / Mendip Rail excursion, this
time heading for Littlehampton, and ironically given the prevailing
weather conditions titled 'Sunny South Express'! 59101 can clearly be
seen on the rear of the train (the train would shortly reverse at
Westbury). Although the rain does add a little atmosphere to the picture
compared with just a cloudy day, keeping the camera dry in such
conditions is a major preoccupation! |
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59103 Village of Mells
approaches the site of Ashbury Crossing, near Shrivenham on 19 April 2007
with the 6C53 12:59 Oxford Banbury Road (Kidlington) to Whatley Mendip
Rail empty stone train. Note the fresh green foliage and spring blossom on
the trees, which makes an ideal foil for photography, before the drab all
over green look to the landscape in May and June. |
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Surprisingly I have very
few pictures of trains in the loops at Uffington (between Swindon and
Didcot). It's a bit late now as they are not there any more! On 8 July
1992, 59104 Village of Great Elm waits in the up loop with the 6M24
04:35 Whatley to Wolverton ARC stone train, while a HST speeds past on the
down line. 6M24 was booked to wait in the loop between 09:26 and 09:45 to
allow the 08:45 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington, 07:32 Swansea to
Paddington, and 09:35 Swindon to Paddington to overtake it. |
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ARC 59104 Village of
Great Elm passes Berkley with the 6C26 12:45 Southall Yard to
Whatley stone empties on 12 October 1994. At this time there was a
problem with some of the Mendip Rail wagons, hence the use of the hired
in Tiphook KPA wagons seen here. Berkley (between Westbury and Frome) is
an excellent location for railway photography, as all the traffic for
the Mendip quarries passes this way, and the view in both directions is
unobstructed. |
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Typical, you go to a
location where there is an uninterrupted view of the line, so that the
whole of the lengthy 'Jumbo' stone train will be in view, and then it
leaves two thirds of it behind! Running with only one portion and
therefore hardly justifying the title 'Jumbo', 59104 Village of Great
Elm passes Brimpton with the 7A09 06:56 Merehead to Acton Mendip Rail
stone train on 8 May 2008. |
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59202 Vale of White
Horse passes through the newly completed Ashchurch station with the
Pathfinder Tours 1Z45 06:38 Sheffield to Llandrindod Wells 'Central Wales
Navigator' railtour on 26 May 1997. The tour was 20 minutes late leaving
Sheffield, and had not managed to recover any time at this point, and in
fact the late running persisted all day. The station opened the following
week, and was built on the site of the much more extensive junction
station that closed in 1963. |
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59202 Vale of White
Horse passes Fairwood (near Westbury) with the 6V07 09:21 Chichester
to Merehead stone empties on 11 September 2007. The name of the loco might
seem appropriate here, but it does not in fact refer to Westbury's white
horse which can be seen in the background, but to the one at Uffington,
which predates the Westbury horse by at least 3000 years! |
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National Power 59204
passes Burton Salmon with the 6D92 11:30 Drax to Ferrybridge limestone
empties on 25 October 1995. After witnessing the success of Class 59s in
service with Foster Yeoman and ARC, National Power ordered a slightly
modified locomotive in 1994, followed by a further five locos the
following year. All were initially painted in the striking National
Power blue livery, although it is questionable whether white was the
best colour choice for the underframes of a heavy freight loco. However
when clean (as here) the sub-class certainly looked impressive. |
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An exceedingly rare
location for a National Power Class 59. On a dull misty 16 November 1996,
just as it was getting dark, 59204 passes through Barry station en-route
from Yorkshire to Aberthaw Power Station, where it would be named Vale
of Glamorgan by the then Welsh Secretary, William Hague MP. The choice
of location was ideal, as not only is it an immediately identifiable
location with the added bonus of semaphore signalling, but also in view of
the grim weather the train's slow speed through the station meant I was
able to take this picture in colour as well as the more appropriate to the
conditions black & white. However the exposure was only 1/125sec with
the lens wide open! |
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59204 Vale of Glamorgan
passes Crofton on the Berks & Hants line with the 7A09 06:56 Merehead
to Acton Mendip Rail "jumbo" stone train on 21 November 2006.
The last of the autumn leaves on the trees and the hawthorn berries show
up well in the early morning light. Unfortunately the Class 59/2s now
looking similar to their inferior Class 66 cousins since being repainted
into EWS livery, although of course no way could a Class 66 handle a train
of this length and weight, half of which is still around the corner behind
the bushes. |
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59205 L Keith McNair passes
Kelvedon with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z42 14:35 Lowestoft to Crewe
'Freightliner Phoenix' railtour on 12 May 2001. This tour, which had
started out as the 1Z41 03:58 Crewe to Lowestoft did not actually use any
Freightliner traction at all, so was slightly misnamed! At this point the
tour was running 75 minutes late, but at least that meant that the angle
of the sun had improved, resulting in near perfect lighting when it
eventually did appear. |
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With plenty of
power available, 59206 Pride of Ferrybridge makes light work of
Tackley Bank (between Oxford and Banbury) with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z37
05:40 Reading to Preston 'Multi Coloured Swap Shop' railtour on Bank
Holiday Monday 30 May 2005. At 06:26 you can get the sun on the nose for
a northbound shot! The tour was running exactly to time here, but a
little further north, at Leamington Spa, the tour came to a stand for 45
minutes due to the farcical situation of neither the driver or the
pilotman signing the road! |
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59206 Pride of
Ferrybridge approaches the site of Wantage Road station, near Grove
with the 6C53 12:59 Oxford Banbury Road (Kidlington) to Whatley Mendip
Rail empty stone train on 26 March 2007. Pride of Ferrybridge is hardly an
suitable name, now that the loco is based in the south of England, rather
than Yorkshire. 59202 Vale of White Horse would have been much more
appropriate traction for this location! |