The classic shot from March with 1Q86 1123 March Down R.S to Derby R.T.C (Network Rail) test train is seen approaching March station.

Ian Sharman - All rights reserved. Please do not use my images without my explicit permission.

Tags:   No 37057 Barbara Arbon 37425 9th Nov 2024 March Class Station Diesel Engine Railway Rail Railways Train Railfreight Trains Loco Locomotive Passenger Mainline Line Cambridgeshire 37 Tractor Colas Network Test

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Clean 66725 leads 3S01 08:51 Stowmarket DGL to Stowmarket DGL RHTT through Brundall heading to Yarmouth (66719 on rear), 16/10/24.

Tags:   Brundall Station 66725 Class 66 GBRf 3S01 RHTT water cannon Network Rail

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56103 and 56098 approach the level crossing at Rearsby (west of Melton Mowbray), working 6Z89 09.01 Middleton Towers - Chaddesden Sidings loaded sand. The train continued on to the Ravenhead glass works (St. Helens) later in the afternoon, as 6Z90 15.51 Chaddesden Sidings - Ravenhead Sidings. [Pole, 5/6 sections (~6.8m)]

At this point, 6Z89 was running twenty-four minutes early, mostly as a result of Cross Country's 1N51 11.00 Cambridge - Birmingham New Street being cancelled; the sand is booked to run behind 1N51 from Ely West Jn. There were six photographers here for this, although I was the only one using a pole.

Today the usual 6M89 was split into two sections, with the train going into Chaddesden Sidings where a loco change (to 60055) had been planned. However, the loco change was cancelled and the two 56s continued on to Ravenhead, although two empty wagons were removed from the consist. The reason for the train having eighteen wagons loaded with sand and two empties on the back is that the contract for this train is for eighteen loaded wagons, but the train from Peak Forest to Brandon two days earlier had twenty loaded wagons.

My original plan for today had been to go to south-west London for another session of class 455 EMU photography, including some views I'd found on the Shepperton branch. But when 56098 was one of the locos being used on the Middleton Towers sand, Plan B sprung into action: photographing the sand. However, Plan B had been to go to the Littleport area (probably Poplar Drove, where I could easily get a clear view of both locos), and I'd then worked out I could get over to the "Joint Line" in Lincolnshire for 69004 on the sand empties from Goole.

There was cloud forecast for first thing in the morning over a big chunk of East Anglia, and at 9am various sources suggested it might not clear early enough to get a sunny shot of the sand. By 9.15am I had to make a decision: go to Littleport and risk the cloud not clearing in time, or head for the Melton line where there was no early cloud to clear and cloud wasn't due to appear until later in the afternoon. I decided to do the latter: Plan C. The Corby steel was also running, due at Melton Mowbray about an hour and a half ahead of the sand, which I planned to do here. I had plenty of time, and called in at the Nene Valley Railway to photograph the first departure of the morning, but discovered that the steel had run nearly two hours early and, even if I'd not stopped at Wansford, I'd missed it.

By the time I got here, the light was becoming slightly "milky", with a few thicker bits which took the edge off the brightness. I also quickly learned that the sun had suddenly burned through the cloud around Littleport at around 9am, and everyone had got their shots there in lovely light... so I was wishing I'd made a different decision. But the light here was still good, and the slight haziness was removed very easily during processing. This was the first time I'd done this shot here from the road with the pole as high as this - necessary to get above a telephone wire at the side of the road (even when using a slight telephoto lens); previously I'd not raised the pole by anything like as much, or I'd been stood in the field.

Unfortunately, with the line via Bury St. Edmunds closed all weekend, freight trains through Melton Mowbray were very thin on the ground today. Booked about an hour behind this was a Felixstowe to East Midlands Gateway DB container train (very well loaded), which I photographed at Copleys Brook, and then I went to Nottingham to do a spot of tram photography - although by that time the cloud had begun to thicken at times, and the light was much weaker.

Visit Brian Carter's Non-Transport Pics to see my photos of landscapes, buildings, bridges, sunsets, rainbows and more.

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The saying goes you have to speculate to accumulate and that was certainly the case yesterday! It was bright sun when I left home and although still sunny when I arrived at the station an ominous looking sky was steaming in from the west on a very chilly wind and sure enough it started raining just as my train to Manningtree arrived. The situation seemed even more dire when I arrived at my destination with solid black cloud abounding and indeed I had to shelter under a tree while waiting for the monthly Plain Line Recognition Train to appear. Incredibly the 37s, which were only a section behind the branch train, managed to coincide with the only 2 minutes of sun, although as can be gauged it was only the rear of the train in full bling at this moment - you take what you can get under the circumstances! This shot is only possible thanks to extensive lineside vegetation clearance on both sides of the line here this spring between Mistley and East Junction and no doubt the clear view will have disappeared again in 6 months time. Incidentally no step is required for this shot and indeed you would get caught in the strands of barbed wire if you did. The grey skies in the background hint at the return of the gloom. The River Stour viaduct can just be glimpsed at far right.

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