"The old era of long, pick and mix photo sessions had finally gone west, to be replaced by a new era of short, information-driven visits to targeted locations."
57302 'Virgil Tracy' on a Pendolino drag at Dudley Port, on 18th June 2005. See post text for more.
Summer 2005. For the first time in the living memory of West Midlands and Worcestershire railways, it was not possible for an enthusiast to go out and record a daily, squadron regime of locomotive passenger haulage. When Virgin Trains gave up the lease on its last Class 87 locomotives in June that year, nothing remained except temp stand-ins and special cover. Just four years earlier there’d still been a huge volume of slam-door trains passing through Birmingham New Street – many of them loco-hauled. But all of that had been swept away by the Virgin Voyagers and Pendolinos, which had arrived in truly overwhelming volume.
Redundant electric locomotives being placed in and out of storage produced some of the most chaseable scenes of the decade. On 10th May 2006, Virgin red 47810 'Porterbrook' takes the loop at Bromsgrove with the 0Z88 storage move for Gloucester, and ultimately (the following day) Long Marston. And the load? 87033, 87030, 87021 and 87025.
Although loco-haulage remained dominant on the freight scene, traction variety had vastly diminished since the end of the 1990s, and loco fans found themselves in a new situation. The old era of long, pick and mix photo sessions had finally gone west, to be replaced by a new era of short, information-driven visits to targeted locations – each typically made with the capture of just one very specific train in mind. The regular traffic was now seen almost as background noise, and the focus centred purely on special or unusual duties – the ‘cool runnings’, as my Bob Marley-inspired title refers to them.
Network Rail structure-gauging in the snow - 31233 tails 31601 through Northfield station on 6th April 2008. See post text for more.
In this pictorial I’m exploring some of the West Midlands and Worcestershire’s prime diesel traction targets during the 2005 to 2009 period. I’ve avoided railtours to home in on what I’ll call non-contrived operations. And I’m paying particular attention to short-lived phenomena which would soon be consigned to history...
Colas Rail’s employment of double-headed Class 47s on the Wednesdays only Dollands Moor to Burton steel, and Thursdays only return, grabbed a lot of attention in spring 2009. The train was sometimes lightly-loaded and single-headed, but pairs were regular enough to prompt elevated interest. After reaching Burton on the Wednesday night, the locos would work a near-midnight run from Burton to Small Heath, then re-fuel at Tyseley, before heading back from Small Heath to Burton in the early hours. Here at Widney Manor on Thursday 26th March 2009, 47727 Rebecca and 47739 Robin of Templecombe head south-east on the final leg of the diagram, back to Dollands Moor.
In order to power an Ealing Broadway to Shewsbury charter on Saturday 22nd July 2006, EWS duo 37401 and 37405 had to make the trip down from Mossend. They were dragged to Bescot overnight on 19th to 20th, but before making another dead-in-train trip down to Wembley, the duo were put to use on the Bescot – Birch Coppice and return. Here they are at Mill Lane near Walsall, with the return Birch Coppice – Bescot on Thursday 20th July 2006.
Wrexham & Shropshire’s Wrexham to Marylebone services brought regular, daily loco-hauled services back to the region in spring 2008. Initially employing top and tail Class 67s and Rail Blue Mk.IIIs, some of the trains departed Birmingham via Solihull. The sight of a W&S liveried 67 at one end, and an EWS job at the other, was very common in the operation’s infancy. And the 2008 look is perfectly illustrated by 67014 leading 67023 at Bentley Heath on 12th October that year - about a week before the first W&S DVT went into service. The anti-competitive nature of the “open access” arrangement under which these services ran soon took its toll, and the operator shut down in January 2011 suffering losses of £12.9m.
In 2005 and 2006, the Saturdays only Lawley Street – Southampton Freightliner was regularly double-headed. The period saw a lot of interchangeability between Freightliner’s 57s and their 66s, so the train could either be 2 x 57, 2 x 66, or one of each. Alternatively, it could be single-headed, as the extra loco was only a logistical inclusion and was not essential to haul the load. Here on 24th September 2005, 57001 and 57005 make for a very pleasant vision at Stockfield Road, Tyseley – especially since the heavy late-running has optimised the angle of the sunlight.
Network Rail’s structure gauging trains were topped and tailed by Class 31s in the mid 2000s. At the time of this shot on 6th April 2006, Network Rail had three Class 31s of its own, comprising 31105, 31233 and 31285. These were supplemented by on-demand hires from FM Rail. The Barnt Green station scene above shows NR’s 31285 tailing a return run from Worcester to Derby, with FM Rail’s 31601 leading. This was actually only the third Network Rail duty for 31601 – the first having run just three days earlier between Derby and Stoke. Another of these trains is seen near the top of the post, with 31233 tailing 31601 – two years later to the day.
In 2008, GBRf provided the motive power for a Tuesdays and Fridays only Leeds to Long Marston and return working, which was run in connection with a Freightliner Heavy Haul wagon repair programme. In either direction, it was possible that the loco could run light, and on occasions where there were no wagons to return, the Class 66 could haul locomotives or other stock instead. This is the bog-standard southbound, seen at Evesham station on 6th May 2008, behind Barbie-liveried 66723.
Friday 20th March 2009 brought one of the most eyecatching convoys of the year, when HNRC’s 20901 and 20905 hauled 37412, 37672 and 37029 from Barrow Hill to the storage facility at Long Marston. As one might expect, the line was absolutely peppered with photogaphers at the various Worcestershire locations. This was the scene from the field at Stoke Pound, with the very slow-moving consist having crawled into the southbound loop at Bromsgrove. It had also been in the loop at Blackwell, and was running very late by the time it reached its destination.
In the final throes of the once promising Fragonset story, the united Fragonset/Merlin operation FM Rail ran some rather old-fashioned coal hopper trials between Daw Mill and Rugeley. The motive power was as interesting as the wagons, with triple-headed 31s used on occasion. Here on 15th August 2006, a combination of unique RfD blue 47145 and FM Rail black 47832 creep off the Cannock line at Ryecroft Junction near Walsall. The FM Rail business was history by the end of the year.
Whilst a number of the short-lived UK rail operations of the 2000s had begun life looking fairly healthy, Fastline Freight’s entry into goods haulage appeared shaky from the start. The sight of a completely containerless “container train” running in the 11:11 Doncaster – Thamesport path, was not unusual in mid 2006, and even by late summer when the journey was well established, a load of more than three containers would raise an eyebrow. Here’s the train at Tame Bridge on 9th June 2006 – hauled by a rather fetching Fastline liveried Class 56: 56302.
Advenza Freight was another of the short-lived businesses that emerged, existed and died in the 2000s. Heavily connected with Cotswold Rail, Advenza provided power for the Stockton to Cardiff scrap metal flow in 2008 and 2009. The booked power on these runs until summer 2009 was a Class 57 – which, within the confines of Advenza’s fleet, meant either 57005 or 57006. However, Class 47s regularly depped. Hauling the scrap and empties in the compilation above there’s: 47818 Emily with 57006 at Barnt Green, 57005 at Defford, 47237 at Longbridge, and 47828 Joe Strummer just south of Bromsgrove. From summer 2009, Class 66s took over the duties, but by then, Advenza only had weeks of its tenure left.
Even given the appalling weather, it was well worth a trip to Aston station for this Eastleigh to Crewe DRS move, hauled by the newly-outshopped 37688, and carrying 47712, 20301 and 20306. Believe it or not, the photo was shot on a very cheap Kodak V1003 pocket camera, which I risked because I guessed the train would be travelling slowly – hence no great need for a grainy high ISO – and the device had previously delivered strong colours in grey, dim conditions.
Even in 2005, the 6V36 Lackenby to Margam steel slab train was a booked EWS Class 66 turn. Class 60s had appeared from time to time in the middle of the decade, but by this time in summer 2007, any ‘Tug’ was highly unusual – let alone a Loadhaul one. The location for this shot of 60007 is Barnt Green, and the date 24th July. The icing on the cake was the lack of deluging rain in this overwhelmingly wet period.
Virgin Trains Class 57/3 action was not an everyday sight in the West Midlands during 2005, but with a lot of engineering work on both Saturdays and Sundays that summer, the locos could be found hauling Pendo’s and the odd loco-hauled stand-in set on diverted Euston – Wolves and Euston – Birmingham trains. In this shot, the former 47806, latterly recycled as 57309 Brains, rounds the curve at Saltley Viaduct on Sunday 26th June ’05. At the top of the post, 57302 Virgil Tracy is seen on another of these duties - a week and a day earlier, on Saturday 18th June 2005.
During the Great Western HST refurb programme, whilst Cotswold Rail routinely took care of the power car moves from the WR to Loughborough (or vice versa), GBRf handled a healthy chunk of the coaching stock moves to and from Derby. The June and July of 2007 combined to produce the wettest high summer on record, easily beating the previous record-holding year of 1789. So it was somewhat remarkable that this shot, from 19th July ’07, shows a summery-looking day with sunshine and a blue sky. Without the ‘fag packet’ barrier coaches, ‘Barbie’-liveried 66724 would have made a nice match with the FGW ‘Barbie’ stock en route from Laira to Derby. Cotswold Rail and Riviera Trains occasionally provided locos for these stock moves too, but the vision in this photo was the norm.
In March 2007, Central Trains took the step of hiring West Coast's 47826 and 57601 to top and tail daily Birmingham - Cheltenham racing services for the week ending on the 17th of the month. Here at Bolton Road, Bordesley Green, it was actually possible to photograph the train twice each morning. Once on its empty stock run from Tyseley to Birmingham New Street, and once on the actual Birmingham to Cheltenham service, which ran via Camp Hill. In this shot, the empty stock working comes off the Moor Street line, highlighting the contrast in gradient between the connecting spur, and the start of Camp Hill Incline, which appears immediately behind the train. This was Gold Cup day – 16th March.
Technically a power car move, hauled by Cotswold Rail’s 47813 John Peel and seeing 43005 on its way from Landore to Loughborough. But there’s extra baggage on board, in the shape of Cotswold’s Anglia liveried 47714 and a couple of rolling stock items. The date was 24th August 2007, and believe it or not, this train came as a disappointment to one or two of the photographers who’d arrived at Defford for the shot. The run had initially been allocated 33202, ex-works in Rail Blue, but at the last minute plans were changed, and the light grey 47/8 – at the time a very common sight on these workings – got the duty instead. A very interesting consist though – even without the ‘Shredder’.
This turned out to be a more important shot than I imagined it would be at the time. The two Advenza Class 57s - 57005 and 57006 - came from Freightliner in early 2008, and only retained their green liveries for a matter of days before receiving Advenza blue repaints. They carried their new brand on a headboard during this period. At Northfield on 11th February 2008, 57005 hauls a delapidated 47761 from Gloucester to Butterley, on the former Res stalwart's journey from Margam to the Midland Railway Centre, where it would be cannibalised. The 57's Freightliner nameplate has already been removed.