The Lickey was closed and Cross Country trains and the occasional freight were sent via the Dark Side. These trains were filmed on a couple of visits to the station during the day. Numbers I could read are:- 172221, 170638, 170522, 66183, 66057, 172332, 43366, 43285, 170518, 170101, DR98909, DR98959, 43321, 43357, not forgetting some Voyagers.
What a lovely surprise, I walked to the station expecting to see the NMT on the test train, but it was top & tail 37s, just like the previous month. Didn’t get bowled either. 1Q15 Derby – Swansea.
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It was dark, but 37s on a test train, not to be missed. 1Q16 Swansea – Derby. It was following close behind a stopping train, probably previous signals on amber so it was approaching slowly in case the Cradley signal was red. Once the driver got a clear view of the amber signal the 37s made a great noise as they accelerated through the station, only to shut off soon after passing through the station. Sounded great on the video!!
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A visit to Wolverhampton to see the 20s, the 66 was a surprise bonus. The other train I had planned to see was one of the Class 196 on test runs, that will be in another post.
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As far as I know, this was the first real test run in the UK for this new class, Tyseley to Hereford and return. I was surprised it actually stopped at Cradley, but it enabled me to cross over to the other platform to get a better view of it, and I wasn’t bowled!!
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A nice little bonus down the Dark Side running as 0Z73 from Crewe to Worcester. It actually terminated at Droitwich and ran back via the Lickey an hour earlier than planned. My original plan would’ve been to see it again at Smethwick – but I’m avoiding public transport at the moment.
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My first mainline video, in the dark and almost bowled by a 67 on a Chiltern train, but 5043 sounded very good on the climb up the Dark Side.
The 6M56 Berkeley to Crewe was running today, the sun was shining so a good excuse for a walk to the station. I managed to get a shot of 153371 departing as I walked across the footbridge. It was going to be close, the northbound train departed about 3 minutes before the southbound train was due away, and if the 68s were close behind I might be bowled. It worked out well though, a clear view of the 68s. 172338 also seen.
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Only managed to post the video link yesterday, but today I have the photos to add as well. Droitwich is a good station for photos with semaphore signals adding interest to what is usually mostly units. 57301 is first seen passing through Lye, then a brief glimpse of it in Droitwich loop in the video. After I got off the train in Droitwich it wasn’t many minutes before the 57 was out of the loop and heading towards the station. Then a few of the usual units before 56091 appeared from the Bromsgrove direction.
57301 was working 0V94 Crewe (supposed to be Warrington) to Long Marston and 56091 with a Railvac was on 6×56 Bescot to Long Marston.
Units seen were 170517, 170633, 172345, 172006, 172212, 172217, 170632 and 172220.
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57301 was booked to stop in Droitwich loop which gave me the opportunity to see it twice, the bonus being 56091. Several units also seen. No time to sort out some photos, that will be a job for tomorrow.
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With a headcode of 0Z47 it stood a chance of being the 47!! Ran from Tyseley to the SVR.
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37403 back again the following day, had to try another location and went to Rowley Regis. I was pleased to see it stop briefly at the station, looked like a staff shuffle around between Caroline and the loco, then of course the nice sound of it pulling away.
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