This is a simple but fascinating picture for a number

of reasons. A down working composed of forty-one ton covered grain hopper wagons is seen passing Naburn south of York hauled by 40050. This four axle PAA wagons date from the early 1970s and were designed to carry considerable amounts of malt and grain around the country in trains that became part of the Speedlink network. Apart from the trackbed and Naburn Wood in the background, everything in this scene has gone. The class 40 survived for exactly another four years before withdrawal. The hoppers will have long been disposed of but some did survive into the late 1980s and the line itself is now a footpath and cycleway. This former section of the ECML that ran from just north of Selby to Challoners Whin Junction was closed in 1983 following the opening of the Selby Diversion, a thirteen-mile section of new track.