20. A weird day out-23.03.20

THE ARCHIVE FILES > Archive-2020 > 20. A weird day out-23.03.20

With the country gradually shutting down due to the COVID-19 crisis I took a bike ride out along empty country lanes on a beautiful spring day. I ended up isolating myself on Wolverton station for an hour observing empty trains passing as part of an emergency timetable that had just been put in place. It was all very surreal and then, to cap it off, when I went back to Roade, control was sending freights on the up and down fast lines due to them being reduced to a train every half hour or so.

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Images 1-11 of 11 displayed.

Class 390, VT 06.29 Glasgow Central-London Euston (1M07, 10E), Hanslope Junction
A Class 390 crosses Hanslope Junction heading south with the 06.29 Glasgow Central to Euston. The field in the foreground should be a shade of lush green by the end of March. However, due to the record wet winter, the autumn planted seeds have failed leading to farmers having to play catch up by planting a lot of spring barley that will not show itself for a number of weeks yet. Notice the beautiful red kite taking in the thermals to the top left of the image, one of two I observed for some minutes whilst waiting for a train to pass.
Keywords: Class 390 06.29 Glasgow Central-London Euston 1M07 Hanslope Junction Avanti West Coast Pendolino

350252 & 350264, LN 11.04 Northampton-London Euston (1T50, 20L), Wolverton station
350252 and 350264 arrive at Wolverton station with the delayed 11.04 Northampton to Euston train. I sat on the deserted platform three at Wolverton and attempted to count the passengers on this train. I may have missed the odd person but I counted fifteen people who were very sensibly scattered about the eight carriages.
Keywords: 350252 350264 11.04 Northampton-London Euston 1T50 Wolverton station London Northwestern Desiro

66566, 08.20 Birch Coppice-Felixstowe (2E), Wolverton station
66566 takes the steeply cambered up slow line at Wolverton station leading the well loaded 08.20 Birch Coppice to Felixstowe North Freightliner. It was quite noticeable that freights heading to the ports, like this one, were more heavily loaded than those coming away reflecting the lack of products arriving in the country due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.
Keywords: 66566, 08.20 Birch Coppice-Felixstowe (2E), Wolverton station

66502, 07.50 Felixstowe North-Lawley Street (4M94, 37E), Wolverton station
66502 'Basford Hall Centenary 2001' heads north through a deserted Wolverton station leading the virtually empty 4M94 07.50 Felixstowe North to Hams Hall. The two car parks at Wolverton station are usually full and overflowing with commuters' cars but there was no more than half a dozen cars, of which can be seen behind the station building, on this day three of lockdown.
Keywords: 66502 07.50 Felixstowe North-Lawley Street 37E Wolverton station Basford Hall Centenary 2001 4M94

66730, 10.36 Felixstowe North-Hams Hall (4M23, 14L), Victoria bridge
GBRf's 66730 'Whitemoor' passes Victoria bridge just south of Roade with the 10.36 Felixstowe North to Hams Hall Freightliner. This northbound 4M23 working was more heavily loaded than others observed during the day even though the rear third of the train was just flats with no boxes.
Keywords: 66730 10.36 Felixstowe North-Hams Hall 4M23 Victoria bridge Whitemoor

66515, 09.31 Felixstowe-Ditton (4M88), Victoria bridge
Such are the times that we are now living in I had great difficulty in identifying this working having to rely on my spotting companion Mike who has some access to TOPS via Freightmaster. 66515 heads past Victoria bridge between Northampton and Milton Keynes with the 4M88 09.31 Felixstowe to Ditton. As can be seen in this image, this northbound service was empty apart from just two boxes approximately halfway along the length of the train.
Keywords: 66515 Victoria bridge 09.31 Felixstowe-Ditton 4M88

66063, 14.47 DIRFT-Dollands Moor (6M45, 112E), Victoria bridge
The daily 4M45 conveys a rake of empty IZA Cargowagon twins from Daventry back to Dollands Moor for onward travel through the Channel Tunnel. The balancing working brings bottled water from the continent back to Daventry for distribution throughout the UK. Dating from the mid-1980s, the IZAs are not the most attractive of wagons and they appear to be an easy target for graffiti vandals but they are eminently practical and I am surprised that we do not make better use of them here in the UK.
Keywords: 66063 14.47 DIRFT-Dollands Moor 6M45 Victoria bridge

66755, 12.05 London Gateway-Hams Hall (4M46, 7L), Victoria bridge
As a sign of the times, the 4M46 12.05 London Gateway to Hams Hall Freightliner led by 66755 'Tony Berkeley OBE RFG Chairman 1997-2018' gets a move on past Victoria bridge heading north but on the fast line travelling via Weedon rather than Northampton. On any normal day, this would be unheard of with fast Pendolinos stacking up behind it. However, things are not normal and with the emergency timetable now in place gaps were found to push freight through as these have become more of a priority than passenger services now.
Keywords: 66755 12.05 London Gateway-Hams Hall 4M46 Victoria bridge Tony Berkeley OBE
RFG Chairman 1997-2018

DR75009, 13.00 Paddock Wood Keylands sidings-Rugby DED, Victoria bridge
Despite the strange times that we are in, some normality prevails! Colas owned and operated DR75009 passes Victoria bridge just south of Roade as the 13.00 Paddock Wood Keylands Sidings to Rugby. This Plasser and Theurer Unimat 09-4x4/4S Dynamic Tamper still looks very smart not yet being a year old.
Keywords: DR75009 13.00 Paddock Wood Keylands sidings-Rugby DED Victoria bridge

37800 & 317344, 08.28 Kilmarnock Bonnyton Depot-Wolverton Centre Sidings (5Q50, 16E), Victoria bridge
I had been tracking this all day on RTT with great anticipation! Then, in the last half hour before its passing, my mobile 'phone crashed and would not restart so I just had to go back to the old way of waiting and hoping! This also thwarted my hope to record this Class 37 passing. Owned by Europhoenix but leased and operated by Rail Operations Group (ROG) 37800 'Cassiopeia' drags former Greater Anglia 317344 from Kilmarnock to Wolverton as the 5Q50 with the train seen passing Victoria bridge just a short distance from its destination.
Keywords: 37800 317344 08.28 Kilmarnock Bonnyton Depot-Wolverton Centre Sidings 5Q50 Victoria bridge ROG Rail Operation Group Cassiopeia

317344 & 37800, 08.28 Kilmarnock Bonnyton Depot-Wolverton Centre Sidings (5Q50, 16E), Victoria bridge
Former Greater Anglia 317344 heads south on the WCML dragged by 37800 'Cassiopeia'. The train had left Brodie Engineering's Kilmarnock's facility at 08.28 as the 5Q50 to Wolverton and is seen just south of Roade some seven miles from its destination.
Keywords: 317344 37800, 08.28 Kilmarnock Bonnyton Depot-Wolverton Centre Sidings (5Q50, 16E), Victoria bridge Cassiopeia Europhoenix Rail Operation Group ROG Great Anglia GA Abelio

Images 1-11 of 11 displayed.