2. A cold COVID walk-07.01.21

THE ARCHIVE FILES > Archive-2021 > 2. A cold COVID walk-07.01.21
I took my permitted exercise as part of the lockdown III rules around the village on this bitterly cold day. With frost still lingering from the previous night and mist descending it was a very wintry day. My convoluted walk around the village coincided with a number of different workings before I headed home for a warming cup of soup!
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Images 1-9 of 9 displayed.

66572, 05.00 Trafford Park-Felixstowe North (4L75, 8L), Victoria bridge Having just missed the northbound 4M94 by a matter of a minute or two I just managed to capture the 4L75 05.00 Trafford Park to Felixstowe Freightliner service. 66572 is seen hauling the train past a cold Victoria bridge just south of Roade. After a few lean weeks when many freight trains were hauling a lot of fresh air, this one, and most of the others seen today, were well loaded. With the start of the New Year, it looks like Freightliner has finally finished with the Class 86s. This turn was a regular for the vintage locomotives up until a week or so ago. There appears to be no services now scheduled for haulage by doubled headed AL6 but with no official announcement, time will tell! Keywords: 66572 05.00 Trafford Park-Felixstowe North 4L75 Victoria bridge Freightliner
66035, 07.05 Dollands Moor-DIRFT (6M45, 17E), Victoria bridge With the new BREXIT rules and regulations regarding imports from the EU seemingly now sorted out with reference to bottled water the 6M45 07.05 Dollands Moor to Daventry is running again. For a few days after 01.01.21 it, and its balanced empty return working, did not run but normal services appear to have returned as 66035 'Resourceful' leads the train past Victoria bridge between Roade and Ashton. This is my first photograph of this 1998 delivered Class 66 in its DB red livery. Keywords: 66035 07.05 Dollands Moor-DIRFT 6M45 Victoria bridge Daventry DB Resourceful
Road closure, Ashton Road bridge (Bridge 204) Network Rail (via its contractor Amco Giffen) is making things thoroughly awkward for the residents of the villages of Roade and Ashton in Northamptonshire by closing the minor road that links the two villages and necessitating a diversion. The closure is for six weeks and, as yet, nearly a week in nothing on the bridge appears to actually be taking place. This bridge is number 204 from Euston and was constructed, largely from concrete, in the middle of the 1960s when the line was electrified. It replaced a traditional brick arched structure that did not provide enough clearance. Keywords: Road closure Ashton Road bridge Bridge 204
221115 & Class 221, VT 12.30 Birmingham New Street-London Euston (1B44, 15L), site of Roade station With plans to replace the Voyagers now allegedly on hold due to the COVID crisis, it looks like we will have these inefficient units noisily running up and down the WCML for a while yet. This begs the question as to whether the new operator Avanti West Coast will re-paint and re-brand them removing the final vestiges of their Virgin legacy. 221115 leads another unit past the site of Roade's station with the 1B44 12.30 Birmingham to Euston. With a much-reduced timetable, why are most of these units not mothballed and the spare Pendolinos used to run fully under the wires on services such as this? Keywords: 221115 Class 221, VT 12.30 Birmingham New Street-London Euston 1B44 site of Roade station Virgin Voyager Avanti West Coast
390130, VT 12.43 London Euston-Edinburgh Waverley (9S70, 10L) & 66302, 09.55 Tilbury-DIRFT (4M07, 29E), site of Roade station Bowled! Sometimes it happens - the train that you have been waiting for and following on your 'phone gets blocked by another one. In this case, Avanti's Pendolino 390130 'City of Edinburgh' working to its namesake as the 9S70 12.43 from Euston has totally blocked the 4M07 09.55 Tilbury to Daventry Freightliner. If the latter had been hauled by a common or garden Class 66 that I have plenty of photographs of I would have shrugged my shoulders and not be too bothered. However, this freight was being hauled by 66302 'Endeavour' that I have precious few photographs of and none since it was named at the DRS Kingmoor Open Day in July 2019 an event that I actually attended. Despite my attendance, I failed to take a photograph of the locomotive for some unknown reason! Keywords: 390130 12.43 London Euston-Edinburgh Waverley 9S70 66302 09.55 Tilbury-DIRFT 4M07 site of Roade station Avanti West Coast Pendolino Endeavour DRS Direct Rail Services City of Edinburgh
66526, 12.33 Wembley reception-Crewe Basford Hall (0Z48), site of Roade station 66526 'Driver Steve Dunn (George)' runs light engine past the site of Roade's former station as the 0Z48 12.33 Wembley to Crewe Basford Hall. I am not absolutely sure as to why this locomotive was making this move as it ran up, also as a light engine, from Crewe earlier in the morning as 0Z47. Close examination of the photograph reveals at least two members of staff in the cab so perhaps it was some sort of driver training turn - appropriately distanced I hope? Keywords: 66526 12.33 Wembley reception-Crewe Basford Hall 0Z48 site of Roade station light engine Freightliner Driver Steve Dunn (George)
66599, 12.16 Lawley Street-London Gateway (4L46, 4L), Hyde Road bridge I have observed many freight workings passing here through Roade cutting over the years but not one going quite as slowly as this! Watching its progress on OpenTrainTimes I was wondering if there was a software problem with the app. as it was taking an age for the 12.16 Lawley Street to London Gateway to progress from signal to signal. Eventually, it appeared around the corner in the distance making very laboured progress that I would estimate to be about twenty mph being led by Freightliner's 66599. The train was long, fully loaded and there is a steady rising gradient from Northampton but even so, a Class 66 should not make quite such a meal of it. Keywords: 66599 12.16 Lawley Street-London Gateway 4L46 Hyde Road bridge Freightliner
DR98009, DR98011, DR98004 & DR98003, 11.27 Chelmsford reception-Crewe TMD (6YXX, 33E), site of Roade station A cavalcade of track machines passes Roade made up of four Windhoff overhead line electrification MPVs. Working as the 11.27 Chelmsford to Crewe DR98009 'Melvyn Smith', DR98011, DR98004 'Phillip Cattrell' and DR98003 pass along the down slow line. After a bright, cold and frosty start to the day by this time, later in the afternoon, the fog had come down and it had turned bitter! Keywords: DR98009 Melvyn Smith DR98011 DR98004 Phillip Cattrell & DR98003, 11.27 Chelmsford reception-Crewe TMD (6YXX, 33E), site of Roade station
66425, 13.51 DIRFT-Ripple Lane (4L48, 57L), site of Roade station DRS usually makes an effort to keep its locomotives looking smart but standards appear to be slipping in the case of 66425! It is seen looking particularly grubby as it passes Roade with the 4L48 13.51 Daventry to Ripple Lane Tesco Express service. Like other freights observed on this day, it was very well loaded with very few empty flats. Keywords: 66425 13.51 DIRFT-Ripple Lane 4L48 site of Roade station DRS Direct Rail Services

Images 1-9 of 9 displayed.