8. Leg 8, Droitwich Spa-Birmingham New Street (21mi)

THE ARCHIVE FILES > Archive-2021 > 32. West Midlands Day Ranger-08.06.21 > 8. Leg 8, Droitwich Spa-Birmingham New Street (21mi)

It felt good to be getting away from the chaos that ensued around the Kidderminster and Droitwich areas! It took Andy and I a while to do this in order to get a service that was heading straight to New Street via the Midland route rather than back via the GWR route where all the problems appeared to be. The journey was uneventful with the standing start from Bromsgrove and the consequential assault of Lickey almost going unnoticed; how different to times past!

Click here to search The Archive Files

Images 1-5 of 5 displayed.

172334, LN 17.00 Birmingham Moore Street-Worcester Foregate Street (2V48, 16L), Droitwich station
Like Shrewsbury earlier in the day, Droitwich and nearby Worcester remain bastions of mechanical signalling. With the lovely 1907 GWR signal box in the background, 172334 approaches the station working the late-running 17.00 Birmingham Moore Street to Worcester Foregate Street 2V48 service. At this time of the afternoon, the sun is just right for photography at Droitwich with the arch of the brick bridge nicely framing the image.
Keywords: 172334 17.00 Birmingham Moore Street-Worcester Foregate Street 2V48 Droitwich station west Midlands Trains

66044, 11.45 Margham TC-Round Oak (6M41, 12L), Droitwich Spa station
I was delighted to see 66044 creep towards me here at Droitwich Spa station leading the 6M41 11.45 Margham to Round Oak steel train. The reason for my delight was not the composition or lighting of the scene (as can be seen here!) but that this DB liveried Class 66 was a photographic cop! Notice the two large CCTV cameras mounted on the structure in front of the camera, I am not at all sure what their purpose is unless anybody can advise?
Keywords: 66044 11.45 Margham TC-Round Oak 6M41 12L Droitwich Spa station DB

170507, LN 16.50 Birmingham New Street-Hereford (1V21, 1L), Droitwich Spa station
170507 leads another West Midlands Railway unit into a pleasantly warm and sunny Droitwich station. The pair of units have just come down Lickey having taken the Midland route south of the city to now join former Great Western territory as the 16.50 New Street to Hereford 1V21 service. As this train avoided the problems on the Kidderminster route into Birmingham it was almost on-time and arrived at its destination just one minute adrift.
Keywords: 170507 16.50 Birmingham New Street-Hereford 1V21 Droitwich Spa station West Midlands Railway

172006 & 172004, LN 16.41 Worcester Foregate Street-Dorridge (Cancelled from Birmingham Moore Street) (2C24, 55L), Droitwich Spa station
I have many photographs taken of Droitwich's down starter bracket with its pair of superb centre pivot splitting signals. In this photograph, with the signals in deep shadow, 172006 and 172004 leave working the 16.41 Worcester Foregate Street to Dorridge service. Unfortunately, like so many trains passing up the 'dark side' via Kidderminster and Stourbridge, it was heavily delayed arriving at Moore Street an eye-watering fifty-five minutes late where it was promptly terminated. I hope that passengers were fed more information both on and off the train than we were on our outward journey.
Keywords: 172006 172004 16.41 Worcester Foregate Street-Dorridge Cancelled from Birmingham Moore Street 2C24 Droitwich Spa station West Midlands Railway

172336, LN 16.39 Hereford-Birmingham New Street (1M92, 9L), Droitwich Spa station
Eager to get back to central Birmingham in order to head back home towards Northampton Andy and I decided to sit it out and wait for a train direct to New Street rather than via the heavily delayed Stourbridge and Kidderminster route. Arriving a little late the 16.39 Hereford to Birmingham New Street 1M92 service enters at Droitwich station. We took this train back to Birmingham with relative ease arriving just nine minutes late. These units are quiet and comfortable with plenty of space. This one also made ridiculously easy work of Lickey from a standing start at Bromsgrove.

Journey score 7/10
Keywords: 172336 16.39 Hereford-Birmingham New Street 1M92 Droitwich Spa station West Midlands Railway

Images 1-5 of 5 displayed.