22. Trackwork in the cutting & 5Z50-27.03.22

THE ARCHIVE FILES > Archive-2022 > 22. Trackwork in the cutting & 5Z50-27.03.22

Out for my Sunday constitutional, I discovered trackwork underway deep in Roade cutting. With no camera to hand I used my iPhone to record the event. Later in the afternoon, the passage of a pair of Class 50s returning stock to Burton-on-Trent following charter work the previous day was probably the highlight of the year so far near to home on the WCML!
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Images 1-6 of 6 displayed.

Trackwork, Roade cutting The machine centre stage in this image taken in Roade cutting is a Railvac. This extraordinary piece of plant is a giant vacuum cleaner that essentially sucks up the ballast that can then be transferred to the waiting wagons to be taken away to Bescot for cleaning and then reuse. In the meantime, fresh ballast is laid down and the track reprofiled to specification. Keywords: Trackwork Roade cutting
Trackwork, Roade cutting A RAUK-2 Railvac machine makes easy work of removing the old ballast from the up slow line at the northern end of Roade cutting. The ballast is held in the centre section of the Sweedish built machine and then transferred to the wagons just seen to the lower right of the photograph. Whilst it was relatively early on a Sunday morning the noise emanating from deep in the cutting was pretty loud so it was good that this part of the line was remote and away from any housing! Keywords: Trackwork, Roade cutting Railvac
66768, infrastructure train, Roade cutting Thankfully, 66768 had been switched off while it sits in Roade cutting leading a short rake of MHA Coalfish ballast wagons. The wagons were to be loaded with used ballast being 'vacuumed' up by a noisy Railvac machine out of sight to the left in this photograph. The ballast would then be transported to Bescot for cleaning, grading and then reuse elsewhere on the network. Keywords: 66768 infrastructure train Roade cutting
Trackwork, Roade cutting With the Railvac machine having sucked up the ballast from the up slow line in Roade cutting it has just emptied its load between the up and the down lines for the grabber to then load it into its attached wagons. The whole process was a noisy one disturbing the peace and quiet of a Sunday morning. Keywords: Trackwork, Roade cutting
50034 & 50049, 11.27 Wembley Reception sidings-Burton Ot Wetmore sidings (5Z50, 54L), site of Roade station Making an extraordinary row as it passes through Roade the 11.27 Wembley Reception to Burton-Ot-Wetmore empty stock move passes the site of Roade station on the down fast due to the closure of the slow lines for engineering work. Running some hour or so late the train had lost its path so had to be slotted in between other services with the driver no doubt being advised to give it some beans so as not to hold up too many Pendolinos! He appeared to be following the advice and it was really going at some pace catching the attention of some normals who were crossing the footbridge behind me who I had to educate! With a bit of an identity crisis on show, the leading locomotive is not actually 50034 'Furious' as that was scrapped at Old Oak Common in 1991 but is in fact 50007 'Hercules'. 50049 'Defiance' is tucked second inline sharing the same GBRf large logo livery as the leading locomotive but with the addition of a set of mini snowploughs. Keywords: 50034 50049 11.27 Wembley Reception sidings-Burton Ot Wetmore sidings 5Z50 site of Roade station Hoover Furious Defiance Hercules 50007
66773, 11.27 Wembley Reception sidings-Burton Ot Wetmore sidings (5Z50, 54L), site of Roade station 66773 'Pride of GB Railfreight brings up the rear of the late-running 11.27 Wembley Yard to Burton Ot Wetmore empty coaching stock move past Roade. The stock was used the previous day on the Springtime Hoovering in Devon charter hauled by 50007 (running as 50034) and 50049 with both these locomotives now leading this ECS, see.... https://www.ontheupfast.com/p/21936chg/30025173679/x50034-50049-11-27-wembley-reception. After arrival at Water Orton the Class 66 would then lead the train in the reverse direction to its destination near Burton-on-Trent with the Class 50s then running light engine onwards to their base at the Severn Valley Railway. Keywords: 66773 11.27 Wembley Reception sidings-Burton Ot Wetmore sidings 5Z50 site of Roade station Pride of GB Railfreight GBRf

Images 1-6 of 6 displayed.