68. The Bluebell Railway & some afternoon freight-23.09.23

THE ARCHIVE FILES > Archive-2023 > 68. The Bluebell Railway & some afternoon freight-23.09.23

With a charter traversing the Marton Vale line between Bedford and Bletchley, I made the short journey from home to see it on a superb September morning. Later in the afternoon, I took my daily walk around the village to coincide with a couple of freights.

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66718, outward leg of The Bluebell Railway, 06.07 East Midlands Parkway-East Grinstead Sidings (1Z80, 7L), Lidlington SP978384
66718 'Peter, Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill, of Imber in the County of Wiltshire' leads the outward leg of UK Railtour's The Bluebell Railway charter. past Lidlington in Bedfordshire. The charter started out from East Midlands Parkway and would end up at East Grinstead and would feature some Class 73 haulage later on in the day. This slightly elevated view gives a good view of the Vale of Marston looking northeast toward Bedford. In years past the scene would have been dominated by a number of tall chimneys associated with the brickwork industry that was the backbone of the economy of the area. Like so many primary industries in the UK they have fallen by the wayside with most bricks now imported. Unfortunately, the return charter was thrown into chaos when it was inadvertently re-routed via the WCML rather than the Marston Vale line causing a long and awkward diversion via a reversal at Nuneaton as well as passengers for Bedford and Kettering having to be bussed and taxied to their start points.
Keywords: 66718 The Bluebell Railway 06.07 East Midlands Parkway-East Grinstead Sidings 1Z80 Lidlington SP978384 Peter, Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill, of Imber in the County of Wiltshire UK Railtours

66768, 12.03 Birch Coppice-Felixstowe North (4L05, 81L), Hyde Road bridge
The long but rather lightly loaded 4L05 12.03 Birch Coppice to Felixstowe Saturday afternoon service comes through Roade cutting at a fair pace with GBRf's 66768 leading. With the fast lines via Weedon closed all weekend for engineering works some workers are seen undertaking work on the cutting wall to the top left. They appeared to be drilling into the missionary and attaching harness points.
Keywords: 66768 12.03 Birch Coppice-Felixstowe North 4L05 Hyde Road bridge GBRf

390129 VT 14.51London Euston-Glasgow Central (1S78, 6L), Roade cutting
Taking the slow line through Roade cutting due to the closure of the fast for engineering works 390129 'City of Stoke-on-Trent/Brett' works the 14.51 Euston to Glasgow Anglo-Scottish 1S78 express. As well as having the long-held name 'City of Stoke-on-Trent' 390129 also has the name Brett applied to the cab ends in the memory of former duty manager Brett Nobson, see..... https://news.railbusinessdaily.com/train-carries-name-brett-in-memory-of-duty-control-manager/
Keywords: 390129 14.51 London Euston-Glasgow Central 1S78 Roade cutting AWC Avanti West Coast Pendolino City of Stoke-on-Trent Brett

66550 & 66533, 09.46 Felixstowe North-Crewe Basford Hall (4M87, 137L), site of Roade station
I think that something had gone wrong earlier in its journey as the 4M87 09.46 Felixstowe to Crewe was running over two hours late here at Roade. With 66533 'Hanjin Express/Senator Express' seemingly going along for the ride tucked in behind 66550 I suspect that it had failed. The train is seen in the afternoon sunshine heavily loaded plodding along the down slow line eventually arriving at Crewe one hundred and thirty-seven minutes late.
Keywords: 66550 66533 09.46 Felixstowe North-Crewe Basford Hall 4M87 site of Roade station Hanjin Express / Senator Express

Images 1-4 of 4 displayed.