Orange 20s

In 20 seconds of glorious sun, 20314 & 20311 pass Coles Lane, Sutton Coldfield with 5Z20 Kilmarnock-Laira FGW Mk3 move 22/08/12

Class 60s In New Livery

60019 with the empty 6M82 Walsall - Tunstead cement tanks, and 60040 with 6D44 Bescot - Toton engineers train both approach Aldridge in their smart new DBS red paint jobs. Photo's courtesy of PPN.

The Scarborough Flyer

46233 'Duchess of Sutherland' is seen coasting through Water Orton station on 30th June 2012 with 'The Scarborough Flyer'.

By Royal Appointment

Outrageous fortune here - I walked to the lineside in the rain, the sun came out 60 seconds before the train came, and I walked back to the car in yet another torrential downpour!  66006 passes Walmley with 5Z80 Wolverton-Toton ECS move of 3 Royal Train coaches 30/07/12.  A rare move for the Park!

4M28

Freightliner 4M28 is seen coming to a halt across Streetly crossing on 16th July. Loco's were 66420+66566. After 3 or 4 minutes the train got underway. A few shots showing wagon details also included.

HST

An East Midlands Trains HST ran over the Sutton Park line on Saturday evening. This was a Black Country Society outing returning from the SVR at Kidderminster and destined St Pancras. 1Z43 Saturday 14th July, power cars 43066 & 43049. The first photo shows the HST at Aldridge. The second shot was kindly submitted by John Edkins, who hastily snapped the train at Streetly on his mobile.

47270 With ECS

A hasty snap of Brush Type 4 loco 47270 'Swift' with a train of ECS (believed to be running from Tyseley to Carnforth) passing through Sutton Park on Friday 13th July.

Walsall Deltic

55022 Royal Scots Grey passing Walsall PSB running from Taunton to Crewe.

Looking and sounding stunning as always.

6M56 Nuclear Flask

37409 & 37606 head the 6M56 flask train from Berkeley this afternoon, running past some appropriate Aldridge bridge graffiti en route...

Network Rail 37 on the Sleepers!

97302 worked 7G25 Washwood Heath-Bescot on 22/05/12.  I went to Ryecroft with Captain Fail and we ended up with this shot of the beast leaving the Park line.

70019

70019 hauls liner 4O27 through Sutton Park on the morning of 21st April. New signal WR5431 can be seen on the down line. These signals display all three colours (green, yellow, red) through just one aspect.

Two Class 57s and a Stoat !

A pair of DRS 57S were seen working a solitary flask from Bridgwater to Crewe yesterday, diverted via the Sutton Park line. 57008 + 57003 dip down through the Blue Hole after passing Aldridge with 6M67. Early on Sunday afternoon I was lucky enough to see and hastily photograph a Stoat which had slunk under the lines at the site of the old Aldridge station after darting along the troughing.

4V47 and a Class 70

Although a large number of the nineteen available Class 70's have been temporarily withdrawn from traffic, 70016 was out and about today, heading a very late 4V47 from Rugeley Power Station and seen here on the approach to Aldridge this afternoon.

Yellow Plant

Various departmental vehicles seen over the Park during the last week. Colas tamper DR 73948 heading for Walsall on the down. Unknown stoneblower on the up. 97303 heads for Bescot to work a ballast to North Wales. HOBC DR 76801 being hauled by 66518 on the up.

Streetly Pair

Loco 66014 is seen with 6G16 on 20/04/12, and 66023 kicks up a stink hauling 6E08 on 24/04/12.

New Signals Go Live

A quick peek over the bridges at Sutton Park confirms that the newly installed signals are working, and the (almost) forty four year-old SY signals are being removed.

Not the best of images but they'll do for now !

Saturday 6th April 2012.

Saturday Afternoon...

A few of the more interesting and colourful loco moves seen at Water Orton during Saturday afternoon, in gradually worsening light (photo's not in chronological order, due to blogger upload fault).

6Z70 56302 Shipley - Cardiff Tidal scrap.
6G99 66056 Toton - Bescot engineers.
6E41 60011 Westerleigh - Lindsey tanks.
1Q13 37229 + 37409 Derby - Hither Green test train.

17th March 2012.

Crossover removed

Although it's a distant shot, it can be seen that the recent work at Sutton Park old station has involved removing the crossover and points, plain lining the rails through here.

97304

97304 runs light through Streetly today, en route Shrewsbury.

Aldridge 1990's

A couple of shots from Aldridge circa 1998 showing 47345 with an up liner and 56032 in the same spot with an up empty steel train.

Thanks JT for these two.

92 On The Park

66126 dragged 92015 through the park as 0D44 Bescot-Toton on 13/01/12. Presumably the 92 will return in DB red in due course.

Shadowy Serco

97301 passes a shadowy Sutton Park with 1Q20 Shrewsbury-Derby RTC 13/01/12

Containers

Yet another liner train, 66542 with 4L68 from Birch Coppice.

Streetly Station

An excellent early photographic postcard portraying Streetly station as it appeared probably during the 1920s/30s, kindly supplied by Richard C. An almost busy scene !

The picture is taken from the Thornhill Road bridge looking towards Walsall. The train is at the up platform with the steamer running tender-first, and what looks like four clerestory coaches in tow.

Jocko set free! (For a worthy cause)

On the first of October 2005 there was a charity event held at Walsall Railway Club with all proceeds going to breast cancer charities. During this day 08709 was named Molly's Day, Molly being the young daughter of a Bescot driver who had sadly lost her mother to this illness.

The naming took place in Walsall Midland Yard and this photo shows the loco passing Pleck Junction while making its way to Walsall.

Last of the 'Bones'

EWS-liveried 58050 'Toton Traction Depot', the last Class 58 in the series, is seen passing through Sutton Park in the late 1990s with an up empty MGR set, maybe bound for Daw Mill. The class were all withdrawn by 2002, a number being hired out for use in France and Spain.

Thanks to JT for the photo.

1990s Tamping Machine

A typical tamper of the era, seen on the down at the Aldridge crossover, late 1990s.

Photo JT.

37518

Bridges B55 and B56 provide an artistic backdrop as 37518 runs light through Aldridge in the early 1990s, probably en route Bescot.

The loco survives in preservation on the East Lancashire Railway.

Photo JT.

Tyseley Tour

Tyseley Class 115/116 unit, set T402, is seen passing through Aldridge in the late 1980s.

This was in connection with a Tyseley Open Day event of that time and the shuttle was running between Tyseley and Walsall.

Photo's JT.

Tyseley Tour Two

A second unit, T403, is seen on the up at Aldridge, having left Walsall a few minutes previously.

Photo's JT.

Celebrity Cement

Tata Steel-liveried 60099 passes Walmley with 6M82 Walsall-Tunstead on 30th September 2011.