Two today

56303 rolls down to Rushall with 4O90 this afternoon, and a while later the last-built Class 60, number 60100 Pride of Acton, is captured thundering through Sutton Park with 8 empty tanks, the returning 6Z96 Ironbridge-Lindsey service.

Underneath the Arches

Loco 60063 passes under the twin bridges near Sutton Park old station this afternoon with the 7K50 Toton-Crewe engineers service, including some Jarvis machinery.

Mayors Of Walsall.

In the 1920s, two of the Signalmen at Pleck Junction Signalbox held office as Mayor of Walsall. A plaque commemorating this was displayed in the box. Upon closure of Pleck Junction Signalbox in 1965 the plaque was mounted in the newly commissioned Walsall Power Signal Box, together with a framed photograph of the plaque being presented to the Pleck Junction Signalmen in 1925.

The tablet and photograph hang in the PSB to this day.

Park regulars

The Birch Coppice - Grain freightliner and the Walsall - Tunstead cement empties today. Whar would we photograph without them ?
Loco's 56303 (with score marks along the side) and 60046 ^William Wilberforce^.
At Aldridge.

60035 with the returning Walsall cement empties running 20 minutes early through Streetly, and a while later 56303 with the Grain liner coming off the slow line at Water Orton, also running early but by about 40 minutes.

Learning the road

BR two-tone green-liveried Brush Type 4 47812 (D1916) on a driver route learner from Derby to Rugeley Power Station today.
Seen passing Streetly Woods and then Leamore on the Cannock line, and finally returning at speed through Water Orton on the up fast line early this afternoon.

Park Tamper

Plasser & Theurer switch and crossing tamper 73910 Jupiter is caught making its way through Streetly Gate on the 16th February 2008.

Hazy views

66611 crosses the Plants Brook bridge in New Hall Valley this afternoon running to Crewe with Heavyhaul stone hoppers from Chesterton (Cambridgeshire).
10 minutes later came EE Type 3 loco 37417 Richard Trevithick with a few empty concrete sleeper-carrying wagons, including the Jarvis generator and unloader vehicle, bound for Washwood Heath Cemex depot.

Smoky haze

Original Jarvis "Grid" loco 56302 lays down an oily smoke trail on the approach to Aldridge around 1520 yesterday afternoon. Today's train was cancelled so perhaps the loco had some sort of engine/turbo fault.

Wyldebeests

60500 heads the 6D44 Bescot - Toton engineers service, followed a short while later by 60035 on the 6M82 Walsall - Tunstead "cementliner" empties, both seen near Wylde Green / Walmley today. The rain showers held off for the shots but it was still pretty gloomy out there !

Flask in silhouette

20315+37038 about to cross the Chester Rd bridge (bridge number 52) at dusk tonight with a flask returning from Berkeley, Gloucester, to Crewe.

A Brush through Aldridge

A view from the Anchor Rd bridge looking down on the former Aldridge Station site, taken on the 10th May 1997 (already over 10 years ago !) by the redoubtable Ben Cruachan, shows Brush type-4 loco 47522 charging through with what looks like a spoil train.
The loco had a varied history including quite a few crashes, and was finally withdrawn the following year and eventually cut up.

The SMR

These wonderful old images were sent to me by a colleague, and are taken from the book "The Sutton Coldfield 15-inch Gauge Railway" by J G Tidmarsh, showing various 1950's views of the Sutton Miniature Railway which was located near to the Wyndley Pool in Sutton Park.
The No.4 petrol-engined loco shown formerly worked at the Dudley Zoo miniature railway.
The SMR was closed sometime during the mid-Sixties.
Photo's copyright Plateway Press.
Amazingly the locomotives and stock survive, in 2002 after gathering dust in storage at Oldbury for 40 years they were purchased by the Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway, and currently operate there, a happy ending to the story. For recent photo's see link at bottom of page.

Park Royal

Another trip over the Sutton Park line today for steam loco 6024 King Edward I, this time running from Oxley to Didcot. Instead of the support coach the loco was towing two water tanks.

Tanks for these

Not only was I lucky enough to catch the returning Ironbridge - Lindsey empty tank service (at last), but also Loadhaul-liveried Class 60 number 059 was in charge of the train.
From the same vantage point today comes the yellow Network Rail test unit 950001, returning to Derby after travelling over the Cannock line this morning.

New Years Engineers

So far as I know only 3 freights ran in the entire West Midlands area on New Years Day (in daylight hours anyway). This was one of them, 6K50 Toton - Bescot being hauled by "Tug" loco 60054 Charles Babbage, and seen here rumbling through Aldridge with a varied train of Autoballasters (and with a bad wheel flat on the first wagon).