Streetly three

Here comes 56302, 66607+66551 and 60055 one after each other on the down Sutton Park on Friday. Only for 56302 was there any sunlight around....

Bonus going-away shot !

... of todays "bomb" number 26.

On the run

Today's flask (number 26) is hauled past Branton Hill quarry this afternoon by 20310 + 37688, and 15 minutes later I captured it again, this time at Mill Lane, Ryecroft. What happened to the sunny morning ? !

Blue sky beast

37219 brings a pick-up freight (9T37) past the long-abandoned wagon at the Sutton Park crossover this afternoon.
Oh alright then, it was really a re-enactment of a freight train scenario from the 1960s/70s and was about to arrive at Brownhills West yard on the Chasewater Light Railway !
A nicely restored loco...

Gridslip

56302 as seen from the Bosty Lane bridge, passing the repaired landslip site near Aldridge with the Grain liner today.
The embankment was just as overgrown as the one on the opposite side, until the heavy rains in June caused trees and clay-bound earth to fall trackwards (see June 15th post).

The right stuff

DRS 37s numbers 688+510 drop down through Rushall this afternoon with flask no. 17 for Crewe, and ultimately Sellafield (formerly known as Windscale !).

Looking East

... and into the sun, as 37417 returns with the empties from the infamous Birch Coppice terminal, seen here passing Wylde Green.

Birch Beast

37417 powers up through Daw End this morning on the Birch Coppice trip.

Sutton Park Parcels

25259 at the head of Trip 74 (Bescot to Washwood Heath) sets back into the GPO depot at Sutton Park via the down loop, in order to detach a parcels van, 3rd November 1975. The mail centre lost it's rail connection in the early 1990s but still exists as a Royal Mail sorting depot.
Note the fairly intact old station platforms, of which one (the island platform on the right) still exists.

Photo copyright M.Mensing.

Up The Junction '78

Almost 30 years ago if you were out with your camera at Ryecroft Junction here's the variety of traffic that could've been seen. These were all taken on the 27th February 1978 and are:-

1) 45060 Sherwood Forseter coming off the South Staffs line

2) 37168 powering away from Walsall

3) 25151 heading towards the Sutton Park line

4) 47165 on 0E46 heading out of Walsall

Photo's taken by D Jennings

You Know My Name, Look Up The Number

56302 Wilson Walshe on 4O90 plus 20311 Class 20 Fifty and 37688 Kingmoor T.M.D. on 6M53 work their way through Streetly Gate today. All three locos have recently been named.

The Whistle Blower

Whistle While You Work

40145 East Lancashire Railway and 55022 Royal Scots Grey pass Streetly Gate working 0Z40 17:10 Tyseley to Castleton heading back to their base at the East Lancashire Railway.

Needle and Pin

A pair of Harry Needle Railroad Co. "Choppers", numbers 20096+905, run through Aldridge in June 2006, en route Bescot to collect 37667.

Round the bend

56303 negotiates the curves at Streetly Woods today.

Bombs in the Wood

37602+37510 growl their way through Streetly Hardwick Wood this afternoon with the return Crewe flask.

Lafarge Express

Here's a train formed from the Lafarge stone hoppers and discharge machines at Ryecroft on Saturday. The train was running from Mountsorrel to Bescot behind loco 66150 where a second loco was attached at the rear and the formation left for weekend engineering work at Bentley Heath (Dorridge) via Coventry and Leamington.

A shot from 18th August showing WCRC Brush 4 loco 47245 on the down line at Streetly with a charter of smart dark green stock bound for Bescot, where 2 GWR Hall-class steamers would take over the train after the 47 loco detached...

Green Silver-lines

Your green Brush A-1-A 31190 is ready m'lud.

Brush 2 stock move

31454 passes Saltley today with an ECS train from Barrow Hill to the West Somerset Railway at Bishops Lydeard.
Nothing to do with the Sutton Park line but what the hell.

Big Pink

Brush Type 2 loco 31601 returning to Derby across the Sutton Park line last Friday.

Trusty Travellers

Seen trundling across the Sutton Park line in the cold autumn wind early this afternoon were "Grid" 56302, "Bombs" 20310+20311, and local snapper Mike "the Bike".

Silver Belle

In murky weather this morning, silver EWS flagship 67029 brings up the rear of a Northern Belle outing passing Ryecroft. On the front of the train was 67026.
67029 must be one of the most photographed engines on these local blogs so I won't be posting any more pix of it !

Bonnet first !

An unusual move occurred today when DRS Class 20s ran back to Crewe cab-to-cab with the flask train, because of problems with the original lead loco 20310. Here they are passing Saltley with 20311 running bonnet-first.

Pretty in Pink

Brush Type 2 31601 ran light from Derby to Machynlleth this afternoon, still wearing it's Wessex Trains pink pyjamas. Here it is on the approach to Rushall.

More steaming, after all these years.

A pair of ex-GWR Hall-class locomotives pictured laying down a smoke screen as dusk falls over Aldridge. They were on their way back to Tyseley on Saturday 18th August after working a special to Bescot.
The loco's are 4936 Kinlet Hall + 4965 Rood Ashton Hall running tender first.

Still steaming after all these years.

Loco's 37515 running light to Crewe, and 60021 heading to Tunstead with cement empties, lay a smokescreen over Walsall last week...

Five alive and steaming !

Well, the first two were powered up anyway !
5 x Class 66s at the head of 6T95 from Newport to Bescot on Saturday afternoon shatter the silence at Streetly.
The loco's were 66030+xxx+228+178+013.

More blue machines

As DRS twosome 20310+20307 take today's return flask past Saltley's last down line signal at Branton Hill.

Brand new loco's

Captured at Branton Hill this afternoon, four new blue class 66s fresh off the boat, en route Newport Docks to Carlisle where they will probably be stored as DRS have spare loco capacity....
They are - 66412 (hauling loco, not a new delivery), 421+425+424+426.

Sunblind in Aldridge

I deliberately shot into the low setting sun this evening to capture the returning Northern Belle excursion. The train is passing Aldridge crossover, former site of Aldridge station, signalbox, goods depot and junction for the branch line to Walsall Wood.
The outwards train was hauled by loco 67023 which had brake problems en route, at one point the train was running almost 2 hours late. The loco was replaced by 67012 for the return journey from Shrewsbury to St Albans.

Grid loco 56303 runs through Water Orton East Jn today on the down fast, shortly before joining the Sutton Park line at Park Lane Jn.

Berkeley Bomb

20303+20302 take a trip along the down goods line at Saltley today before heading out over the Sutton Park line and back to Crewe with a single flask.

End of the line

Loco 66082 running light from Bescot approaches Saltley SY265 signal and the single line section at Park Lane Jn, Tuesday last.
Could do with the foliage being cut back here.

Crompton 33

Former Southern Region and then Fragonset loco 33103 "Swordfish" takes some flats from Bescot to Chaddesden on the 5th July this year. Pictured passing the Wylde Green Road bridge near Walmley. The loco was fleetingly glimpsed earlier that day running light to Bescot to pick up the train.

Shedhunter

66165 and 66044 on the prowl through Streetly this afternoon. 165 was on 4G64 freightliner to Washwood Heath and 044 was on 6E79 steel empties to Doncaster.
Just one more returning coal train to come and that's it for this weekend !

Aldridge Belle

The Northern Belle runs through overgrown Aldridge this morning, behind loco 67012 with silver machine 67029 bringing up the rear, and travelling from Liverpool to Kensington Olympia.