A Brush with the Chocolate Charter

Today's Valentine special (the "Stobart Pullman"), runs through a gloomy cold Aldridge en route Cadbury's Bournville, headed by DRS loco 47712 with 47802 bringing up the rear. Note the non-original oval buffers fitted to 47802.
A while later I caught 47812 (D1916) running light through Walsall on a route-learner returning to Derby via the Cannock Line and Stoke.

Quick Visit To Streetly Gate

56303 on 4O90, 66580 on the diverted 4E44 and 60021 Star of the East are all seen working through Streetly Gate.

Loadhaul at Walsall

56077 heads towards Bescot with an MGR on 13.10.98 while on 29.10.01 60038 heads for Sutton Park with the 6V70 Cliffe Vale - Bescot - St Blazey china clay empties.

37/0s at Walsall

On 10.03.98 37012 heads through Walsall with concrete sleeper empties while 37074 waits for the road into Bescot with the Bloxwich trip during some nice weather.

More Ramblings at Streetly Gate

31201 and 31554 work the Bescot to Washwood Heath sleeper empties on 18.03.98 while on 06.03.98 58002 works an MGR towards Bescot. 002 still retains its Worksop Aberdonian headboard on the front from a tour it had worked from Worksop to, erm Aberdeen in recent times.

Steeling the Chinas

60006 Scunthorpe Ironmaster is seen away from its normal duties on 26.04.00, heading for Sutton Park at Walsall on the 6V70 Cliffe Vale to St Blazey china clay empties. I thought this blue livery was much nicer than the silver garb they gained later on.

Ten Years of the Sheds

It is ten years this year since the start of the Red Death. 66001/3 and 4 appeared at the Toton Open Day in August 1998, after which they began driver training. 66003 was at Bescot and on 21.10.98, it is seen at Walsall on a crew training run, heading for the Park Line.

The Lass On Tour

37692 'The Lass O'Ballochmyle' passes East View Road on 27.01.99 with a heavy load which I recall may have been the Bescot to Roundwood Rotherham steel.

Coal 60 on the coal

Streetly Gate Crossing on 06.03.98 and 60060 bearing Coal sub sector decals, which didnt mean anything by this time, it could turn up on any freight, is seen on MGR hoppers heading for Bescot.

31163 at Streetly Gate

31163 staggers upgrade through Streetly Gate on 17.06.98 on the 6G36 Burton on Trent to Bescot steel empties.

Back to the Sixties

By chance I happened to see two Class 60s pass through Walmley today. First up was 60500 on what I think was 6G21 from Stud Farm to Bescot Engineers Sdgs, followed 10 minutes later by 60075 on the Burton - Bescot steel "pigsheds", 6G77. Hazy shots screened from the sun by huge conifers on the right. 3 hours later there was a massive downpour here !

View from the goods

66116 about to pass bridge 20 at Walmley this morning with a heavy Bescot-bound down coal train. My vantage point was the former spur into Penns Goods yard which closed in 1965 and is now a small housing estate. This entrance line to the yard passed under the left-hand arch of the bridge (which is obscured by the ivy leaves in the photo).

Grey blur

56303 working hard up the incline from Park Lane Jn to Walmley today with it's freightliner train on the down line, just before an almighty downpour !
A poor shot with insufficient shutter speed, but at least the loco can be seen earning it's keep !

Beast on the prowl

Also seen on Friday afternoon was DRS 37038 running light from Bristol to Crewe (i'm not sure if the loco had worked a flask to Bridgwater earlier in the day, or was off some other move to the West Country).

Sun shines on Streetly!

Sunshine streaming through the branches today creates an almost-autumnal effect as 56303 passes through Sutton Park at Streetly.
Also seen was 66951 returning to Crewe with some autoballaster's.
Despite appearances however the wind was freezing !

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).