Posted in Railways on Saturday 4th December 2004 at 9:12pm


Set out to wander locally, once again on a Wessex Rover. Planned to start at Newport and maybe head over to Westbury or up to Gloucester depending on how things progressed. Time for much needed coffee at Temple Meads, and onwards to Newport, where I joined quite a crowd at the end of the platform. Ended up staying all day...

In the first hour or so, lots of activity - mainly Class 60s on a variety of workings. Lots of movement on and off Godfrey Road too. Kept busy dashing around to see everything.

60100 passing through Newport at speed
60100 passing through Newport at speed

6064 at Newport
60064 at Newport

Around lunchtime, some more familiar faces arrived. Settled in for the afternoon and had a pleasant and sociable time. Finally saw 158961 - the three car hybrid Wessex Trains unit, along with several of the newly repainted First Great Western power cars inherited from Midland Mainline earlier in the year.

Resolved to head back on one of the numerous diverted Voyagers we'd been seeing all day. Spent a little longer at Bristol before heading back to Weston behind yet another newly repainted power car. A friendly driver was also very keen to show us the cab and instruments of the Class 180 he was about to take off to the depot. A busy and pleasant day all in all, despite not getting very far from home.

Movebook Link
 


Posted in Railways on Friday 3rd December 2004 at 10:12pm


Despite having to endure a lot of questioning and related ridicule when explaining why, managed to square things with colleagues to sneak out for an early lunch today. Arrived at the station just in time to see 67002 arriving with the empty stock of the Dunster by Candlelight railtour courtesy of Past Time Rail. Last time I saw 'Special Delivery' it was arriving at Inverness with the sleeper from London Euston. Its rare enough to see anything different at Weston during the winter, and it was pleasant to see a tour operator considering Weston as a starting point. With the attractive place settings for lunch on board, I was only sorry I'd soon be returning to the office.

67002 at Weston-super-Mare with a charter for Minehead
67002 awaits departure from Weston-super-Mare with a charter for Minehead

Back to work and resigned to the remainder of a rather dull and irritating day. Got one or two bits of policy work approved which was heartening, and a major IT job hopefully finished. Time will, of course, tell. Headed home expecting a quiet night.

But then noticed messages on SWRG about 37896 heading from Barton Hill to Taunton as 0Z33 to help 67002 which was low on fuel. Watched the situation develop before heading out around 2200 to see what was happening. Friendly station staff confirmed situation on TRUST. Eventually, 37896 thundered in with 67002 dead in tow.

37896 at Weston-super-Mare with 67002 DIT
37896 at Weston-super-Mare with 67002 DIT

Seems even the least promising of days can have interesting endings...

 


Lost::MikeGTN

I've had a home on the web for more years than I care to remember, and a few kind souls persuade me it's worth persisting with keeping it updated. This current incarnation of the site is centred around the blog posts which began back in 1999 as 'the daylog' and continued through my travels and tribulations during the following years.

I don't get out and about nearly as much these days, but I do try to record significant events and trips for posterity. You may also have arrived here by following the trail to my former music blog Songs Heard On Fast Trains. That content is preserved here too.

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