66117 approaching Droitwich Spa station on 9 August 2005 with a very late running 6M26 00.01 Scunthorpe to Brierley Hill.

The introduction of class 66 to the British railway scene has probably caused more argument and controversy since steam haulage ceased in 1968. Dubbed "Red Death" by the more sensationalist railway press, the locomotives stirred up strong emotions amongst enthusiasts, the less rational of whom immediately swore never to photograph one regardless of the location or the train being hauled. I well recall this being said when class 60 was introduced, and look at their following today. Even in 2005 one still hears people saying the likes of, "I'm not bothering with that, it's only a shed". To my mind, this attitude shows that the person voicing the sentiment is not a true railway enthusiast, but a blinkered throwback to the never to be repeated times when a dozen different classes could be photographed in a single day without straying more than a few miles from home. Much as we might regret the passing of favourite classes, times move on and if we enjoy being at the lineside and photographing trains, then we have to accept that class 66 is here to stay. That the design is successful is undeniable. It is spreading across Europe and has rapidly become the standard freight locomotive of choice to most operators. In the UK, we have several different colour schemes, and this adds to the interest. I hope that the pictures in this section will show that the class does have some attraction and that it is the whole train that is of interest, not just the locomotive.

	COLAS Rail have been operating loaded timber trains from Teigngrace, on the Heathfield branch near Newton Abbot, to the Chronospan factory at Chirk for the past few weeks. For various reasons I didn't make it over to the Cheltenham line for the run of the empty wagons, 6Z50, before Thursday 2 February 2012. In the past, I've had no luck with COLAS class 66s, having missed a few shots by turning up late or not finding out about a working until the following day but felt confident that I would nail this train, hopefully in good light. It nearly went all wrong when I missed a turning in the lanes around Wadborough and ended up having a long walk through Croome Perry wood before 'phoning a friend and getting fresh directions. I arrived at this foot crossing with no more than 10 seconds to spare and with the train accelerating away from Abbotswood Loop. The locomotive is 66850 and someone has clearly had a go at cleaning the number on the otherwise work-stained cabside.
	After photographing 66850 near Wadborough on 2 February 2012 I moved to another foot crossing a few hundred years to the south to take a shot of 66527 on the late running 4V06 Rugeley Power Station to Stoke Gifford empty coal train. I hadn't been there long when the barriers protecting the road crossing were lowered and 66527 and its train came charging south. The long train caused a surprising amount of turbulence in the still air, reminiscent of that found on stations on the London Underground, albeit less warm and smelly!
	One of the most reliable trains on the Birmingham to Gloucester line is 6V92, the 10.18 Corby to Margam empty steel wagons. On 2 February 2012 66141 was in charge of the shorter than usual formation which is here seen passing a foot crossing just south of Abbotswood Junction where it had beenlooped to allow a CrossCountry Voyager to pass. The sun was just about to go into a chunk of cloud but managed to hold on just long enough and the shot also came within a couple of seconds of being obscured by a northbound Voyager.
	Monday 16 January 2012 was the third clear and sunny day in a row. I knew that 66419 was due to take 4V11, the 10.49 Washwood Heath to Fairwater Yard train of sleepers, through Hatton and as this was a working that I had yet to photograph went over for a short session. In the event I didn't see 4V11 as was some three hours late after loading issues, but did see this pair of 66s, 66504 + 66589, on 4O54 from Leeds to Southampton, as they rounded the curve from Hatton North Junction to the station.
	A Freightliner working seen at Hatton only on Mondays is 4O49, the 10.13 from Birch Coppice to Southampton. On Monday 16 January 2012 this was powered by 66570 as it comes round from Hatton North Junction just about spot on time. The shadows here at this time of year are a bit of a pain but now that the shortest day is behind us the situation can only improve in the following weeks.
	The first locomotive hauled train that I saw at Eckington on 13 January 2012 was a 6Z56 12.30 Newport Alexandra Dock Junction to Bescot with 66161 in charge. The northbound view here isn't particularly inspiring at the best of times but I hadn't previously photographed anything entering the down goods loop so took a shot for the record. Strangely, 6Z56 sat in the loop for about five minutes before heading off again without another train having passed by. I assume that the pause was simply a pathing stop to allow a clear run further north where the line is a little busier. Just before 66161 came along a Network Rail contractor arrived on the other side of the crossing where a ballast drop took place in preparation for some forthcoming work.
	The winter of 2011/2012 has seen quite a number of Freightliner Heavy Haul trains of imported coal working from the Bristol area to the power station at Rugeley. This picture taken on 13 January 2012 shows 66558 working 4V47, the 11.15 from Rugeley to Stoke Gifford yard, past the village of Eckington on the main line from Birmingham to Gloucester. The train was running in the region of twenty minutes late at this point and was only a couple of minutes behind 60071 working the Corby to Margam empty steel train.
	A long rake of TEA tank wagons was moved from Immingham to Long Marston on 30 November 2011. The train, 6Z57, was hauled by 66115 and was due to pass Evesham at 09.39. I arrived at Honeybourne just before 09.30 and within a couple of minutes it came into view as it left the main up line at Honeybourne West Junction and headed along the new trackwork forming the start of the Long Marston branch. Just before leaving home I had a feeling that shadows cast by the new station footbridge might cause a problem so picked up a long lens just in case. This was lucky as the nearest spot clear of shadow was by the new branch signal protecting the main line.
	As soon as 66155 had passed Honeybourne station I headed off to Long Marston for an arrival shot. The new arrangements involving the branch token have speeded up proceedings and I arrived with no more than ten seconds to spare. It's not a great winter location for a shot of anything arriving but as the roadbridge here is on my way home from Honeybourne it seemed worth a single frame. I assume that the tanks, formerly used to carry bitumen, are going into Long Marston for storage.
	Long Marston has been a little quiet of late although I did miss a DRS move whilst on holiday in mid-November, so when a friend told me that 66119 was on the way there light engine from Didcot on 24 November 2011 I thought that a quick drive across to see what was to come out would be worthwhile. The scheduled arrival time for 0A17 was 11.53 but when I arrived at about 11.35, 6Z17, the 12.53 to Didcot, was already ready for departure. It pulled onto the branch to Honeybourne almost exactly one hour early and just about managed to catch a little light as it did so. The Autumnal colours are showing quite nicely at the moment including a good crop of hawthorn berries which the local blackbirds and thrushes along with migrant fieldfares and redwings are feasting on, at least when a train isn't disturbing the peace. I'm not sure, but this may the the rake of ferrywagons although minus a tank wagon, that was brought here by 67016 at the beginning of September.
	After leaving Long Marston and clearing the yard's pointwork, 66119 with 6Z17 had to wait for a few minutes while the branch token was collected from the groundframe and returned to the cab. It then made its way to Honeybourne where there was another short pause to allow the token to be returned to the box a couple of hundred yards before the road bridge. Once that had been done the train moved along the new trackwork which replaced the former spur across to the then single track of the North Cotswold Line. This was the first train that I had seen making a move in this direction so was happy enough to get a reasonable photograph even though the sun wasn't really making much effort to shine.
	The last of the class 508 units stored at Donnington RFT, 508202, was scheduled to be moved to Eastleigh on Wednesday 23 November 2011 with 66709 providing the power. The weather forecast was for good sunny spells across the Midlands and I had planned to go to Bentley Heath, near Dorridge, for my photograph. In the event the sun was notable mostly by its absence and a friend in Solihull told me that it was cloudy there. I therefore wasted as little petrol as possible and just went for a record shot from the road bridge at Hatton station where the sun was just about poking through some lightish cloud as 5O08 came around the curve from Hatton North Junction. I am these days less and less and inclined to go out for routine movements if the sun isn't shining as the results are almost always disappointing but this train just about counts as one worth making a little bit of effort to picture.
	The 11.56 Eastleigh Virtual Quarry to Stud Farm empty ballast wagons has been hauled by 66623 for at least the last seven days. On the afternoon of Friday 21 October 2011 the weather was dreadful with leaden skies being the order of the day but with 60099 in charge of the Theale to Lindsey empty tanks I went across to Hatton North for a record shot. I wouldn't normally have seen 6M40 as 1) I didn't arrive until 15.35 and 2) don't usually bother with day-to -day traffic in such poor light, but it was running close to an hour late and passed me at just after 16.00 at very slow speed having been looped to allow a couple of passenger trains precede it.
	Ever since the latest resignalling work on the GWR Leamington Spa to Birmingham line it has been possible for down freights using Hatton Goods Loop to be routed through the Stratford-upon-Avon branch platform at Hatton station before rejoining the down main line via a spur just beyond the adjacent roadbridge. Not all looped trains do this and I have seen only one other take this route, at least when I have had a camera handy. On Wednesday 19 October 2011, a late running 4M55 Southampton to Lawley Street headed by 66541 was "put inside" to allow 168109 to pass.
	A third train of redundant class 508 units was scheduled to be dragged from Donnington RFT, on the Shrewsbury to Wolverhampton line, to Eastleigh on 19 October 2011. It transpired that there was some problem or other with the two barrier/translator vehicles which meant that they had to be returned to Eastleigh for rectification work before the 508s could be moved. I had originally planned, depending on the weather, to go either somewhere around Solihull or south of Banbury for a photograph but didn't feel inclined to waste time or petrol on such a short train. I did though want to try for a sunny photograph of 66705 as my only previous shot of it was taken in dull conditions. One can never be sure how long one-off liveries may last in these days of corporate identity so I felt that it was worth a go. It was sunny when I left home but on arriving at Hatton station roadbridge, the ideal spot for a small train, found some thick cloud over most of the sky. Luckily, some of this blew away just before 5O08 appeared and a reasonable picture ensued. In fact, I was a bit lucky as when 66705 rounded the curve I was on the other side of the road taking an image of 66541 in the branch platform. I was fortunate that a friend was also on the bridge and he called me across with a split second to spare.
	The afternoon of Friday 14 October 2011 turned out to be unexpectedly bright and sunny but I had no intention of going out until I saw a message saying that partly blue 66623 was working 6M40, the 11.56 Westbury Virtual Quarry to Stud Farm empties. I had previously taken only one photograph of this locomotive and that was from the middle of June 2010 when the sun was much too high for a decent image. As the sun is more favourable in October I had a quick trip to Hatton North Junction and was happy enough when 66623 came along just about at the right time. It seems to me that the paint job on this locomotive is a bit of a cheapskate effort; couldn't Freightliner afford enough paint to do the roof?
	There are just two northbound freights to be seen at Hatton on a Friday afternoon, the first being 6M40 at around 15.15 and the other, about an hour later, 6E55, the Theale to Lindsey Oil Refinery empty oil tanks. The second of these was in the hands of 66095 on 14 October 2011 and was running slightly early having been pathed before the Chiltern Railways unit that forms an all-station stopper between Leamington Spa and Birmingham Snow Hill. It felt quite strange to be standing around in light trousers and shirtsleeves in the middle of October; long may it last...
	A new flow of Biomass for combustion in Drax Power Station started on 11 October 2011 when GBRf ran its first train from Avonmouth in Bristol. This train should have run on the previous day but problems with loading the covered IIA hoppers meant that a twenty four hour delay was encountered. I found out that 6E32 was running on 11 October at just about the last minute and went over to Defford in Worcestershire which is probably the nearest half-decent northbound shot for me on the Gloucester to Birmingham line. After a wait of about ten minutes a friend 'phoned to say that 66731 + 66726 had just passed Ashchurch and were therefore due with me in about a further seven or eight minutes. The sun was in and out of the edge of a large black cloud and when the train came gave me just about the worst possible lighting conditions with sun shining on Bredon Hill in the background and the subject of my photograph in shade. Still, it's always worth getting a shot of an early run of anything as one never knows for how long these things will run, and in any case it will be too dark before many weeks are out at just after 15.30. I understand that double-headed locomotives are necessary as 6E32 is routed via the Lickey incline and GBRf do not have any facilities at Bromsgrove for a banking locomotive.
	The glorious weather that has been enjoyed at the end of September 2011 continued on Friday 30th. Once again I had a couple of hours at Hatton in the afternoon with the intention of photographing the two regular northbound freight trains that appear there. First along was 66615 with 6M40, the 11.56 Westbury Virtual Quarry to Stud Farm empties; the same locomotive as had worked the train for the past few days. This isn't the greatest location because of the restricted view but I had spent the previous ninety minutes driving and walking around a bit further south trying to find a different spot but unchecked growth had made the search completely fruitless. Nonetheless, the light here in the mid afternoon in late September is as good as it gets anywhere so I was more than happy to spend a little time perched on a Corona drinks crate and leaning on the fence between the footpath and the railway.
	My final shot from Hatton cutting on 30 September 2011 is of 66130 hauling 6E55, the 13.35 empty oil tanks from Theale to Lindsey. This train had been checked as it approached my position and was travelling so slowly that I thought it was going to put inside and have to run along the loop. Fortunately, it stayed on the down main and is here seen beginning to accelerate as the driver sighted a clear signal on the gantry a little way to the north. Some exhaust smoke is just visible in the clear blue sky as the locomotive was opened up for the final stretch of the 1/110 of Hatton Bank.
	The 10.18 Trafford Park to Southampton Freightliner service, 4O09, is routed to run via Solihull and Hatton rather than Nuneaton, Coventry and Leamington Spa. On Wednesday 28 September 2011 66563 was in charge of the train and was spot on time when it approached Hatton North Junction. The shadows here can be a bit of a problem once the summer has passed but with the right lens a reasonable shot can be obtained. I actually quite like the interplay of light and shade in the cutting between the footbridge at Hatton North and the roadbridge at Shrewley, the scene being enhanced by the variety of colours in the background trees and bushes.
	One of the regular afternoon freights on the GWR line from Leamington Spa to Birmingham is 6M40, the 11.56 Westbury Virtual Quarry to Stud Farm empty ballast wagons. This is usually allocated to a Freightliner class 66/6 and on September 28 2011 66615 was on the pointed end as the train came slowly up the last few yards of Hatton Bank, having been checked by adverse signals as it was following a Chiltern Railways service booked to call at Hatton station.
	One of the few trains on the Hatton line to convey something other than shipping containers is 6E55, the 13.35 Theale to Lindsey Oil Refinery empty tanks. I like to take a picture of this from time to time and as the afternoon of 28 September 2011 was perfectly lit it seemed to be the right time for a shot, particularly as the trees around Hatton North Junction have begun to change colour as Autumn approaches. On this occasion 66169 was hauling the rake of around twenty two bogie tanks.
	There isn't much of a shot for down trains from the bridge at Shrewley but when the sun is shining I'm happy enough to take pictures of whatever comes along. This shot is of 66558 with 4M55, the 08.55 Southampton to Lawley Street Freightliner, taken on 27 September 2011 and shortly after the summit of Hatton Bank had been reached. The train was fully loaded on this occasion and the weight had taken its toll on the speed that 66558 was able to achieve; it was probably doing no more than 30mph at this point. This photograph was taken only a few seconds after 168111 had sped south with one of the regular Birmingham to London Marylebone Chiltern Trains services.
	Another train of wagons for storage at Long Marston ran from Didcot on Wednesday 7 September 2011. This one wasn't quite as impressive as that which run the previous week when 67016 took in a very long train and neither was the weather quite so favourable. The train, 6Z36 again, was just two tank wagons hauled by 66108 and was sufficiently mundane to ensure that no-one else was at Honeybourne which meant that I was able to take this shot from the road bridge overlooking the station without a number of other photographers being in the picture. When I arrived, the points just beyond the red signal were set for the small yard in the background but within a few minutes they were switched back to allow a train to run along the Long Marston branch; a bit of a clue that 6Z36 wasn't far away. Once through the station, trains on the branch have to stop at a board, from where the driver must contact the Evesham signaller who will then release the single line token necessary to proceed and also to unlock the ground frame inside the Long Marston site.
	After leaving Honeybourne and picking up the branch token, 66108 headed along the branch to its destination at Long Marston. I was on my home and stopped at the road bridge just outside Long Marston village to see if any traffic was in the yard for 66108 to take out. There was nothing in sight but 6Z36 was just appraoching the site so I took a single photograph as the train came up to the footpath across the line. I later heard that there was indded no return load and that 66108 went out light engine and ended up in Hinksey Yard although I don't know by route it reached Oxford. I can't see any reason why it shouldn't have run straight up the North Cotswold Line now that there is double track for most of the way and going via this route would have saved a lot of time.
	The regular Mountsorrel to Eastleigh Virtual Quarry train of loaded ballast ran on Tuesday and Wednesday, the 30th and 31st of August 2011, following the August Bank Holiday; on both occasions being hauled by black liveried 66709. The weather on the other time, a few months ago, that this locomotive had worked 6O96 was dreadful and although it wasn't too good on 31 August there did appear to be a small chance of some sun. I was already having a drive around the Warwickshire lanes in my Morris Minor and timed things so as to be near Hatton just before 13.00. If the sun had more likely to appear I would have gone to a location further north but with a fairly solid cloudbase I didn't bother to go too far. The southbound CrossCountry Voyager due here just before 13.00 was running late and this had a knock-on effect both to the following Chiltern Trains service and to 6O96 which was doubtless looped at Small Heath until a clear path was available making it some fifteen minutes late. I now have photographs of most GBRf colour schemes on this train, but should quite like 66705 with its Union flag to make an appearance...
	There was another opportunity to photograph 66720 on the GWR Birmingham to Leamington Spa line on 24 August 2011. This time the locomotive worked a 6Z96 wagon move from Bletchley to Eastleigh, running via Rugby, Nuneaton, Water Orton and Landor Street. I originally intended to go somewhere around Dorridge but while driving up the A3400 it looked as if cloud was rapidly building up towards the Birmingham direction so I diverted to the south end of Hatton cutting. This was a bad move as when 6Z96 came, running about 20 minutes late, the sun hadn't quite escaped from some cloud and could really have done within being about ten seconds later. I have found that one has to quite careful with the post processing of images of GBRf class 66s as the yellow front end can all too easily disappear into the darker shade of cab if any additional colour saturation is added once the RAW (NEF) file has been processed. I generally never use any extra saturation at all unless an image has been taken under extremely dull conditions when a tiny amount may be beneficial.
	One of GBRf's class 66s, 66720, was fairly recently painted into a graffiti-style livery designed by a six year old girl and looks, in my opinion, rather better than some of the professionally designed schemes to be seen on passenger units on the network. I do like to have a photograph of these one-off colour schemes and so was hoping that the locomotive would turn up on one of the GBRf turns in my area before either it was repainted or suffered a mishap. The first chance came on Monday 23 August 2011 when it worked 6O96, the 10.25 Mountsorrel to Eastleigh Virtual Quarry train. I was unable to get out then but hoped that it would follow the usual pattern and do the same trip on the following day. It did, and even though the weather forecast for the late morning and lunchtime was poor I decided to go out. The weather was actually nothing like as bad as forecast and 6O96 had an evens chance of being in the sun. It was around fifteen minutes late and managed to avoid a couple of clear patches of sky above Hatton but I was happy enough to get a decent record shop - much better than not having one at all. I hope now that it will make another appearance on a sunny day. For the record, this is how 66720 looked on 26 November 2010 when it passed Evesham signalbox; a scene also radically changed over the past weeks following the removal of the semaphore signals and some sidings.
	The second train taking class 508 EMUs from Donnington to Eastleigh ran on Friday 19 August 2011. The weather, in complete contrast to the first run, was just the job with a good clear patch exposing the sun at the right time as 66723 with 5O08 formed of 508210 + 508201 with barrier/translator vans came south out of Hatton cuttin I thought that this location would be about right for an eight coach train and it did fit in the gap, but only just... The first run was marked not only by poor weather but also late running, about two days, caused by sticking brakes on one of the units. There were no problems this time and 5O08 was a couple of minutes early at this point. The vandals have been at 508201 at some point since its withdrawal from service but whether this was at Donnington or a previous storage site I don't know.
	A GBRf class 66 paid a visit to the North Cotswold Line possession on Thursday 11 August, 2011. It was due to arrive at Moreton-in-Marsh, the southern end of the possession, at around 16.20 in the afternoon although I had no knowledge of any times further down the line. In the hope that it would continue to run towards Evesham I went to Honeybourne where, after about ten minutes I heard a class 66 horn coming from the wrong direction. This turned out to be 66005 with the same train that I had seen at Evesham the previous day and it came slowly around the curve beyond the platforms and stopped before a digger starting loading spent ballast into the wagons towards the rear. This put paid to any chance of seeing 66713! Still, as I was there it would have been rude not to have taken a few shots showing the enormous amount of work that was being carried out. This picture shows the new through road on the right that forms the new end of the Long Marston branch and the hyperlink another new line leading to a three road exchange/run-round siding. along with the supports for the new approach ramps and footbridge spanning the east end of the station. For completeness, this is the view from the other side of the road bridge showing that the old spur from the Long Marston branch and the token hut have been removed.
	The North Cotswold Line between Worcester and Moreton-in-Marsh is, at the time of writing, under an engineering possession to allow the final stages of re-doubling to take place. A train from Bescot to the area of Clayfield Lane crossing was scheduled for the morning of 10 August 2011 with the actual work to take place on the newly laid line. I wasn't sure if the new line over the nearby level crossing at Blackminster had been put in place to allow trains to run over it so went to have a look. As I suspected, the road itself was closed to all traffic and as this view shows, the road surface has been completely removed and the second line yet to be laid. The use of a very long lens has exaggerated the perspective but it can be seen that a lot of work is still to be done before double track working can be instituted, including a major slewing of the existing single track which will form the down line.
	As it was clear that the engineering train from Bescot ES would not be able to run to Clayfield Lane crossing over the new down line, there wouldn't be much point in staying where I was and repeating, in much worse light a shot that I had taken only recently. I therefore retraced my steps to end of Evesham bypass and made my way to the road bridge just on the down side of Evesham station. A lot of recent work was in evidence, including two new signals and some new track panels being made ready for installation. I had been only for a couple of minutes when 6W81 headed by 66005 came slowly into view and the yellow front of the locomotive can just be made out underneath and to the right of the sole remaining semaphore signal which has very recently lost its finial. The train from Bescot ES did not stop either here or in the station but carried straight on towards the worksite.
	I had just photographed 172340 + 172339 at Edstone on 3 August 2011 when my telephone rang with the news that 66030 was at Norton Junction, near Worcester, about to head south on the North Cotswold Line with a long train of loadd ballast wagons and that it would leave Evesham at 11.25. I reckoned that I should just about have time to reach somewhere south of Evesham and headed for the bridge at Blackminster. After a bit of a slow journey through the villages I had just passed over the level crossing on the road at Blackminster when I saw, in my rear-view mirror, that the lights had just started flashing prior to the barriers being lowered. The bridge over the line is only just around the corner and I arrived in time to hear a class 66's horn in the distance warning the many track workers in the area that a train was on the way. A minute or so later 6W56, the 09.10 Bescot Down Siding to Honeybourne, came into view with 66030 leading a variety of ballast wagons and 66183 dead on the back with the leading locomotive working very hard to get its heavy load up to line speed.
	The destination of 6W56 wasn't known to me when I photographed it at Blackminster but I couldn't see that it would be able to get any further than Honeybourne because a First Great Western passenger train wasn't all that far away. With that in mind I moved to Honeybourne to find the train about to move onto the Long Marston branch. The light is all wrong here at this time of day but it was worth taking a record shot or two particularly as the track layout here will change over the next few weeks and the ground frame with its associated cabin housing the instruments will be removed. Here then is 66183 being taken across the spur to the branch and a few moments later as the crew are about to unclip the points before the road can be reset for the main line once the train has fully reached the branch. I wasn't able to stay longer any but understand that the new line from the branch, running around the "back" of the refurbished island platform, was later ballasted.
	I was driving towards Hatton on Thursday 21 July 2011 when my 'phone beeped with a message. As I was nearly at the station I didn't stop to read it then but carried on, parked, picked up my camera bag and read the message from a friend at Solihull as I walked towards the bridge. The message said that a double headed Freightliner service had just passed with an EWS liveried locomotive leading a Freightliner example. I had been in position only for a few moments when the train, 4O09, the 10.17 Trafford Park to Southampton, rounded the curve. I understand that a class 70 had failed on a northbound service during the previous evening and 66221 was needed to take the train to its destination and thus ran south on 4O09 to save on a light engine move.
	The primary reason for my visit to Hatton on 21 July 2011 was to take a photograph of 66731 hauling two class 508 EMUs, 508211 + 508208, from Donnington to Eastleigh where they were to be put into secure storage. Donnington, on the Shrewsbury to Wolverhampton line, has no cover and the units had been standing out in the elements for some time. This is probably for the reason for the train being cancelled a couple of days earlier when the brakes on the EMUs were found to be seized and wouldn't move. Hardly surprising, and one would have thought that someone in authority would have realised this in advance. Anyway, 5O08 was rescheduled for Thursday and managed to reach Albrighton before the units' brakes stuck on, the train eventually making it to Oxley loop where some rectification work was carried out. To cut a long story short, the train eventually passed Hatton something like 150 minutes late but under an attractively dark sky and with the Arlington Fleet Services translator van giving an extra splash of colour.
	The flexibility offered by the southermost part of the North Cotswold Line having received double track was demonstrated for the first time on Monday 19 July 2011. A transit move of eleven scrap carrying wagons was moved from Long Marston to Dagenham and the train, 6Z66 was routed from Honeybourne to Worcester for a run-round and then back up the Cotswold Line to Oxford via Moreton-in-Marsh, making it the first revenue earning freight along the line since, I think, 10 March 2007 when 66527 led a northbound train of PGA hoppers towards Honeybourne and Long Marston. The more recent move left Long Marston just over one hour early and had gone when I drove over the bridge across the line so I carried on to Honeybourne where the train was just drawing to a halt under a very moody sky.
	As I mentioned above, 6Z66 from Long Marston to Dagenham Yard left just over one hour early. This was of no benefit as it still had to wait for the booked departure time from Honeybourne because of the still single track between Moreton-in-Marsh being occupied by scheduled FGW passenger trains. With this being the case I went home for lunch before turning out again at 15.30 and heading to a spot just outside Mickleton for a shot of 66547 climbing Campden bank. The reason for coming here was to obtain a rare picture of a revenue earning freight south of Honeybourne, but on a section of line still operating as single track. The new down line has been laid but as can be seen in my first photograph of 6Z66, stops short of Honeybourne station to allow for the considerable remodelling of the junction that will be necessary over the coming weeks. There was a certain amount of doubt about the pathing of 66547 and its train because of a late running down FGW service; the lateness having been caused by a woman leaving her children on the platform at Slough station and the concomitant faffing around necessary for her to retrieve them. Anyway, some good regulation by the signallers involved saw the freight leave Evesham not far off booked time and it is here seen climbing towards Chipping Campden tunnel through an increasingly dense patch of new vegetation. That bodes well for the leaf fall season then...
	I had an early trip to Hatton North Junction on Monday 11 July 2011 because there was a test train scheduled to run over the rarely used North to West Junction track. At the booked time, 07.20, the sun would be just right so as the skies were largely clear I felt that the short journey would be well worthwhile in order to finally obtain a decently lit photograph there. After a thorough soaking from the long and damp grass, not to mention nettles, along the footpaths from Hatton station I arrived just after 07.00 and in time to see a couple of northbound engineering train pass by from a possession on the Chiltern Line, including 66184 tailing 66120 and 6P11 from Saunderton to Bescot. Next along was a class 168 from Birmingham Snow Hill to Marylebone after which I expected the points leading to Hatton Junction to be shifted across but first was a slightly late running 4O20, the 05.00 Bescot to Southampton loaded car carriers hauled by 66024. This isn't a train I had seen before so was happy enough to score a well lit shot of it powering hard amongst the Rosebay Willowherb before dropping downhill towards Warwick and Leamington Spa.
	There are very few southbound morning freight trains over the Birmingham to Gloucester main line so when I was told that a 4Z32 from Ratcliffe power Station to Avonmouth was booked for the morning of Saturday 9 July 2011 I felt that a trip across to Worcestershire would be worthwhile. This train was booked a few minutes a charter involving 55022 and missed being in the sun by about five minutes. With a friendly wave from the driver, 66058 is seen heading south along the Worcester avoider line with its load of HTA hoppers which will no doubt be reloaded with power station coal ready to return north within the next few days.
	An extra ballast train from Stud Farm to Eastleigh Virtual Quarry has been running for a few days, the loaded run being overnight but with the return timed to pass Hatton just after noon. On 7 July 2011 the locomotive allocated was 66522 which has an odd livery marking the association between Freightliner and Shanks & McEwan, the landfill owning and operating company. My philosophy with these one-off liveries is that I can't be bothered to chase around after them but trust to luck that something will bring them close enough to enable me to obtain a picture without expending too much time or effort. It's taken a while with this one, but a ten minute drive and a short walk each way made it worthwhile to go to the nearest location for me, a footpath adjacent to the line at Hatton cutting. Here then is 66522 adding to the other green tints around the line as it climbs Hatton Bank a few minutes after a torrential shower had passed, but not without giving me a good soaking, and just as the sun began to come out again.
	I arrived home after my daily swim on 4 July 2011 to find on my 'phone a message from a friend saying that 66713 was just about to arrive at Long Marston to pick up something which would go to Doncaster in the usual lunchtime departure slot, 13.11. I had plenty of time and went across to Long Marston where I arrived at about 12.45 to find 66713 coupled onto a long rake of Fastline branded coal hoppers. I was glad when it began to move some twenty minutes early because the air was absolutely alive with thunderbugs, aka Thrips or Thysanoptera, which were crawling all over me within moments of setting foot on the bridge. The sun just managed to poke out from the patchy cloud as the train, 6E53, pulled onto the branch to Honeybourne, although I think that the light is too harsh in the middle of the day at this time of the year for good photography.
	It doesn't take long to drive from Long Marston to Honeybourne where I arrived about ten minutes before 66713 came into view around the curve towards the station. The train had to stand here for a while to allow a down class 165/166 to go towards Worcester so I was able to wait for the sun to strengthen abit before taking this shot. There is plenty of evidence here of the considerable amount of work being done to double this section of the North Cotswold Line and the new up line is gradually approaching the roadbridge across the line. This bridge is now a lot more comfortable and safe for photography as the County Council have introduced "single line working" across it controlled by traffic lights which does mean that there is a bit more room to stand without the danger of being squashed by one of the many HGVs using the road. The view towards Worcester shows the progress being made at Honeybourne station where the new up platform is rapidly taking shape. Use this hyperlink for the equivalent view in August 2010.
	After photographing 66713 with 6E53 to Doncaster at Honeybourne I went a couple of miles further west to a bridge on the Offenham road where the line passes Aldington village. I had only a few minutes to wait before the bright headlight appeared and the train came rapidly towards me on the currently bi-directional single line. The new down line is in place along the whole section with the exception of the level crossing at Blackminster and I have been waiting for the chance to photograph something here before a major possession takes place in August 2011 after which trains to Worcester and beyond will use the new track. The view will be a lot tighter unless some quite radical and probably uneccessary (apart from a photographic viewpoint) tree clearance takes place. I thought about going for another shot to the west of Evesham but the high sun put me off so I went home via the nearby fruit farm where this season's fresh cherries are available. Brownie points time again...
	A train operated by DRS was scheduled to run from Carlisle to Long Marston on Monday 20 June 2011. Running with the headcode 4Z20 and with the former Fastline Freight locomotive 66301 in charge, it consisted of a long rake of Fastline coal hoppers going for storage; quite possibly a set that was refurbished at Long Marston only fairly recently. I hadn't previously photographed a Fastline locomotive on either the Cotswold Line or Long Marston branch so went for a photograph or two as there may not be too many more chances as these class 66s will probably end up being repainted in DRS's own colour scheme. My first shot was at Evesham so as to have a picture in a thoroughly recognisable Cotswold LIne location and here is 4Z20 passing the signal box and the soon to be removed lower quadrant semaphores. The sky was clouding up quite rapidly and 66301 managed to arrive a little bit too early, or late when the sun was partially obscured.
	After crossing a down passenger service at Evesham, 66301 with 4Z20 was soon on its way to Long Marston over the section of line that will soon be operating as double track. I thought that the sun might just appear at Blackminster before the train arrived and it nearly worked out. I don't really like "spotlight" illumination but if it is going to happen then I much prefer it this way round rather than with the locomotive being in cloud and the back of the train in sun! I'm sure that a lot of people thought that this working would be in the hands of a couple of DRS's older locomotives but someone within the company obviously saw the attraction of sending out a complete Fastline set.
	As I hadn't previously photographed a Fastline liveried locomotive on the Long Marston branch I made my was home via the village, arriving about ten minutes before the train was due. The photograph here at midday is never going to be especially good particularly close to the longest day of year when the sun is far too high to obtain a decent image. Luckily, some cloud appeared at the right moment which reduced the contrast a little just as 4Z20 crawled up the last few yards of the branch towards the gate, alongside which some new pallisade fencing was being installed. This shouldn't too instrusive in a picture of something leaving the site, although the green painted fencing would be easier on the eye.
	There was a return working from Long Marston to Worcester Yard on 20 June 2011 with a scheduled departure time of some time after 15.00. I had hoped for the usual earlier departure but it soon became clear that a fair amount of shunting around was going to be necessary. Here is the local shunter bringing the stock of 4Z20 forward from road no. 2 so that 66301 could be released ready to couple onto whatever was meant to be going out. I had no intention of hanging around for the thick end of two hours so went home before seeing what was really happening.
	The last day of May 2011 was largely sunny and I quite fancied a shot of "Barbie" liveried 66730 on the Mountsorrel to Eastleigh Virtual Quarry loaded ballast train, 6O96, rounding the curve at Hatton station roadbridge. The train was running about ten minutes late north of Birmingham but was around fifteen early by the time that it arrived in front of my camera. The locomotive was still under power with its heavy train as it started the descent of Hatton Bank but despite the sound of the exhaust, the nearby M40 drowned out the noise until 66730 appeared on the curve from Hatton North Junction meaning that this was almost a last-second grab shot.
	I had an earlier than usual visit to my health club's swimming pool on Wednesday 25 May 2011 which left me with just enough time to drive to Hatton for a few photographs. Only a few seconds after I arrived, a bit like the previous day, 4O54, the Leeds to Southampton Freightliner came around the curve from Hatton North Junction towards the station behind 66543. Unlike yesterday's train hauled by 66504 today's run was fully loaded apart from the third flat, making for a much more satisfactory picture.
	Next along at Hatton on 25 May 2011, apart from a class 168 Chiltern Railways unit and an Arriva Cross Country Voyager, was 66090 on the Daw Mill to Didcot Power Station loaded coal, 6V37. The weather forecast had changed overnight from clear skies and sun to one promising mostly cloud, thickening during the late morning. The sky here was quite well covered with that thin but irritating white cloud which doesn't exactly veil the sun but certainly take the edge off the light's quality. There were a few gaps, one of which had just passed when 66090 came south...
	Coal trains have run from Daw Mill colliery to Didcot Power Station for quite a while over the past weeks but I wasn't sure if the contract had finished when I went to Hatton cutting on 24 May 2011. The first train to come along, literally as I reached the footbridge, was 4O54, the 06.13 Leeds to Southampton Freightliner service hauled by 66504. I don't recall seeing this train quite so poorly loaded before, just two containers forming the entire payload. Not long after this had passed, another heavy rumbling became audible as 66090 rolled south with with 6V37, the 08.50 from Daw Mill, just missing the sun on a morning for which unbroken sunshine and blue skies had been forecast.
	The afternoon of Monday 16 May 2011 saw the skies clearing after a cloudy morning so I went over to the south end of Hatton end of Hatton cutting and only a minute or two after arrival I saw 66020 coming slowly north with 4M66, the 11.11 Southampton to Birch Coppice. There was a strong westerly wind blowing and there was no audible notice of the train's arrival at all so it was a good job that it was routed into the loop as this just gave me time to jump up onto the plastic crate I use to see over some of the lower fences and which I find more comfortable and stable than a step ladder. A few minutes later there was a southbound rumble as 66429, hired by Freightliner, came along with 4O09 from Trafford Park to Southampton. This train was carrying only two containers, both at the front so a conventional front three-quarter view would have been even less satisfying than this going-away shot...
	One of the freights that I expected to see at Hatton on Monday 16 May 2011 was 6M22, the 11.56 Westbury to Stud Farm empty ballast train. Through a combination of unchecked lineside vegetation and a very strong wind blowing towards Warwick there was no warning of a train approaching so I had to stay perched on a plastic crate so as not to miss anything coming north. Here is 66607 coming quite slowly up the gradient running a few minutes early at just before 15.10.
	Friday 13 May 2011 started off with clear blue skies so it seemed like a good idea to have a trip to a bridge near Knightcote, just north of Fenny Compton, to photograph a couple of container trains and anything else that happened along. The first train to appear was 4O53, the 04.33 Wakefield Europort to Southampton, hauled by 66111 which is here seen dropping down the gradient towards Fenny Compton, the junction for the truncated stump of the Stratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction Railway line which serves Kineton COD. At the time of this picture, just after 08.30, the shadows close to the bridge were still intruding on the track so a slightly more distant view with a longer lens was necessary.
	Freightliner and intermodal trains to and from Southampton form the majority of freight traffic through Leamington Spa and one of the latter, operated by DBS, is here seen as 66116 takes 4O23, the 11.13 Hams Hall to Southampton on 9 May 2011. This train runs via Coventry and its locomotive was being worked hard to get the heavy load away and up the steep bank faced from here as far as Harbury tunnel. Another train from Hams Hall, this time a Freightliner service running via Hatton, had been held to the west of Leamington Spa and came along a few minutes later. This one, 4O49 hauled by 70009 was poorly loaded towards the front which always makes for a less than satisfactory picture despite the quite dramatic lighting.
	The first freight that I expected to see at Shrewley on 3 May 2011 was 6O96, the 10.25 Mountsorrel to Eastleigh Virtual Quarry loaded ballast. This is timed to pass here just after 13.00 but it was running about 15 minutes late when it came into view behind GBRf's 66703. The scene is enhanced by the seasonal blossom on the lineside bushes but it isn't quite as peaceful here as the picture suggests. The M40 motorway is only a short distance to the left of the line and the constant drone of heavy traffic becomes wearisome after quite a short time.
	After photographing 6O96 as shown above, I was expecting to see two other southbound freights pass Shrewley on 3 May 2011. They were noted as passing Whitacre Junction no more than ten minutes apart and I hoped that they would make it down the line to me without too much dealy around Birmingham. However, a late-running CrossCountry service formed of 222005 put paid to that idea and it was over an hour before 66529 rounded the curve with 6Z98, the 12.57 Daw Mill to Didcot Power Station loaded coal train, what would have called an MGR in times gone by. The current contract for coal from aw Mill seems to have lasted for longer than in previous years and involves not only Freightliner but also DBS who are running a couple of trains each day at the moment.
	The shot for northbound trains at Shrewley isn't espcially good because of the amount of lineside vegetation and I don't think that I would go there with the sole intention of taking such a picture. However, when the sun has gone far enough around during mid-afternoon I suppose that the view is just about "do-able" and here is 66617 with 6M22 from Westbury to Stud Farm taken a few minutes after 3pm on 3 May 2011.
	There was another long pause in the southbound freight activity at Shrewley on 3 May 2011 before the final train I wanted to photograph came along, during which time I photographed another couple of passenger trains, including 165014 on a Birmingham to Marylebone service. Here is 66111 with 6V27 from Stud Farm to Hinksey Yard about to hit the favourable gradient which rolls the train down Hatton Bank to Warwick.
	A rake of 18 ex Fastline IIA hoppers was taken from Long Marston to Doncaster on Thursday 28 April 2011. The train, hauled by GBRf's 66732 and with the headcode 4E53, is here pictured passing Blackminster crossing a few miles to the east of Evesham amidst a mass of Hawthorn blossom. The newly laid but still out-of-use down line is in place on either side of the road in the background and it is apparent that unless an awful lot of vegetation is cleared, and kept cleared, from the right had side of the tracks there won't be much of a photograph of a down train from here when the double track is operational.
	The coal trains to Didcot Power Station that have been running for a few weeks continued on Friday 22 April 2011. Here is 6Z98, the 12.57 from Daw Mill, about to pass Hatton station behind 66545 pictured passing the banner repeater showing the aspect of the signal situated on the end of Hatton's up platform. A DBS operated coal train had run earlier in the day, before I went out, and returned later, just after I had gone home.
	Easter weekend 2011 saw the usual blockades for engineering work across the railway network. In connection with this, there were several additional trains running through Hatton on 22 April and the first that I saw was a 6Z22 1005 Doncaster Belmont to Hinksey Yard hauled by 66065, here seen passing Hatton North Junction. There aren't many "two-way" locations on this line but this footbridge is one of the better although not one for those who want the sun on the nose of a southbound train in the afternoon.
	My main interest on afternoon of 22 April 2011 was 6V06, the 1514 Handsworth to Tidal Sidings train of scrap metal diverted from its usual route via Cheltenham and Gloucester. Scrap trains are not common on the Hatton line so I pleased to get this image of 66187 passing the little used junction to Stratford-upon-Avon. I don't recall photographing a similar working around here since 2005 when 60060 worked a 6V97 Beeston to Cardiff train also diverted because of engineering work.
	Another of the trains runnng via Hatton on 22 April 2011 associated with Easter weekend engineering work was 6O01, the 1233 Toton North Yd to Hinksey Yard. This appeared to empty rail carriers presumably destined to be loaded with redundant track panels. The motive power allocated to this train was 66207 and the ensemble is seen passing under the footbridge at Hatton North Junction. This was a bit of grab shot as I had just photographed a northbound working as 6O01 was approaching so made a dash for the lineside fence by the stile leading to the footpath for this view.
	Making a change from loaded ballast trains working to Hinksey Yard on 22 April 2011 was 6M22, the 11.56 Westbury to Stud Farm empty wagons. This was running late due to a delayed start from Westbury and passed Hatton North Junction approximately in the path normally used by 6E55, the Theale to Lindsey tanks which had already gone north.
	My final shot from Hatton on the busy afternoon of Friday 22 April 2011 was this of 66027 with 6V77, the 14.17 Bardon Hill to Hinksey Yard loaded ballast; another heavy train, the payload of which was destined for the approaching busy weekend of engineering work. This was easily the busiest afternoon I have witnessed on this line for some years and without a single example of a container train, the line's usual staple fare, being seen. Another two northbound trains were not far away by the time that I left but I had had enough and so went home.
	There haven't been many DBS hauled trains to Long Marston in recent times and none this far in 2011 as far as I can recall. However, on 21 April 2011, 66185 took a rake of JNA and KEA boxes from Milford Sidings for storage there. The usual headcode, 6V17, and lunchtime path was used which gives an arrival at Evesham shortly after 13.00 and as I was already in the area having photographed the NMT I just went to Evesham station for a picture. This avoided the problem of a misty background caused by the current weather conditions and gave a nice identifiable background to the shot. The train, the focus of attention for the passengers on the down platform, is here seen pulling to a halt in the up platform where a brief pause was necessary until a Great Malvern had cleared the single line section from Moreton-in-Marsh. This pause was plenty long enough for me to wander up to the roadbridge for another picture taken as the driver of 6V17 took in a pleasant bit of sunshine. On the other side of the station the downside trackbed was in the process of being cleared ready for double track to be extended in the region of one mile further towards Worcester.
	The ballast trains from Mountsorrel to Eastleigh Virtual Quarry seem to be running less frequently than in the recent past with Mondays and Tuesdays being the best bet for a photograph. On 19 April 2011, 66712 was in charge and is here seen in the suburbs of Warwick as it heads south some ten minutes later than its scheduled time. The front wagons of 6O96 were empty with ballast being conveyed only in the back half-dozen or so; maybe this explains the reduced number of trains running at the moment.
	A sunny day is the only time that I can be bothered to go out and photograph routine, everyday traffic these days but given the lovely light on the morning of 24 March 2011 it seemed rude not to take advantage of it. I didn't want to go far so went to Hatton where I knew that two freights would appear in a fairly short space of time. The first was 4O54, the 06.13 Leeds to Southampton Freightliner service hauled by 66575. This is seen passing the banner repeater signal just to the north of the station not far from its booked time. I'm surprised that this picture is sharp as at the precise moment I pressed the shutter the driver of the class 66 blew a greeting on his locomotive's horn to the small gallery photographing him; this made me jump, as it does, and I expected a blurred or mis-composed image to be the result.
	As I mentioned in the caption of this picture, there are some coal trains running from Daw Mill Colliery to Didcot power Station at the moment. One of the loaded workings is 6V37, scheduled to pass Hatton at about 10.40, a few minutes after the Freightliner train shown above. It was a short while later than this when it appeared on 24 March 2011 but it was none the worse for that. The same locomotive, 66192, as I had photographed on the northbound working on the previous day was still on the circuit and the train is here seen about to pass under the roadbridge at Hatton. It doesn't seem all that long ago that it was possible to photograph quite a few loaded and empty MGRs on this line, usually hauled by classes 56 and 58 with the odd appearance of a 47 or pair of 37s. Such workings are unusual enough these days to warrant some attention, especially as the flow of coal is only for a few days in duration and intended to top up Didcot's stockpile before the summer shutdown. It looks as if a bit of ivy trimming on the bridge might be in order or perhaps I should learn to look more carefully at the whole frame through my camera's viewfinder!
	Another spell of fine weather coupled with a fair variety of traffic tempted me over to Hatton North Junction on Wednesday 23 March 2011. The first train I had hoped to photograph, the GBRf ballast train from Mountsorrel to Eastleigh, didn't run so I had a bit of a wait before the first freight appeared. This was 6Z98 Daw Mill Colliery to Didcot Power Station hauled by 66554 which passed me a couple of minutes late. Some stockpiling of coal at Didcot is currently taking place before the summer period when few trains run because the power station generally produces power only in the winter months. Freightliner hauled coal trains are far from commonplace on this line so a sunny shot was welcome as the train passed under the Shrewley road bridge just to the north of Hatton.
	There is a great deal of weekend engineering work on the former Southern Region, the Cotswold Line and the Chiltern Line at the moment and additional trains are running to provide the necessary ballast. One of these is 6Z27, the 11.56 Stud Farm to Hinksey Virtual Quarry, from where the ballast is tripped out as required. On 23 March 2010 the train was in the hands of 66030 and is here seen passing Hatton North Junction where the little used line to Hatton West Junction and Stratford-upon-Avon diverges from the GWR Birmingham to Leamington Spa line.
	A regular ballast working at Hatton North Junction is 6M22, the 11.56 Westbury Virtual Quarry to Stud Farm empties. This is usually hauled by one of Freightliner's class 66/6 locomotives and there was no exception on 23 March when 66603 was provided. The train is about to pass Hatton North Junction just about on time at 15.17 with its uniform rake of large boxes. Next along was a late running 4M66 with no visible load, although a few containers were towards the back of the train hauled, on this occasion, by 66100. I know that it's a sign of the times and the financial difficulties the country is facing, but I think an empty intermodal train is just about the least satisfying sight on the network, especially in perfect light when the splash of colour from a well loaded train can be quite attractive.
	I had hoped to photograph the empty oil tanks from Didcot Power Station to Lindsey on 23 March 2010, due at Hatton North Junction at around 16.15 but by 17.15 there had been no sign of it. I decided to hang on for a few minutes more in case the returning empty coal train from Didcot to Daw Mill, 6M53 was on time. By 17.35 I had had enough and just after putting my camera back in its rucksac and started to walk towards the bridge I heard a rumble in the distance. This turned oout to be 66192 with 6M53 which arrived just in time to avoid the worst of the shadows being cast by nearby trees and vegetation.
	This train from Didcot to Long Marston nearly escaped my attention on 14 March 2011. I don't always read all the locomotive allocation lists that are kindly posted and if it hadn't been for an intermediate sighting of 6B17 provided by a photographer on the Gloucester line I would have known nothing about it. I knew no times but it seemed likely that the usual lunchtime path from Worcester to Honeybourne would be used, when the train leaves Evesham at around 13.17. I needed to go to a local farm shop at some point during the early part of the week so made use of this excuse for a shot of 66136 and its short rake of tanks going for storage. I expected that once the down train heading for Great Malvern had reached Evesham, 6B17 would be released and the barriers protecting the road behind me would be lowered. Wrong again... The freight had obviously missed its path south so had to wait for the passenger service to reach Norton Junction before heading along the single line to Evesham and then on, after a token exchange, towards Honeybourne. This being the case, 66136 came into view just before 14.00 and passed this bridge at Blackminster a few moments later.
	An unusual locomotive, 59201, was allocated to work 6B36, the Didcot to Ashchurch MOD train on 11 March 2011 meaning that I had to have my morning swim about an hour earlier than usual so that I could photograph it. I don't recall that a 59/1 has been on the Ashchurch branch before and don't think that many have been on the Birmingham to Cheltenham line either, although the same 59 did work a railtour as far as Worcester in February 1999. Anyway, I arrived on the roadbridge just to the south of Ashchurch station only a couple of minutes before 6B36 came slowly into view, unusually, in my admittedly limited experience, not running into the down goods loop, largely because 66014 was already there with 6V05 Round Oak to Margam. It had been sunny for most of the drive over but a large piece of cloud appeared at just the wrong moment. Still, better to get a cloudy picture of a rare move than none at all...
	By the time that 59201 had propelled its train from the main line, through the exchange sidings, and onto the branch to the MOD, formerly the Midland Railway line to Evesham, the sun had reappeared which more than made up for the dull shot on the main line. I much prefer to get this sort of train on its destination line so the sun was welcome for this picture. If I were to be picky I should have preferred a longer train but there again, this little formation does fit quite well into the available space. There was no traffic for Didcot so the return was just a light engine move which left as soon as a path south as far as Standish Junction was available. I know that 59201 isn't a class 66 but it's included in this section because I see so few 59s that it wasn't worth setting up a separate web page.
	While I was photographing 59201 on the Ashchurch branch during the morning of 11 March 2011, 66014 was sitting in the down goods loop with 6V05, the 09.23 Round Oak to Margam empty steel wagons. Just before sun disappeared, 6V05 left the loop and headed slowly south through Ashchurch station and away towards its destination. The tree on the right-hand side of the picture has been a feature of this shot for as long as can remember and forms a very attractive and useful prop to aid the photograph's framing.
	There was quite an interesting ECS move from Crewe to Eastleigh running on 8 March 2011, booked via the WCML, Nuneaton, Coventry and Leamington Spa. I knew that it was running almost two hours late so had shelved my earlier plans to go to a location near Fenny Compton and went for a look at Whitnash. I arrived on the bridge there just in time to see 66541 coming up the gradient from Leamington Spa with 4O54, the 06.13 Leeds to Southampton Freightliner service. That company certainly gets its moneys worth from these locomotives; I photographed it the previous afternoon while it was working 4O49 from Birch Coppice to Southampton, so it must have run from Southampton to Leeds overnight. The light was getting too straight here for a decent picture so it was necessary to move elsewhere for the ECS move mentioned above.
	The northbound photograph at Bentley Heath is not the most attractive in the area with a variety of intrusive poles and ground-level structures to distract the eye, so this shot of 66563 hauling 4M55, the 08.55 Southampton to Lawley Street freightliner is included only for completeness. This train was particularly well loaded on 7 March 2011 with only one gap at the front and two at the rear of the consist. I don't much like pictures of mostly empty freightliners or intermodals as there is something most unsatisfying about a set of small-wheeled flats being dragged around.
	The picture I was especially keen to take on 7 March 2011 was of 66706 hauling 6O96, the 10.27 Mountsorrel to Eastleigh Virtual Quarry loaded ballast train. It is due to pass Bentley Heath, near Dorridge, at about 12.55 but it wasn't until 14.43, some 110 minutes late, that it finally appeared under the road bridge in the backgound going so slowly that it was clearly routed into the up goods loop, so increasing the lateness. The train had passed Whitacre Junction only about 20 minutes late but this was obviously enough to cause it to lose its path through the black hole that is sometimes to be found in the Washwood Heath area.
	A rake of VTG KEA box wagons should have left Long Marston for Beeston on Friday 18 February 2011 behind COLAS Rail's 47727 but problems with the stock caused the abandonment of the run. Another attempt, albeit operated by GBRf (but with a COLAS crew), took place on 23 February with the wagons this time being destined for Doncaster. Newly painted 66729 was diagrammed for the job and is here seen waiting to enter Long Marston to pick up the train which was being shunted on the other side of the site as I arrived. It wasn't long before the locomotive and stock were united as can be seen in this view taken in a very short-lived patch of weak sunshine. The wagons are to be used to convey coal from Maltby Colliery to Immingham where it is to be blended with coal from other sources before use.
	The scheduled departure time for 6Z98 was 15.30 and it was a few minutes before this time when the train moved out of the exchange sidings and onto the branch towards Honeybourne. The secondman from the locomotive has to retrieve the single line staff from the ground frame at Long Marston once the train has cleared the pointwork at the end of the exchange sidings and, in this case, had quite a long walk back to the locomotive. This gave me time to drive around the corner and obtain this photograph as it rounded the bend towards Broad Marston and Honeybourne. The railings protecting the line are a bit intrusive but they are at least proper wooden staves rather than the horrible pallisade fencing which infects ever increasing amounts of the railway. The light was such that I didn't bother to go any further and so returned home.
	The train conveying empty steel coil carriers from Corby to Margam, 6V92, used to receive a lot of attention from enthusiasts when a class 60 was diagrammed to haul it. These days, a class 66 is the usual motive power so it not often reported. On 22 February 2011 66089 was in charge and is here seen passing the temporary permanent way yard at Defford, near Pershore. I have included this wide view to highlight the appalling state in which Network Rail leaves its worksites. This mass of sleepers and pallets must surely be an invitation to those whose idea of fun it is to place objects on the line with the intention of killing or injuring travellers on the railway. Why on earth the debris cannot be dumped inside the compound quite escapes me.
	I don't often take photographs of nuclear flask trains but was keen to obtain a shot of this one, 6M56 from Bridgwater to Crewe, because I have thus far not seen the flasks with a pair of DRS class 66s in charge. I fully appreciate the safety regulations that require these sensitive loads to be hauled by two locomotives but the whole thing does look a bit odd, especially when the train is approximately 1/3 the length of the motive power! The location for this shot from 22 February 2010 is Defford and the locomotives are 66423 + 66421. I wasn't too displeased with this picture despite the extremely dull conditions and put this down to careful exposure using the camera's histogram rather than the exposure meter. The RAW image needed virtually no manipulation to produce this image; all I really did was to slightly darken the misty Bredon Hill in the background.
	Trains conveying coke from Redcar to Margam have been running for quite a while but for various reasons, mostly revolving around my own inertia in times of poor weather, I hadn't photographed either the loaded or returning empties. Thursday 3 February 2011 started off dull in contravention of the weather forecast but by mid-morning the skies had cleared well so I made the short journey to Croome Perry with the aim of getting a shot of 6V67, the loaded southbound working. It wasn't long before 66180 came slowly under the bridge, the down line being under a temporary speed restriction, with its long train of EWS branded HTA hoppers. A few minutes later the corresponding empty working, 4E66, came north behind 66164. This isn't the best location at which to photograph northbound trains at any time of day, but I don't mind the occasional backlit shot as a change from the norm.
	Pathfinder Railtours ran a train on 27 February 1999 which utilised motive power imported from the USA and Canada. The first leg, from Sheffield to Worcester Shrub Hill, was in the hands of 59201, recently painted in EWS colours after having been in National Pwer blue and white, and 1Z45 is here seen approaching Droitwich having run from the Birmingham area via Stourbridge Junction and Kidderminster. The shot here was becoming quite messy by this time but at least there was a clear view towards the semaphore signals and signalbox. The area immediately to the right of the train has now been turned into a car park and a communications mast has been erected in just the wrong spot for photography meaning that this classic view has been ruined. Note. I am aware of the differences between class 59/2 and class 66 and the inclusion of this image in the class 66 section is just for reasons of convenience and continuity with the shot below. 645
	On arrival at Worcester Shrub Hill this railtour, "The Yankee Sidewinder" saw a locomotive change from 59201 to 66028 which was booked to go south to Oxford via Evesham and Moreton-in-Marsh. It is here seen arriving at the former, the single line token for the section to Moreton having been handed over by the signaller. I was lucky with the sun on this occasions as the original slide has quite a large patch of shadow in the foreground, which I have cropped out in this version. As far as I am aware, this was the first class 66 to have travelled over the North Cotswold Line although it is possible that a class member might have been used on an engineering train prior to this date. The scene here has changed somewhat in the intervening years, here is a 2010 photograph from the same spot, albeit taken with a wider angle lens. 645
	After seeing 66403 on the Mountsorrel to Eastleigh loaded ballast train on 8 December 2010 I thought that as the same locomotive was working the same diagram on the following day it would be worth having a trip out to get a more satisfactory picture of it in a better spot. With this in mind and having seen that the sky was clearing I went to a footbridge north of Shrewley which, although not really one of my favourite locations because it is a bit anonymous, would have a reasonably extensive area clear of shadows; always a problem in this area during the winter. The train, 6O96, was running in the region of 45 minutes late and just missed the very best of the sun, a small area of light cloud having just developed and taken the edge off the light. All in all though, I was happy enough to get this shot of the somewhat grubby ex-DRS 66403, now leased to GBRf, on its lengthy train of IOA wagons loaded with ballast along with a light coating of recent snow.
	The third train of the week to go to or come from Long Marston ran on Friday 26 November 2010. This time it was a rake of KEA wagons from Doncaster running as 6C54 and due to arrive at Evesham at 11.12. I arrived on the bridge near the signalbox a couple of minutes before the train came into view in the distance, having left Norton Junction four minutes late but with that time made up by the time it reached here. The light was as good as it ever gets and showed off the attractive Metronet livery of the locomotive to some advantage. I quite fancied another shot of 6C54 and went straight off to Aldington where the sun was just, but only just, on the track. Unfortunately I missed it due mostly to some very slow traffic around the Tesco store in Evesham. Still, just one shot will be the norm when the North Cotswold Line is doubled to the east of Evesham as there will rarely, if ever, be a need to stop there once the token system for the currently single track is abolished.
	I wasn't particularly happy with the first photograph that I took of this train, 6O96, the 10.25 Mountsorrel to Eastleigh East Yard loaded ballast train so when it ran again on Tuesday 23 November 2010, a bright and sunny day, I decided to have another pop at it in the same location. This time the locomotive was 66701 and the train is rounding the curve just to the north of Hatton station running a couple of minutes ahead of the booked time. This location gets more shadowy as each passes thanks to the ever-growing "island" of trees in the triangular junction which once was quite a large freight yard.
	Monday 22 November 2010 saw a light engine move by GBRf's 66705 from Peterborough to Long Marston in order to take a rake of 9 JNA box wagons to Doncaster. I was told about the train first thing in the morning but it took for me to remember that 66705 was the class member that had had a Union Flag painted on the bodysides ready for its naming as "Silver Jubilee". This is one of the livery variations that I had in mind for a photograph but, as usual, I didn't intend to make any effort until it came within easy reach. The locomotive ran early as far as Evesham but then had to wait for its booked path over the single track to Honeybourne and thence to Long Marston. I thought that a very early departure was on the cards as the headlights on a slightly grubby 66705 were switched on for a while but the driver then switched them off again and headed off towards the control tower with the Motorail Logistics crew. I sat in my car for a while but got out for a quick look at 12.40, about 30 minutes before the booked time, to find the train just beginning to move and here is the shot of 6E53 taken in very dull conditions; so dull in fact that I didn't go any further. Still, I have a shot of this locomotive complete with flag and look forward to getting a better lit one at some point.
	A new train ran for the second time on Thursday 18 November 2010. This was a GBRf working, 6O96, the 10.25 Mountsorrel to Eastleigh East Yard, and both for the inaugural run yesterday and today's, Metronet liveried 66721 was allocated. It's always nice to get an early run of anything; in this game things sometimes change very quickly, so knowing that it was running in the region of an hour late and was recessed in Bordesley loop I drove over to Hatton, arriving at 14.10, just as a southbound Arriva Voyager was passing. Just a few minutes later 66721 came around the bend from Hatton North Junction in a fortuitous and short-lived patch of sunlight.
	At about 07.30 on the morning of 28 October 2010 I was returning home after taking wy wife to work and when passing the station at Stratford-upon-Avon noticed that there were various engineering vehicles and at least one class 66 in the platforms. I went home to collect a camera and tripod and returned just as it was getting light. Here is 66069 standing in platform one with 6X23 alongside a long ballast train, ufortunately unphotographable, headed by another of the same class. This shot was taken with settings of 1/2 second at f6.3 with the camera set at ISO 100.
	The train standing in the adjacent platform to that headed by 66069 at Stratford-upon-Avon was 6P42, due to depart for Bescot at 11.00. As I haven't had a lot of luck with the engineering trains thus far in the possession I went over to Henley-in-Arden in the hope of photographing 6P42 passing the station, but found that engineers were laying a temporary boarded crossing for use on the following day by the machinery employed to demolish the by now stripped signalbox which, on the previous day, was having the last panes of glass knocked out of the frames. Note that several signal levers are just visible in the grass alongside the track. It seemed unlikely that a train would be allowed over the line while this sort of activity was in progress so I headed back towards Stratford to see what was going on there.
	When I arrived at the station, 6P42 had disappeared but whether it had gone back to Bescot or just out of sight around the bend I have no idea. It did mean that another view of 66069 with 6X23 was possible so I took a couple of shots including this one with a wider lens, along with one of the Kirow crane standing further along platform 1.
	After the perfect light I enjoyed on 25 October 2010, that on the 26th couldn't have been more different with thick cloud and heavy rain being the order of the day. This weather unfortunately coincided with the appearance of 66124 at Stratford-upon-Avon with a 6X21 working of various rail carrying wagons. Here is half of the train in platform 1 with an unknown class 66 out of sight around the bend with the other portion in platform 2. A little later, the first part had gone leaving a much shorter formation standing in the platform normally used only by the summer Sunday steam excursions from Birmingham, as a work gang goes towards the car park for their lunch break. A new track section and up-to-date buffer replacing the wooden steam age version has been installed on the end of platform 3.
	Even though the weather was dreadful with accompanying low light levels I wandered down to the station at Stratford-upon-Avon to take a slightly closer view of 66124 and its train of rail carrying vehicles. It was pouring with rain so a brief spell under the platform canopy was a welcome respite from the soaking I had earlier had. The hyperlink gives the view from the station footbridge showing the formation of 6X21 along with another wagon parked in platform 3m usually used by the Chiltern Railways' trains to London Marylebone. New arrangements at Stratford will mean that trains will be able to access any of the three platforms directly from the main line rather than having to run into platform 1 and then shunt into one of the others.
	Sunday 24 October 2010 marked the first day of the major occupation of the North Warwickshire Line and during the morning I had a 'phone call from a friend saying that there were four engineering trains at various locations between Wootton Wawen and Wilmcote. I had a quick drive around and found 66124 on the rear of 6X21 in the platform at Wilcote station. The photographic opportunities were limited and this shot is about the best that could be achieved. The train had quite a mixed consist but there was quite a collection of these rail carrying wagons.
	After photographing 67026 near Ashchurch on the morning on Saturday 16 October 2010, I carried on down the M5 towards Cheltenham with the intention of obtaining a shot of 6M60, the 04.00 Exeter Riverside to Bescot train loaded with china clay, which will eventually make its way to Stoke-on-Trent for the pottery industries found there. Depite the sunny start to the day and a good weather forecast, the skies rapidly became overcast and by the time I had reached my destination the cloud cover was heavy, although the sun was still shining a few miles to the north-west. The first train I photographed was 6V40, the 04.25 Scunthorpe to Margam train of empty steel carriers which managed to arive in the worst light I had seen all morning. Fortunately, 6M60 was running about 30 minutes late and by the time it came into view, the sky had almost cleared and the only cloud was a wispy bit which cast a shadow on part of the train. The locomotives were a numerically coincident 66149 + 66148 and the train a nicely uniform set of polybulks. I had originally intended to photograph 6E41, the Westerleigh to Lindsey empty oil tanks hauled by 60073 but a friend told me that it was a good forty five to fifty minutes away and with the cloud beginning to build up again I went home.
	Ballast trains hauled by DBS locomotives are not that common on the GWR line from Birmingham to Leamington Spa so when I was told about 6Z61 from Mountsorrel to Hinksey Yard, Oxford on 2 October 2010 I thought that a picture would be well worthwhile. Here then is 66014 passing the banner repeater signal at Hatton South Junction with about twenty five loaded MEA box wagons running spot on time and a few minutes behind 168004 on a Birmingham Snow Hill to Oxford service, the Chiltern Line being shut for engineering work. The sun was just beginning to weaken after a fairly clear morning, but it just about held on long enough for this photograph. My thanks to David Weake for the information and updates.
	The morning of Saturday 25 September 2010 was one of those absolutely clear and sunny occasions when it would be rude not to go out and take a photograph or two, given that the light at this time of the year is just about the best we ever get. Unfortunately, I had only about ninety minutes to spare so I went, just for a change, over to Hatton. I been there only a couple of minutes when a Freighliner became clearly audible and around the bend came 66589 with a well loaded train. The time was about 10.15 and the scheduled times for 'liners here are 09.15 and 11.15 so this could be either 4O27, the 05.29 Garston to Southampton service or 4O29, the 08.14 Crewe Basford Hall to Southampton. To be honest, I'm not remotely bothered which it is; after a long spell of mostly dull weather it was just good to get a picture without continually glancing at the sky to see if the sun was about to be obscured.
	When I was told that there was to be a 4Z50 Bicester COD to Shirebrook train on 23 September 2010 I assumed that it would be short set of redundant container flats; quite possibly the least interesting thing to move on rail whatever the motive power. However, it transpired that a long rake of new Network Rail IFA sleeper carrying wagons formed the train and this would make for a relatively unusual sight on the GWR Leamington Spa to Birmingham line. I was a bit short of time and with no idea where 4Z50 hauled by 66043 might be after its run-round at Hinksey Yard, I went to the closest location to my home. Unfortunately, this is also the worst view of the line around Hatton, being almost completely boring and anonymous these days and the sort of spot that one would visit only in extremis. As it happened, 4Z50 was about twenty minutes late and I would, with hindsight, have had plenty of time to go to one of several much better locations, including one a bit further north, where the sun was shining...
	I haven't done nearly as much photography in 2010 as in previous years because sunny days seem to have been few and far between. As far as trains that run on a regular basis are concerned, I don't often bother to photograph them if I have previously had a similar shot in better light but the afternoon of 22 September 2010 looked quite reasonable so I tied in a trip to Hatton North Junction with a trip to Leamington Spa for a non-railway matter and arrived just in time to see 66617 with 6M22 from Westbury to Stud Farm coming around the curve from the station, running about 10 minutes early. As usually happens, the edge was taken off the light by a bank of high level thin cloud, but at least the train was formed of the bigger wagons which, to my eyes, makes for a more attractive picture.
	Freight on the Hatton line can be a bit thin on the ground, so after photographing 66617 on 6M22 as shown above I knew that there would be a wait of around an hour before anything else appeared. In the meantime I amused myself my taking a few shots of some wildlife basking in the sun. Here is a picture of a Red Admiral butterfly soaking up some sun by a concrete block and a Comma on a patch of stinging nettles, the favourite food of its caterpillars. Anyway, the only other freight I expected to see on 22 September 2010 was 6E55, the empty oil tanks from Theale to Lindsey oil refinery which arrived almost spot on time with the uniquely coloured 66152 providing the power and giving the almost entirely green surroundings a splash of colour.
	Another proper-length train ran on the North Cotswold Line on Friday 10 September 2010, this time a rake of 42 TTA and TUA tankers going into storage at Long Marston. The train, 6V17 from Bescot, should have run on the preceding Wednesday, but for some reason which I suspect was late running returned to Bescot. All was well with the second attempt and here is 66120 about to enter Evesham station a few minutes early at 13.02 having a rapid run up the single track from Norton Junction. This wasn't my first choice of location but the light collapsed completely as I drove over from Stratford-upon-Avon and some quite heavy rain started to fall. This meant that I would have had to have used a stratospheric ISO setting to achieve a high enough shutter speed on the open line so made for somewhere I knew that the train would be barely moving. Luckily, the rain had stopped by the time that 6V17 came into view and there was the merest touch of brightness as it came past the signal box.
	After 66120 with 6V17 from Bescot to Long Marston arrived at Evesham it would have to wait until a down passenger train cleared the section from Moreton-in-Marsh and entered the platform. This give me a few minutes to head for a bridge near Blackminster for another shot, and sure enough, as I arrived there a FGW HST was just going underneath. It wasn't too long before the barriers protecting the road crossing behind me were lowered and the long rake of four-wheel tanks came into view with 66120 working hard and making quite an exhaust. I'm glad that I didn't have to wait more than a few minutes as the sewage works just to the left of the line was making itself only too obviously present in the strong South-Westerly wind. The light had deteriorated and I debated whether or not to bother with this picture but as I was there...
	I can go home from Blackminster using a variety of routes and chose a scenic option which would take me through Long Marston village via several villages, most of which are called Littleton with a directional prefix. I didn't really expect to get to Long Marston before the train as I wasn't going to burn rubber along the narrow lanes but there was no sign of 66120 when I did finally arrive. The Motorail Logistics ground crew were in their Sentinel shunter waiting to open the gate but it was another fifteen minutes or so before 6V17 appeared in the distance. It takes quite a while to get a long train onto the branch as once it is clear of the points from the main line the ground frame has to be locked and the branch token taken the length of the train to the locomotive. The weather hadn't improved on the way over and as soon as I had taken this view of the train straddling a public footpath across the line, went home.
	It was just a couple of months ago that surplus Fastline branded coal hoppers were taken to Long Marston for storage. Such are the vagaries of the power station coal market that a set of 24 of these were taken from there to Doncaster on 6 September 2010, ready for use as the season for increased demad on electricity suppliers approaches. This time the ex-DRS locomotive 66403, now hired to GBRf, was used and it is here seen in a brief patch of sunlight a few minutes before departure time. The previous leaser's name on the sides of the locomotive was simply painted out as is clearly visible on this view taken as it arrived.
	I had been hopeful that an early departure for 6E53 was on the cards but after coupling up to the hoppers and conducting a brake test the crew disappeared in the direction of Motorail Logistics' office, no doubt for a welcome cup of coffee! The short-lived patch of sun had gobe when 66403 pulled out of the exchange sidings with one of the longest trains to come out of here for quite some time. I believe that Medite liveried 66709 had originally been earmarked for this working but was apparently receiving maintenance at the time. Still, it's always good to catch a locomotive in what may be a short-lived transitional colour scheme.
	It looked as if there was patch of clear sky to the south so I drove down to Honeybourne in the hope of a sunny shot as 66403 stood on the old Stratford branch, and there was a sunny spell as I walked onto the roadbridge this unfortunately coming to an end as the train came into view. I haven't seen many trains here the back ends of which are still on the curve adjacent to Honeybourne tip. There was quite a wait here as a FGW HST heading towards Worcester was delayed by nearly half an hour meaning that 6E53 had to sit here until the passenger train had cleared Evesham. The light remained poor but I did hang on to take a shot as the train came over the spur onto the currently single North Cotswold Line. This line is shortly to receive double track, along with station improvements and here at Honeybourne some track enhancements to ease the passage of trains to and from the Long Marston branch whether coming from the north or south.
	A major blockade of the lines to Stratford-upon-Avon is due to occur later in 2010 when the final stages of the North Warwickshire Line upgrade and resignalling should take place. In connection with this, some Bescot drivers are having to learn the road to the terminus so that they will able to operate the required infrastructure trains. One of the route learners, 0Z30, ran on Wednesday 11 August and armed with a bit of foreknowledge and some sun I went to the station to get a record shot. Light engines can look out of place on the main line but with a bit of care can make for a reasonable photograph if some railway infrastructure can be included as with this shot of 66153 arriving at platform 1 a few minutes after the 09.27 to Stourbridge Junction had departed. The Chiltern Railways class 165 on the extreme left was about to leave as the 09.36 to London Marylebone.
	After arriving at Stratford-upon-Avon, 0Z30 ran under the road bridge and crossed over to the up line by means of the crossover situated on the stump of the former line to Cheltenham. It is here seen running through platform 2, generally used only by charters, before heading back to Bescot under a sky too good not to picture. The station has recently received new platform lights in the style of old gas lamps and these have also been installed along the approach road. The footbridge looks as if some work may soon be necessary judging by the state of some of the wood visible in this view.
	A short rake of nine of the former Fastline Rail coal hoppers was removed to Gloucester from Eastleigh on the evening of Monday 9 August 2010. On the following morning they were taken by 66703 to Long Marston where the plan was to add another nine hoppers and then move the whole set to Doncaster yard. Here is the first part of the move at Blackminster shortly after 4C53 had left Evesham where a little brightness had just appeared after a dull and quite wet morning. The undergrowth has grown rapidly over the past couple of months and it looks as if some more clearance will be needed when the track redoubling finally comes to fruition towards the end of this year.
	After taking the photograph shown above I headed across country to Long Marston and arrived four or five minutes before 66703 came into view in the distance. The light picked up quite a lot just as 4C53 came along the final few hundred yards of the branch and made for a pleasing enough picture, especially with the dark sky threatening some more rain. It is relatively unusual for this path, an 11.30ish arrival, to be used which is a shame because the light is a lot less favourable a couple of hours later in the usual arrival slot when the sun is virtually straight into the camera's lens.
	Once the gate into the Long Marston site had been opened 66703 took its rake of IIA hoppers onto road 1 of the exchange sidings. One of the site shunters moved onto the stock in road 2 and propelled it around the corner in the distance so that 66703 was able to run round its train. While this was going on another shunter, in MOD colours, was moving 87031 around, the ensemble looking as if an exercise of some sort was underway. The last time that I saw 87031 it was on a broken-down low-loader on the outskirts of Stratford-upon-Avon on 10 April 2009 whilst en-route to Long Marston. The weather on 10 August 2010 had begun to deteriorate with a chilly wind and rain so I decided not to wait for the second part of the day's events and headed for home.
	The afternoon of Friday 17 October 2008 was reasonably sunny and fancying some fresh air without travelling far I decided to have a walk along the towing path of the Grand Union canal, ending up at Hatton North Junction just before 15.00. I expected only two freights plus the HST NMT but it's a pleasant enough place to spend an hour on a sunny afternoon. The first of the expected freights was 6M01, the 14.10 Hinksey Virtual Quarry to Stud Farm empties behind 66546 which caught me out by sneaking very quietly around the curve as I was watching a Common Buzzard circling in search of prey. I grabbed my camera from the ground just in time and took this without checking any settings - fortunately all was OK from my initial few minutes spent setting up the exposure and focus.
	I was expecting to see the Didcot to Lindsey Oil Refinery empty oil tanks behind 60055 on Friday 24 October 2008 but when an hour had elapsed beyond its booked time at Hatton North Junction. I started to pack my camera away. Just then, 66085 headed around the curve in the last clearish patch of sunlight with 4M36, the Southampton to Birch Coppice intermodal. I'm not sure whether or not I like these "final moments" shots in shadowy locations, I do really prefer something a little clearer. The empty oil tanks didn't appear largely because, as I was later told, they passed north of Burton-upon-Trent around 14.30 and, with the clocks being put back one hour this weekend, it is unlikely that I will photograph it here much before early February 2009.
	Five TDA tank wagons were taken from Bescot to Long Marston on Tuesday 28 October 2008. The allocated locomotive was 66097 and the train, 6V17, is here seen approaching the end of its journey spot on time at 13.05 amidst some Autumnal colours on either side of the branch from Honeybourne. The Motorail Logistics crew arrived to open the gate in a rail vehicle I hadn't previously seen, which appears to be painted in colours similar to those of Porterbrook, the owner of many of the locomotives stored at Long Marston. A return to Bescot, 6M17, was booked to run and five Virgin liveried DVTs were taken out. I didn't stay to see this move as the light deteriorated and it poured with rain. In the event, 6M17 was some 90 minutes late at Evesham so I think that I made the correct decision.
	After photographing 60060 just south of Danzey station on 1 November 2008 I carried on to the station to find 66019 standing beyond the platform on a long train of flats loaded with the redundant track panels. The light was becoming worse by the minute and a strong wind was blowing but a couple of shots just had to be taken with the 200mm lens in conjunction with a monopod to minimise camera movement. Here is the train and a road/rail crane in operation along with all the uusual impedimenta of engineering work on the trackside.
	66019 soon pulled its train of track panels forward and out of sight to the south of Danzey station which allowed 66200 with a rake of empty JNAs to come into the area ready to be loaded with spent ballast yet to be dug out of the trackbed. This was the time for crew changes and a taxi came to pick up one set of men whilst a van carrying their relief arrived. By now it was nearly 3pm and the light had all but gone, so off home into the warm...
	A second weekend of engineering work took place on the North Warwickshire Line starting overnight on 7/8 November 2008. I didn't know where the work was taking place so had a look at Henley-in-Arden where nothing other than line protection boards were visible, before driving on to Danzey Green. This was the scene there, with 60060 standing on the northbound line with a single track panel flat, 66177 at the head of a long train of scrap panels and and road/rail vehicle heading south and into the worksite. The track panels were in the process of being secured to the wagons but it seemed to me that the departure might not be too far away. I quite like watching the movements associated with permanent way work as it passes the time whilst waiting for a locomotive hauled movement. Here is another view at Danzey, this time of some more road/rail vehicles passing through the station, and here is a close-up view of the second of them.
	A friend turned up at Danzey and we decided that it would be worth the short trip to Wood End, the next station towards Birmingham, in case the train of scrap track panels standing wrong road made a move. Nothing happened in the 30 minutes or so we were there and as Steve had to return home he dropped me off at Danzey where my car was parked. After about 10 minutes, the driver of 66177 walked up the track and joined his train. This was the cue for me to go back to the road bridge just north of Wood End station and before too long I heard a horn as the 66 moved away form Danzey. A couple of minutes later the horn was blown again as it entered the tunnel and then the train stopped at the protection boards in the station. The appropriate board was soon removed and 66177 headed wrong line towards Shirley, the site of the first available crossover, and then off to Bescot. The light was quite poor but class 66s aren't all that common on the North Warwickshire Line and I was more than happy with the result as the train pulled away. As Danzey station was on the way home, I dropped in again to see if anything was moving. 60060 was still standing on the up line and it looked as if it was time for the relief crews to take over the job as several cars and vans appeared. I took a final shot of the yard, mostly because of the Autumnal colours and dark sky, before going home.
	A long rake of PGA hoppers has been languishing at Bescot for a few weeks awaiting movement to Long Marston. On Tuesday 11 November 2008 that move finally took place as 6V17, the 09.30 from Bescot. The train left some 75 minutes late but had picked up about 20 minutes by the time it reached Worcester, where it is booked to sit for a while, awaiting a path behind a Paddington bound HST. Unfortunately, the HST was running late too, so 66160 with 6V17 didn't leave Worcester Yard until 13.13, just about the time it should have been arriving at Long Marston. For once, the late running was an advantage as the very heavy cloud around Evesham was breaking up nicely by 13.35 when I heard the locomotive's horn as it approached the distant signal for Evesham station. The sun broke through nicely as the train came slowly around the curve by the signalbox and drew to a halt in the station, to await the passage of a northbound Adelante. The rusty appearance of the PGAs blended in well, I thought, with the remaining Autumnal colours of the trees in the background.
	A GBRf move out of Long Marston was planned for Wednesday 3 December. This looked as if it might be quite interesting as it was running as 5Z90 and going to the PRDC at Wembley. The light engine, from Bristol, was due to arrive at 11.10 so I arrived a few minutes before that time to find the gates into the site open. In the event 66731 was a few minutes late, no doubt due to late running by First Great Western on the main Cotswold line. Unusually, as soon as the locomotive was inside the secure area, the gates were closed. This set alarm bells ringing and when I heard the driver on his telephone saying that, "The wagons aren't ready" I took it to me that the 12.15 departure time wasn't likely to be achieved. In fact, it was some 2 hours later and after a change of headcode to 6Z90 that the diminutive shunting locomotive propelled 6 KVA ferrywagons into road No.2 ready for 66731 to move onto them. The departure time had been put back a couple hours to 14.14. As the sun, which had shown no signs of disappearing all day, would be completely wrong for a departure shot at that time, I drove down to Honeybourne, via some still icy lanes.
	For reasons unknown, 66731 with 6Z90 was further delayed leaving Long Marston and by the time it reached Honeybourne the sun was very low and the track heavily shadowed. That notwithstanding, there was enough of a clear patch on the former East Loop to allow a reasonable photograph to be taken against a very Autumnal looking Cotswold backdrop. An up HST passed and within a couple of minutes the driver of 6Z90 left his locomotive and walked towards the groundframe. As soon as the HST had reached Moreton-in-Marsh, the frame was released and 66731 pulled its train forward on the main line and off towards Worcester. I don't know why ferrywagons are needed at the PRDC, I had assumed that some NPCCS for Christmas mail use was to be taken there, but maybe another day...
	I was hoping to see two or three freights at Hatton during the afternoon of 6 December 2008, the first of these being 4E69, the 09.45 Southampton to Doncaster Belmont intermodal, due here at about 13.45. The train, headed by by 66006 passed me at 13.57, so wasn't too far off its booked schedule and was travelling very slowly at this point having just exited the Down Goods Loop, as witnessed by the haze of exhaust visible over the third and fourth containers. The track here joining the main line is the branch from Stratford-upon-Avon and Hatton West Junction which sees just one timetabled train per day, a service from Birmingham to Stratford running first thing in the morning. Occasional test trains from Derby also use the curve along with steam runs to Birmingham Snow Hill on Sundays over the Summer.
	The shadows at Hatton North Junction begin to encroach on the tracks by about 14.30 and were all too visible when 66304 came around the curve at 15.13 on 6 December 2008, with 6M90, the 11.30 Avonmouth to Radcliffe loaded coal train. The train had left Avonmouth some 35 minutes late but had picked up most of this time by the time it reached here, and considering how close the sun was to the horizon the result wasn't too bad. This is a heavy train but the class 66 was making quite light work of the job and passed at a reasonable speed having had a good run up Hatton Bank with favourable signals all the way from Leamington Spa.
	Three more class 87 locomotives were booked to be taken from Long Marston to Crewe on 10 December 2008. The motive power for the move was 66723 which is here seen about to be allowed into Long Marston after a slightly late arrival from Bristol. The three freshly painted 87s, 87006, 87003 and 87034, can be seen in the exchange sidings having just been deposited there by the shunting locomotive also in shot.
	The booked time for the departure of 0Z90 was 12.15, but after the delay in bringing the 87s to the exchange sidings it was some 15 minutes after this time that 66723 moved towards the branch to Honeybourne. The sun had just come out of a bank of cloud as the train started its journey to Crewe, after a morning much cloudier than had been forecast. The eventual destination of the trio is Bulgaria, as it was for the others of the class to leave here. As soon as I had taken this shot I went to Honeybourne with the intention of taking a shot from the station platform, framed by the roadbridge, but there light was quite poor so I didn't bother and headed straight off to another location as the sky looked much clearer towards the North-West.
	Lower Moor, between Evesham and Pershore, is really just about the only location that is both relatively quick and easy to get to when chasing a train and is guaranteed to be free of shadows in the early afternoon in December. I arrived there to find about 6 cards already in situ and with, I guessed, about 10 minutes to wait before 66723 with 87006, 87003 & 87034 came into view. My guess was about right and the colourful ensemble soon came into sight. I don't normally go for a very wide shot such as this, but have been waiting for quite some time for a short train in perfect light to run along here at the right time of day so as to show the attractive Vale of Evesham scenery off to its best advantage.
	The week commencing 15 December 2008 saw the first weekday runs of Fastline Freight's coal service between Portbury and Ratcliffe Power Station. After watching the weather forecast for the week on the previous Sunday, I reckoned that Wednesday 17th would be the day for a shot of this and sure enough the light was near enough perfect in the late morning so decided to go to Croome Perry where the sun would be spot on even if 4Z18 ran late. There was also a Long Marston to Barrow Hill train booked with, allegedly, a class 47 and 7 Mk2 coaches to be taken out by 66723. I paid a quick visit to see what was going on on and arrived just in time to see 66723 roll up as 6 Virgin and 1 one Arriva liveried coaches were being shunted into place. There was no sign of a class 47 and with time being a little short if 4Z18 was on time I left Long Marston and arrived at Croome Perry with only about 10 minutes wait before 66303 rolled out of the wood with its long rake of empty hoppers from Chaddesden sidings in Derby. Note how the ball of mistletoe in the tree just beyond the occupation bridge has grown since I took this picture of 37408 + 37411 here, almost exactly 4 years ago.
	Network Rail has been sending a lot of PNA wagons to Long Marston for storage in recent weeks. The fourth rake was sent there on 6 January 2009, the train running as 6V17 from Bescot and hauled by 66177. It is here seen at Lower Moor foot crossing running right on time, having left Norton Junction as soon as the preceding HST had left the single line section at Evesham. The train was reported as leaving Bescot around 60 minutes late, but this is quite normal as 6V17 is booked to sit in Worcester Yard for nearly an hour and, as long as paths are available between Bescot and Worcester I'm sure the driver would prefer to stay in a warm office at Bescot rather than hang around at Worcester. This isn't my favourite view for this train but spots clear of shadows are few and far between in the winter and I wanted a stretch of track where the full length of the train, 43 vehicles, would be clearly in view. Use this hyperlink for a closer view of PNA 3643 as it passed by.
	A little snow fell during the early hours of Monday 5 January 2009 which coincided with the running of a 6Z47 from Wembley to Long Marston. The object of the exercise was to return the 6 KWA ferrywagons that had been taken out before Christmas to act as a backup for extra mail services, although to what use 60mph vehicles would be put on the WCML was never established. Here is 66731 arriving at Long Marston about 30 minutes late at 09.44. In a way it was a pity that the sun didn't come out of some fast-moving cloud, but the line would have been quite heavily shadowed by the adjacent bushes at this time of day. I have not before photographed here with snow lying on the ground; the nearest was a couple of years ago when 47714 + 47200 arrived in a short-lived blizzard.
	Some of the messages about this working on 9 January 2009 suggested that 47746 with some brake force vehicles was to leave Long Marston. Nothing of the sort happened and once the driver of 66731 had returned to his locomotive from the control tower OZ48 left the site in a nice patch of sun, which complemented the small amount of snow remaining on the ground. While gazing around, I noticed that what look remarkably like overhead electrification masts have been erected. Also visible is one of the rakes of PNA wagosn recently sent for storage by Network Rail.
	The once regular trains from Bescot to Long Marston have recently become quite infrequent so when 6V17 was scheduled for Wednesday 4 August 2010 I thought that a trip across to Honeybourne would be in order. The scene here is due to change soon when double track is reinstated and I was keen to get a shot or two before the work commences. The train left Worcester Shrub Hill at 12.20 but was not due to leave Evesham until 13.19 where it would cross 1W29, the 11.21 London Paddington to Great Malvery service. The latter ran on time and is here seen arriving at Honeybourne led by power car 43177 amongst a great deal of recent undergrowth, some of which, I hope will be removed when the engineering work gets underway. There was a lot of cloud about which was just what I wanted for my shot of 66011 on 6V17, but the sun found a completely clear patch just as the train of ferrywagons came into the station. This picture of Honeybourne Station shows the currently empty trackbed against the island platform which will be used by down trains when the new track has been laid. I have been told that Long Marston traffic will use the former Stratford Branch tracks on the extreme right and this will open up some new possibilities, especially when the sun unexpectedly comes out.
	Another stage of the work to double the track on much of the North Cotswold Line is currently underway with, unfortunately, much of the work being carried out overnight. However, the weekend of 3 & 4 July saw a full possession with several trains being due at various points. I knew some very rough timings and locations and thought that I would start at Evesham and then work my way south until or if something was visible. As it happened Evesham station was the centre of operations on the Saturday with two trains nose to tail in the area. The first, 6W14, was occupying the up line through the station with 66183 in charge and just poking its nose under the adjacent roadbridge by the centre pivoted starter signal. The down line had already been removed ready for replacement and various road/rail vehicles were on site to load the train with spoil. It seemed to be coffee break time when I took these photographs...
	While taking the pictures shown above another class 66 was just visible in the background so I had a wander round to Briar Close to see what was happening there. The second class 66, 66030, was standing just behind 6W14's train with a train of empty spoil wagons, presumably running as 6W15. There was nothing much happening and as cloud was rapidly building up I made for home after walking through the industrial estate to ascertain the identity of the locomotive standing by the signal box. Here is a tighter view of the scene clearly showing the newly excavated track bed.
	The sole class 66/6 not to carry Freightliner's green livery is 66623 which has been painted into Bardon Aggregate's blue colour scheme. On 22 June 2010 it was allocated to work 6M22, the 11.56 Westbury Virtual Quarry to Stud Farm empty ballast wagons, and is here seen passing Hatton North Junction two or three minutes early. I didn't notice when taking the picture that the roof is still green and wonder if this is part of Bardon's colour scheme or whether Freightliner decided to save a few pounds by not painting it as it would not be noticeable from ground level. I'm not especially happy with this photograph because 1) the sun is really too high at just after 3pm and 2) I think that it would have looked much better had the train been formed of the larger wagons sometimes seen on this service. Still, it's a new colour scheme for me at this location so perhaps I shouldn't grumble...
	A long set of JNA wagons was due to be removed from Long Marston on Monday 24 May 2010. I didn't know if the light engine move from Peterborough via Birmingham and Worcester had taken place but went for a look. The scheduled departure time from Long Marston was 14.10 but experience suggested that something earlier would be likely so I arrived at about 12.30 to find 66724 sitting in the left-hand road and to see the local shunter heading off around the inner loop, presumably to collect the wagons. In the meantime, I took this photograph of 20197 looking a bit forlorn. I have no interest in this sort of thing but thought that one or two viewers might like a look. It wasn't long before the shunter appeared in the distance with the JNAs which were soon deposited in No. 2 road so that 66724 was able to run forward into the headshunt before going onto the train to be coupled. The yellow crane visible was recently used to assist with some track repairs on the site, something that I should like to have recorded but found out too late.
	At about 12.50 there was a flurry of activity with 'phone calls being made or received, the gates into the site being reopened and 66724's headlight being switched on. This suggested that Evesham signalbox had a path available and that the expected early departure would take place. Here then is 6E53 to Maltby, where the wagons will be used for a coal flow to Immingham, passing the Blackthorn blossom as the train heads onto the branch to Honeybourne.
	I had planned to photograph 66724 with 6E53 at a location between Honeybourne and Aldington but when I arrived there was a somewhat unsightly group of white caravans in a small yard adjacent to the line so I moved a bit further west to this footbridge. A friend had told me that the preceding down FGW train was on time at Evesham station and that 6E53 wouldn't have to wait for more than a minute or two at Honeybourne before getting a clear run to Norton Junction where it would pass the next up passenger train. He was, of course, quite correct and I had been in position for no more than five minutes when the train appeared under the bridges in the background just as some fluffy clouds began to appear which gave the sky some character.
	The first train to head south after I arrived at Grimsbury bridge just north of Banbury station on Saturday 15 May 2010 was 4O14, the 06.39 Birch Coppice to Southampton freightliner, headed by 66531. This was one of the most poorly loaded 'liners that I have seen for quite a while with just four containers being conveyed in the centre of the virutally empty train. At least the long used that I used for this shot compresses the perspective and brings up the background, including the M40 and to some extent takes the eye away from the flat wagons. Also visible are the exits from the down loop and the two connections from the Banbury Reservoir sidings, used by the weekly Self Discharge Train from Mountsorrel.
	The next freightliner to appear was 4O27, the 05.29 Garston to Southampton and this was much better loaded with quite an assortment being carried. This wider shot shows the Reservoir Sidings facility to some advantage. It was very heavily used with one or two trains each day when the M40 extension to Birminhgam was being built but today sees just one working per week, arriving from Mountsorrel in Leicestershire in the early hours of Thursday and leaving in mid-morning. One of the Self Discharge trains is used for this job which avoids the need for road vehicles to move the stone into the railside hoppers.
	At the time of writing, just one DBS class 66, 66152 has received a livery reflecting the house style of its owners and so tends to be photographed, despite it being "only a shed". On Wednesday 12 May 2010 it was booked to work 4M66, the 09.32 Southampton to Birch Coppice intermodal and as I hadn't seen the locomotive since the repaint I popped over to Hatton for a shot. It didn't look as if the sun was going to appear but I went to a location where, if it did, it would be on just the right place. I don't generally worry too much if the sun is "on the nose" or not, but if such a picture can be obtained without too much effort I'll go for it. As it happened, the sun did come out just as the preceding class 165 to Birmingham Snow Hill climbed Hatton Bank and knowing that 4M66 has passed Leamington Spa, thought that I might be in with a chance. The back 2/3 of the train was well loaded but no such luck with the front. The last time that I saw 66152 was on 6 April 2008 when it was in charge of an engineering train at Stratford-upon-Avon just as a snow storm approached.
	Another regular runner on Hatton Bank is 6M22 from Westbury to Stud Farm conveying empty Network Rail ballast wagons for loading. I was walking back to my car after photographing 66152 on an intermodal but decided to hang on for a few minutes as the sun looked as if it would stay out long enough for a shot. The locomotive was 66605, a change, for me at least, from 66602 which seems to have been permanently coupled to the wagons for quite some time. I don't especially like this location as it is too anonymous for my taste, but it is one of the few local spots in which I haven't photographed this working in recent weeks.
	The line through Hatton generally sees very little activity on Bank Holidays but Monday 3 May 2010 was different in that two trains ran to Beeston in Nottinghamshire from Westbury and Hinksey respectively. Both conveyed IFA-U wagons, these being used for the transportation of ready-made switches and crossings to engineering worksites. I couldn't recall having photographed anything of the sort before so thought that a shot or two would be worth having particularly as my home town, Stratford-upon-Avon is a hell-hole of rowdy visitors on these public holidays so there was no way I going there. I was on my way to a location south of Hatton station when a signaller friend told me that both trains were going to be turned into the down loop at Hatton to allow passenger trains to pass. With this in mind I went to Hatton North Junction even though this would mean a heavily backlit shot should the sun appear. There was no danger of that when 66085 crawled around the curve from the station with 6X50 from Westbury, the sun being behind a thick bank of cloud which looked about ready to dump a heavy shower just to the south-east.
	Hinksey Yard at Oxford was the origination of the second train of IFA-U wagons to pass Hatton North Junction on 3 May 2010, this time with 66167 in charge. It too was booked to sit in Hatton Loop for a while to allow two passenger trains to pass, the first of which was a WSMR service with a newly refurbished first class coach in front of 3 Cargo-D examples all led by DVT 82304 and propelled by 67015. A Chiltern Railways class 168 passed next in the middle of a heavy shower but the strong wind meant that the clouds had blown away when 6X51 came slowly up the last few yards of Hatton Bank. This YRA wagon, not really visible in the main picture because of the track's curvature, brought up the rear of the train. Note the different barrier/match wagons used on this train and the previous one, pictured above.
	After all the excitement of photographing a < a href="http://www.petertandy.co.uk/30453_Bishopton_230410.jpg"> steam working on Friday 23 April 2010 I needed a dose of normality so went over to Hatton North Junction to take advantage of the fine and sunny weather during the afternoon. I had quite forgotten that steam locomotives need to turn before going back from whence they had come and arrived to find a smallish horde of onloookers waiting for a tender-first light engine move. Still, they weren't in my way and I knew that 66602 with 6M22 Westbury to Stud Farm was just approaching Leamington Spa. I stayed on the footbridge as 1) a shot from my favourite place in the field would have included several people one of whom somewhat bizarrely had a high-visibility jacket while on a public footpath and 2) there was a southbound freight somewhere in the St Andrews area of Birmingham which I didn't want to miss. Here then is 6M22 rounding the curve at Hatton North with its bright train of high capacity ballast wagons.
	My plan had been to photograph this train, the 6E55 empty oil tanks from Theale to Lindsey, from the field at Hatton North Junction but didn't have time to move from the footbridge after taking a shot of 60096 coming from the north with a short train of CWR from Scunthorpe to Eastleigh. This is therefore a bit of a grab shot after leaping up two sections of the steps of the bridge to gain a bit of height after 66206 appeared around the curve.
	The cloud that was hanging around during the morning of 21 April 2010 cleared away by lunchtime so I went for a couple more shots during the afternoon. This is probably the last time that I shall visit Budbrooke this year as the undergrowth is becoming too intrusive but as it's one of my favourite shots on Hatton Bank I thought that another look at 6M22 and 6E55 here would be in order. Here is 66602 with the former running a few minutes late just beyond Warwick Parkway with its train of empty hoppers on the way to Stud Farm from Westbury. The quiet skies that I enjoyed over the weekend were not more; UK airspace having been opened the previous evening.
	The only other northbound freight scheduled to appear on Hatton Bank during the mid-afternoon of Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, although it didn't run on the Monday of this week, is 6E55, the discharged oil tanks from Theale to Lindsey Oil Refinery. In contrast to 6M22, 6E55 with 66165 in charge was running a few minutes early as it went past Warwick Parkway station on 21 April 2010.
	I have been waiting for a few weeks in the hope that either a Wednesday or Friday afternoon would be clear and sunny so that I might be able to have a few pictures on Hatton Bank before the foliage becomes too obtrusive. Wednesdays and Fridays are better because there are two northbound freights scheduled within 60 minutes at a time of day when the sun is favourable. The first along on 9 April 2010, just as the sun was coming out of some thin cloud, was 6M22, the 11.56 Westbury Virtual Quarry to Stud Farm empty ballast wagons hauled, as usual by a Freightliner class 66/6, 66613 on this occasion. The line here is climbing at a gradient of around 1/110 but an optical illusion caused by the fact that the field in which I was standing slopes uphill quite steeply to the left makes it look almost level.
	My final shot on Friday 9 April 2010 was of 66004 heading up Hatton Bank with 6E55, the 13.35 Theale to Lindsey empty oil tanks, running about 10 minutes early and so a likely candidate to be looped a couple of miles north in order to allow a passenger train to pass. This train used to attract a lot of attention as until the mass storage of class 60s it was generally in the hands of a member of that class. Now, of course, it is largely ignored, even by a flock of rooks looking for bugs amongst the sheep droppings in the field, although several pigeons obviously found it more of a threat and rapidly left the scene.
	A third set of Fastline branded coal hoppers was moved from Chaddesden Yard, near Derby, on Thursday 8 April 2010. COLAS Rail's 66845, formerly DRS 66410, was used to move the stock, destined for storage, to Long Marston, their usual class 47s being occupied on a train of empty steel carriers from Washwood Heath to Boston. I was initially disappointed that one of the COLAS liveried 66s wasn't used as I am yet to photograph an example, but as these will hopefully be around for some time came to the conclusion that it was better to picture this locomotive in a transitional colour scheme which may not last for much longer. I hadn't seen any timings for 4Z47 but guessed that an arrival time of around 11.15 at Evesham wouldn't be far off the mark so after my daily visit to the swimming pool at my Health Club, went straight across there, only to find that my first choice of shot was no longer available, thanks to a very high and solid wooden fence having been erected. This meant that Briar Close, adjacent to the signal box was the next best bet and I arrived to find a couple of friends in attendance which at least meant that I hadn't missed the train. The new and not very attractive radio mast behind the box meant that a long lens shot was probably not the best idea so I took this shot incorporating the lower quadrant inner home signal.
	After arriving at Evesham, 4Z47 was to wait there for the best part of 30 minutes in order to cross a down train to Worcester. This meant that there would be no difficulty in finding another location on the other side of the town for another photograph; after all it would have been silly to waste the glorious light. Not many enthusiasts were about, my two friends being about it and they are just visible on the bridge in the background of this shot taken from a road bridge on the Evesham to Offenham road. No doubt everyone else was on the main Gloucester to Birmingham line waiting, along with many others, for a double-headed steam special to Preston. I had been tempted to have a go at this but the thought of the inevitable crowds on such a nice day put me off the idea. I should also have quite liked to have had a shot of 67003 on the Didcot to Ashchurch train but didn't really have time without missing my swim. The train as pictured here nearly caught me out as I was expecting a distant signal on the other side of the bridge to be set to green before it came, but it wasn't. Luckily, 4Z47 with 66845 was moving quite slowly, maybe because of a problem with the barrier crossing at Clayfield Lane, a short distance to the east of here.
	Long Marston can be on my way home from the Evesham area if I use the country roads via Honeybourne so I thought that I may as well drop in to get a final shot as 66845 arrived; after all it is in a new colour scheme for the branch... I didn't have too long to wait before before I heard a horn as it left Honeybourne and a few minutes later appeared in the distance. This is probably about the best lighting it is possible to achieve here as it is very unusual for anything to arrive here before the sun has moved quite a way round towards the south. I can never decided whether I prefer the shot taken here with a strong lens or something wider so I've included both. The gate into Long Marston was already open and little was time was wasted before the hoppers were running along the exchange sidings ready for storage in their new home. A train of JXA wagons was ready to leave at around 13.00, but some domestic matters precluded me from waiting for this train to leave.
	It's been quite a while since last I visited Norton Junction near Worcester, so on 16 March 2010 I went there with the intention of photographing 6V05, the 09.35 Round Oak to Margam train of empty steel carriers. Once the clocks have gone forward at the end of March, the sun is too head for this shot to work well. The train was just about on time when it passed the lower quadrant semaphores controlling the junction with the Cotswold Line at 10.39 with a dirty 66027 in charge. I understand that these signals, along with the others on the line to Oxford are not going to be replaced when the line is partially re-doubled, whenever that may happen. Local sources say that no date has yet been set for the remaining work to get underway. The signalbox is on the other side of this roadbridge and is in this view, taken a few minutes later than that of 6V05, of a First Great Western HST leaving the Cotswold Line with a delayed service from London Paddington to Hereford. The delay was caused by a cable theft, the second within days, from a site near Honeybourne.
	Relatively few freights, other than steel to and from Round Oak, run on the line from Abbotswood Junction to Worcester but one of the regulars is that conveying MOD traffic from Didcot to Ashchurch. As there is no access to the Ashchurch branch from the south, trains have to run to Worcester Yard for the locomotive to run round its stock before heading south to their destination. On 16 March 2010, 6B36, headed by a grubby and graffiti splattered 66126, was heavily delayed and passed this bridge, near Norton Barracks, at 12.20, around two hours late after its visit to Worcester.
	A train of VTG JNA box wagons was taken from Long Marston to Peak Forest on Friday 12 March 2010 for use on the Dowlow to Ashburys circuit. The locomotive, 66201, ran light engine from Peterborough as 0V17, the headcode normally used for something from Bescot, arriving some time around 09.00. The booked departure time was 13.06 but when I arrived at Long Marston fresh from the swimming pool just before 11.00, the gates were locked and there was no sign of a train. After a run down to Honeybourne, I found 6M17 sitting on the branch awaiting a path to Evesham and Worcester. The heavy cloud parted just a little and allowed a weak sun to illuminate the scene for a few seconds before the murk closed in again and it started raining. It looked to me as if the former Stratford Branch sidings at Honeybourne have seen something run over them very recently; and indeed, the undergrowth on the line that used to run to the coaling stage appears to have been cut back a bit. That piece of track also looked quite shiny and I wonder what has been on it? I guess that it may have been some on-track plant as a locomotive move would probably have been reported. My thanks to Graham Lee for the correct identification of the train's consist.
	With all the poor weather we have had recently, I haven't bothered much going out to photograph routine or daily workings as I don't want to get pictures that are less satisfactory to my eyes than some that I may have taken previously in good light. As the afternoon of Friday 5 March 2010 was clear and sunny, albeit with a few clouds floating around, I decided to spend an hour or two just north of Warwick Parkway station just to take anything that came along. The first train to appear was 4M66, the 09.32 Southampton to Birch Coppice intermodal hauled by 66206. The last intermodal I photographed here looked rather different, being headed by 60056 in slightly less favourable conditions.
	One of the most colourful trains to run on the GWR Leamington Spa to Birmingham line is 6M22, the 11.22 Westbury Virtual Quarry to Stud Farm empty box wagons. On Friday 5 March 2010 66611 was providing the power as it climbed Hatton Bank near Warwick Parkway station just a couple of sections behind 168106 which was just pulling away from its booked stop. This location is really one to use only in the winter and early Spring as the undergrowth adjacent to track becomes too intrusive when the foliage starts to sprout. I don't often use a tripod but one is handy here because a long lens is necessary and I find that it is much more comfortable not to hold a heavy set of equipment, especially when freights are infrequent. The background includes the tall West End tower of St. Mary's, Warwick and the round tower of Warwick Castle, two of the most prominent landmarks in the area. I had planned to wait for the Theale to Lindsey empty oil tanks, but a friend told me that it was running about 30 minutes late at Oxford which would have meant a wait of over an hour in the cold wind, so with this, and some high cloud appearing, I went home.
	Following my failure to obtain a picture of the Fastline operated Daw Mill to Didcot coal train in the snow a couple of weeks ago, I had another go on the sunny morning of 2 March 2010. I again went to Hatton where the sun would be where I wanted it for this shot, and once again I failed, even though 6Z37 was supposed to be operating all week. My consolation prize was another well-lit shot of 4O54, the 06.13 Leeds to Southampton freightliner, this time hauled by 66955. It was running pretty much to right time passing me at 10.33. I don't know for how longer 6Z37 will run as I've seen a report somewhere that Didcot Power Station is not currently in operation, being out of use until Autumn 2010. Maybe I'm just not destined to get this picture...
	There was a brief but heavy snowfall on 18 February 2010, and as the following day was clear and sunny by 10am I decided to go out for a few shots. The country lanes were still quite hazardous, the journey to Hatton taking about ten minutes longer than normal, and as I arrived at the bridge adjacent to the station the rumble of a freight was clearly audible. I just managed to get my camera out and grabbed this photograph of 66535 hauling 4O54, the 06.13 Leeds to Southampton freightliner service. My real aim had been to get a shot of 6Z37, the Fastline operated coal from Daw Mill colliery to Didcot Power Station but I had a call from a signaller friend just after 4O54 had passed and he told me that it was cancelled. I have been waiting for the right conditions to go out for this train so hope that it will soon appear again.
	I don't know a lot about this train; just that it is 4V58, the FO-Q 09.32 Washwood Heath to Neath Abbey Wharf empty stone hoppers and that it was running maybe 55 or 60 minutes late. This was just as well or I would not have seen it on 19 February 2010. The locomotive is a very dirty 66012 and it is passing the small engineering yard at Defford, Worcestershire. There was more snow on the ground than appears to be the case; the stubble in the field to the right of the train must have been quite long and there was a good 3" on the footpath running across the railway bridge. Running just in front of 4V58 was a Cross Country HST led by power car 43384 working the 06.32 Dundee to Plymouth. This was a bit of a grab shot as I was looking south when it came under the bridge in the background.
	Most of the trains associated with the major engineering work on the North Warwickshire Line run overnight so as to allow the possessions to be lifted before the early morning passenger services begin to run. On Sundays, however, the passenger trains begin later and on 31 January 2010 this gave the opportunity to photograph 66081 with 6P01, a shortish rake of autoballasters, as it arrived at Stratford-upon-Avon to run-round before heading back to Bescot. Here it is running into platform 1 about 10 minutes early just as the Network Rail gang in the car park were kind enough to tell me that it would. It was booked to run back via Henley-in-Arden so I didn't hang around, having a feeling that it would be away well before the booked time, 09.50.
	I have taken quite a few pictures at Henley-in-Arden station over the past few months so decided to go to another location a little further north for my shot of 66081 with 6P01 to Bescot. It was a freezing morning with the very weak sun much too low to get into the cutting but I still quite fancied the shot as it includes both the upper and lower quadrant signals that will disappear later this year when the line is resignalled. I heard the train coming for some time on the still morning but even with plenty of time to get everything set up I, for the first time since beginning to use digital equipment in 2004, didn't switch on the camera as 66081 came into view. This meant that not only was the light in the cutting virtually non-existent but I had to reset the zoom length and take a hurried grab shot, the results of which are all too plain to see! I hope that another opportunity to get this shot comes along soon so that there is a chance to get a sharp version! My thanks to David Weake for the information on 6P01.
	After a night of torrential rain, Monday 30 November turned out to be a beautifully bright and sunny day so with a couple of freights likely to make an appearance during the afternoon I went over to Hatton North Junction. The first along was 4M66, the 11.15 Southampton to Birch Coppice hauled by 66183. This was running just about to right time and with a full load made for quite an attractive picture in the late Autumnal sunlight. Shadows here begin to become a problem at about 14.45 at this time of the year and 4M66 was here about ten minutes before that before too much of the line was covered.
	The train of oil from Lindsey Oil Refinery to Didcot power Station on Monday 5 October 2009 was hauled by 60045. This train runs infrequently during the summer but its frequency increases during the Autumn and Winter and this is the second week in succession that it, and the return, 6E48, has turned up. I had left my previous location on the footbridge at the southern end of Hatton Cutting as the sky in the west was clearing quite rapidly and this proved to be a good move. I knew that 60045 had been replaced by 66099 for the northbound run of the empty tanks but I was quite content with this change of motive power as long as the sun was clear of the patches of cloud drifting around. I heard the train approach although it was out of sight and judging by the low speed at which it was obviously travelling it was clearly routed into the down goods loop. As far as the light was concerned this was a good thing as the sun came out fully only as 66099 with the empty tanks approached my position. Another year of unchecked growth from the trees here will, I think, mean the end of this photographic location, one which I have been visiting for the past 25+ years.
	Another engineering train was booked to work on the North Cotswold Line on Thursday 27 August 2009. This time, the work was not to drop ballast but to collect spoil so the wagons were of the empty, low-sided variety and hauled by 66087. Here is 6W86 from Hinksey Yard shortly after leaving Evesham and approaching the crossing near to the site of Littleton and Badsey station. On this occasion, the train was signalled by hand over the crossing meaning that the half barriers remotely operated by CCTV from Evesham signal box were not lowered. This location benefited from some radical tree clearance earlier in the year; before this took place the shot was virtually a green tunnel but now it possible to see the road bridge on the Offenham road and the redundant track panels awaiting removal. A wider shot used to be quite impossible, but with some clearance having taken place close to the bridge, quite a decent picture is now possible as is here seen as 66087 with 6W86 is about to pass underneath.
	I had really intended to go just for the one shot of 6W86 and had driven over in my Morris Minor, not the ideal vehicle for chasing around winding and somewhat bumpy country lanes, but seeing that the sky was clearing a little to the west, decided to have a try for another shot towards Honeybourne. As I arrived in the car park there the train was just approaching and it was apparent that a crew change was about to take place. I scrambled up the bank to the roadbridge and found that a shot with a 35mm lens was just about possible as 6W86 stood in the platform. When the track doubling has taken place in 2010, the currently unused island platform will be used for up trains and anything travelling to or from Long Marston will use a relaid track on the extreme right, joining the main line on the down side of the platforms rather than the spur presently to be found on the other side of the bridge. After taking this shot I wandered around to the station and took a few pictures as 66087 basked in the sun, while chatting to the driver who was awaiting instructions as to the move south where the spoil was waiting to be loaded.
	The weather forecast for Wednesday 19 August 2009 promised good sunny spells across the Midlands so I thought that at last I might be lucky and get a photograph of a Cotswold Line ballast in decent light. The train in question, 6W85, was due to enter the possession at Evesham at 13.30 and a friend told me that it left Worcester Yard at around 12.50, putting it pretty much on time. From my position just south of Evesham station I saw the lower quadrant signal in the distance drop and a few moments later watched as 66090 stopped in the platform . The sun disappeared as 6W85 left the platform, without the centre-pivoted signal by the bridge being dropped, but fortunately came out again just in time for my shot. I took another view as the train headed away, largely to get a picture of a train passing the outer home signal operating on the down side of the single line.
	Just as I was leaving the location from which I took the photograph above, 6W85 came to a halt so I thought that I might have time for another crack at it a bit further east. The nearest bridge is that at Aldington so I went straight there to find the train sitting virtually out of sight around the curve beyond the footbridge. Over 70 minutes elapsed before it started to move, by which time the sun had moved well around towards the west and 66090 was somehow blowing up a lot of dust from underneath its bogies, despite moving at less than walking pace all of which conspired to make a fairly unsatisfactory picture. Just after 6W85 passed under the bridge it came again to a halt which was my cue to head home for a cool drink, but not before filling my floppy hat with blackberries. More brownie points for me...
	Having made a complete mess of my shot of 66525 on 6Z88, the first of the two Freightliner operated coal trains from Daw Mill to Didcot Power Station on 6 August 2009, I decided to hang on at Hatton to try again on the second, 6Z98. This came a few minutes early behind 66513 and is here seen rounding the curve just to the north of the station. I do like to have a record of these short-term trial flows, the first by Freightliner along here, and with a week more to go may yet score one in the sun. We'll see.
	Whilst photographing 66513 on 6Z98, the Daw Mill to Didcot Freightliner trial, on Thursday 6 August I wondered if it would be possible to get a photograph of one these workings in good light. The following afternoon became clear and sunny and although I didn't actually know if the loaded working had run, I took the chance and went to Hatton North Junction to get a shot of the returning empties, 4Z89. A couple of passenger trains went north and then, spot on time and following a Chiltern Trains service to Birmingham Snow Hill, 66549 crawled around the curve, its train having been held as booked in Hatton Goods Loop. I'm a bit surprised how little interest wascreated by these trial runs of power station coal; the first by Freightliner on this line. Maybe it was just the poor weather for most of the two week trial...
	Another ballast train was booked on 5 August 2009 to run on the North Cotswold Line. This time it was 6W37 from Hinksey to Evesham, the starting point of the possession. It was booked to leave the work site, Aldington, in time to leave Evesham at 12.25 so it was a couple of hours before that I arrived at the occupation bridge, just in time to see the train moving very slowly towards me as it dropped ballast. After parking my car I walked up the public footpath to a footbridge arriving just in time for this telephoto lens shot of 66082 as it came under the occupation and the Evesham bypass bridges. The light was dreadful with drizzly rain but with the train moving at about walking pace I didn't need too high a shutter speed to freeze the action.
	I had plenty of time to change to a standard lens before 66082 with 6W37 came near enough to the footbridge on which I was standing for another photograph. Ballast was still being dropped as the train moved along; these autoballasters really make the process a lot quicker and easier than it used to be. The track here has been replaced as the old bullhead rail on was too worn to be slewed across in readiness for next year's doubling work. The redundant track panels can be seen to the right of the wagons. As 66082 passed under the footbridge I noticed that its roof appears to have taken a swipe and a good splash of white paint. I wonder how that happened?
	As usual with these ballast workings, 6W37 was topped-and-topped, the trailing locomotive at this point being 66051. I had had time to go back along the footpath to the occupation bridge at Aldington to get this shot as the train receded from the camera around the reverse curves towards Evesham; the rain by this time having stopped and the light having improved a touch. The shower was passing across Bredon Hill, visible in the background. There is saying around here that if you can't see Bredon Hill then it's raining and if you can see it then it's going to...The two road/rail vehicles that are ready to spread the ballast are temporarily on the trackside but would have re-railed themselves to start work as soon as 6W37 was clear.
	The ballast train running as 6W37 to Hinksey Yard was due to pass Evesham station at 12.25 but it was some 15 minutes after this time that the signal in the background was dropped and 66082 nosed into view. I suppose 15 minutes late isn't too bad for an engineering train leaving a possession; I have certainly waited a lot longer than this in the past! The semaphore signals here are due for replacement in 2011 when control is passed to Didcot Panel, so there may yet be time for a sunny shot here; I so far having missed out on the occasions that I have tried since the cutting banks were cleared.
	A short term flow of coal from Daw Mill colliery, near Nuneaton, to Didcot Power Station took place during the week which commenced 27 July 2009. Unusually, this was operated by Freightliner Heavy Haul and as far as I can remember is the first time that this company has taken coal to Didcot. I wasn't able to get out earlier in the week for a couple of the workings but on Friday 31 July I went over to the footbridge at the south end of Hatton Cutting to get a shot of 66566 with 6Z98, the 13.25 from Daw Mill, here seen as it rolled slowly down the bank towards Warwick. The light was very poor but in my opinion it's better to have a record shot in dull conditions than none at all, especially if the train doesn't run again. If it does, then there's a chance to improve with another picture.
	The morning of Thursday 24 July saw the first ballast train of the current possession on the North Cotswold Line run from Norton Junction to a worksite just east of Evesham station. The train, 6W87, started from Hinksey Yard near Oxford and was routed via Didcot, Swindon, Bristol, Charfield and Ashchurch to Worcester where it reversed before heading to its final destination. I received a call from a friend as it left Worcester somewhat early at about 08.50 and headed across to the nearest point for me, Evesham. The light was going to be pretty much head-on all the way along the line from Norton Junction but I thought that if the train was held to time outside Evesham there would be a chance for the sun to get onto the side of the formation. Just after I arrived, this road/rail vehicle was leaving the tiny yard with a flat wagon attached carrying a large drum of signalling cable. Here is another view, albeit heavily backlit, as the vehicle used the crossover onto the up main line where it enters Evesham station. The ballast train soon appeared in the distance but sat for quite some time in the distance while another road/rail machine entered the possession. After another long wait, 66083 with 66114 on the back finally ran to the signal box where a crew change took place.
	It was just after 11.30 before 6W87 finally moved slowly towards the worksite, by which time the sun had moved round enough to give some decent side lighting. Unfortunately, it was also so high in the sky by then that the light was far too overhead and harsh. The joys of photographing ballast trains in the height of the summer. Even so, I much prefer a couple of hours photographing this sort of working than spending time covering routine workings somewhere on a busy main line, especially given the one-off nature of the train concerned. As the train was in a possession controlled by radio and telephone, the lower quadrant signal was not pulled off for the train to pass, and here is an unusual-looking view as it passes the bracket signal protecting the up platform in Evesham station.
	The worksite for 6W27 was shown as being Common Road, an area just outside Evesham station with no opportunity for a decent photograph. I went instead to Aldington, mostly with the intention of visiting the nearby fruit farm to buy a couple of pounds of fresh cherries and gain some brownie points form my wife. I did make a quick diversion to the nearby bridges and just after arrival I heard a horn and then the sound of ballast being dropped. After a few minutes, 66083 poked its nose around the corner so I took this rather distant shot with Bredon Hill and the roofline of Evesham in the background. Shortly after taking this shot, a road/rail vehicle with a ballast levelling blade ran towards the train to work on the ballast that had just been dropped. I understand that the existing track is in such poor condition that it cannot simply be slewed across to make room for the second track, but will have to be replaced. The new track has already been dropped and can be seen in this view in the up direction. A few moments later, the driver of 6W87 turned off the headlights on 66083 and placed a portable tail lamp on the bracket before reversing to allow the ballast work to progress.
	The first visit to Long Marston of Advenza Freight's newly acquired 66841 took place on 29 June 2009 when it was booked to take 20901 + 20905, 56021 and 31423 along with some KXA and other flats to Derby, where the 66 was due to be detached with the class 20s taking the train forward to Stockton. There appeared to be some problem with the train, possibly obtaining a satisfactory brake, and 66841 was detached from the consist and left the site light engine towards Honeybourne. I went home at this point but on arrival I checked my BlackBerry for updates to found out that the problem had been solved and that 66841 was on its way back. Inertia took over and I decided to stay put rather than go out again.
	Fastline Freight has, on Saturday 20 September 2008, started a new coal flow form Avonmouth (Bennett's Terminal) to Ratcliffe Power Station. The first run of empty hoppers, 4G90, went to Avonmouth during the early morning, being booked to pass Banbury at 08.00. The normal route for the empties will be via Gloucester but this train was diverted due to engineering work in the Yate area. I fancied a shot of the first train but without driving too far couldn't think of anywhere worthwhile. The Hatton area would clearly be out of the question so I ended up on the bridge at Grimsbury on the northern outskirts of Banbury. I could have done with 4G90 being at least 30 minutes late but it came 10 early and, with a Voyager following close behind, was put into the up loop. All this meant a pretty unsatisfactory photograph taken at ISO 200 - much higher than I normally favour.
	The loaded return working, 6M90, of the first Fastline Freight from Ratcliffe to Avonmouth ran during the afternoon of 20 September 2008. It left Bennett's terminal some 20 minutes late, not normally a problem for photography but when a train is booked to pass Hatton at 18.38 at this time of the year a few minutes can make the difference between getting a shot or not getting a shot. Fortunately, 66301 and 6M90 picked up some time by missing out a booked wait at Oxford North Junction and good regulation meant that it was routed in front of a Chiltern Trains service from Fenny Compton. This put it back on time and it is here seen passing Hatton North Junction at a surprisingly good speed considering the 2000+ tonnes on the drawbar, a couple of minutes early in the very last dregs of light. Just like the morning shot at Banbury I was reduced to using ISO 200 - the other settings being a shutter speed of 1/500 and an aperture of F2 on a 50mm prime lens.
	I very rarely spend much time taking photographs on railway stations but on Friday 10 October 2008 I had a couple of hours at Leamington Spa. There are some very decent shots of southbound trains to be had at the north end of the down platform and my first shot was of 66093 hauling 4O04, 09.35 Washwood Heath to Eastleigh Yard intermodal. There is a short but steep gradient into the station from the Warwick direction, locally known as "the dip", and even when a heavy train is given a clear road some effort is needed to bring it into the up through line.
	This train is 4O54, the 06.13 Leeds to Southampton freightliner in the hands on 66568, and some of the effort needed for it climb out of "the dip" at Leamington Spa on 10 October 2008 can be judged from the exhaust haze. A northbound service had just turned right onto the Coventry branch and this meant that 4O54 was stopped on the Warwick side of the short gradient. I always think that a longish lens is useful for this shot as the compressed perspective shows both the steepness of the climb and the exhaust to good effect. In the days of older locomotives being used on these trains there were some quite spectacular sights and sounds to be witnessed here.
	The sun made what seemed to be its first appearance for several weeks on the morning of Friday 19 September 2008 so I decided to have an hour by the lineside at Hatton. The undergrowth at the south end of the cutting has made photography virtually impossible with just a small gap in the vegetation at one small spot. This gap is fine though for a carefully composed picture utilising the hedge and fence and gives a reasonable view of the train, as shown here by 66192 heading north with 4M33, the 08.10 Southampton to Burton on Trent intermodal, running just about spot on time. This working was climbing at Hatton Bank at what seemed to be the normal speed but just a few minutes later the following Arriva Cross Country Voyager was severely checked at the new signal a few yards to the north. I wonder if 4M33 had a problem towards the top of the bank or maybe there was a fault with the signalling - an event that seems all too common along here.
	The target for the afternoon on 27 September 2008 was this, 66305 with 6M80, the 11.30 Avonmouth to Ratcliffe loaded coal train operated by Fastline Freight. The first train had run the previous week in a later path but with an earlier departure booked this time, the chances of a well lit shot were much greater. The train managed to leave Avonmouth around 2 hours late but the weather was such that there seemed little prospect of anything getting in the way of a sunny shot. 66305 is here seen at Hatton North Junction having just been released from Hatton Down Goods Loops and consequently travelling very slowly with over 2000 tonnes in tow. There were also reports of a light engine move involving 37401 & 37417 running from Didcot to Bescot to peform on an engineering train on the Central Wales line. It had been said that the 37s were taken to Didcot for onward movement to Eastleigh for withdrawal, but someone somewhere seems to changed their mind. I'm no great fan of light engine photography but it seemed rude to not hang on for a few minutes given the perfect light...
	During the summer months when the sun is relatively high by 09.00 I like to go to this location just south of Leamington Spa for an hour or two. On 23 June 2009 the first train to come along was 4O14, the 05.40 Garston to Millbrook freightliner hauled by 66574. The shot is becoming more difficult here each year both through unchecked lineside bushes and a row of very tall Leylandii evergreens outside the boundary fence. By the time 4O14 appeared at about 09.05 the worst of the shadows were pretty much off the tracks with just a small amount on the locomotive's bogies. One of the attractions of the picture here used to be the clear view of Leamington Spa and the tower and spire All Saints church but even that has now all but disappeared. It's a shame because this was, in my opinion at at least, a much more interesting that the only nearby alternative a short distance further south at Whitnash, little more than a cutting surrounded by trees which could be anywhere in the country.
	The line between Abbotswood Junction and Worcester sees a few freight workings, most of which are steel trains to and from Round Oak which is situated on the remaining stub of the line from Stourbridge Junction to Bescot. On Thursday 4 June 2009, 66009 was in charge of a very long 6V07, the 13.21 empties to Margam and is here pictured near Norton Junction running at least 45 minutes early. The tall tree on the left of the tracks casts a shadow even when the sun is at its highest but with a slightly wide angle lens the effect can be mitigated to some extent.
	One of the steel trains that has picked up recently after being an infrequent runner for some time is 6M94 Corby to Margam and its return working 6V92. The latter is here seen with 66046 in charge as it runs up the gradient from Ashchurch to Tredington on 2 June 2009. This is a location that I tend not to visit too often as it is difficult to vary one's shots and thus avoid having too many looking pretty much identical, but it is on a quiet bridge with little passing traffic, unlike the road bridge in the background. It is also a much pleasanter place to stand than the footbridge a bit further north at Northend, often populated by less than desirable characters and liberally annointed with the unpleasant results of irresponsible dog owners not clearing up after their pets.
	Round Oak steel terminal in the West Midlands is another that saw a downturn in traffic from Margam when the current economic problems manifested themselves in 2008. It has recently, however, seen a real increase in traffic, with 3 daily workings being the norm. Here is 6V07, the 13.21 empties from Round Oak running south from Ashchurch towards Cheltenham behind the highest numbered DBS class 66, 66250. This wider view shows that there is a good crop of buttercups in the adjacent meadow, not such a common sight in these days of intensive agriculture.
	As I mentioned above, steel traffic to Round Oak terminal is currently quite buoyant and the third northbound train of 2 June 2009 is here seen behind 66034 as it drops down the bank towards Ashchurch from Cheltenham. This working is 6M41, the 11.55 Margam to Round Oak conveying steel in covered wagons. The change in gradient can be clearly seen in the background as the line passes over a level crossing and under the occupation bridge at Fiddington and at this point my gradient profile maps tell me that the actual gradient is 1/297. The use of a long lens has accentuated the slope and has also brought the escarpment of Cotswold Hills into clear view.
	My final shot on 2 June 2009 from a bridge just south of Ashchurch was of 66027 climbing towards Cheltenham with 6V36, the 08.17 Lackenby to Margam train of steel slabs. This has only recently started running again after a long period of inactivity and is, along with the returning empties, a welcome addition to the traffic on this line. Ashchurch station is visible under the road bridge in the background and this is served by regular buses going to the nearby town of Tewkesbury, one of my wife's and my favourite locations for a day out without having to drive too far. Also visible is the tower of St Nicholas' church which is siituated just a few yards to the east of Ashchurch station.
	The weather during the last few days of May 2009 was warm, sunny and, around Stratford-upon-Avon at least, with little cloud in the sky. Despite the favourable conditions I didn't go near a railway until the afternoon of Monday 1 June when I felt almost guilty that I wasn't taking advantage of the perfect afternoon light. There was nothing out of the ordinary around that took my fancy so I just went to Hatton North Junction with the intention of taking a few shots of any freight that turned up, The first along was 4M66, the 11.15 Southampton to Birch Coppice intermodal headed by 66153 but the front of the train was devoid of containers so I let it pass without a picture. Next was 66622 hauling the 11.56 Westbury Virtual Quarry to Stud Farm empty ballast boxes, 6U72. The locomotive was looking a bit scruffy, no doubt the result of running around with aggregate trains in the poor weather of the previous week or two. Running a few minutes in front of 66622 was Switch and Crossings Tamper DR 73906 which was making more noise than a lot of locomotive hauled trains as it rounded the curve after leaving the goods loop just south of Hatton station.
	My final shot from Hatton North Junction on 1 June 2009 was of 6E55, the 13.35 Theale to Lindsey empty oil tanks. This came around the curve from Hatton station right on time at 16.12 having been routed via the goods loop to allow an Arriva Voyager to pass. The locomotive was 66130 which was accelerating the tanks at quite an impressive rate considering that most of the train was still on the last section of the 1/110 gradient forming Hatton Bank. My tally of 66s on this service is gradually increasing now that they seem to have taken over, temporarily at least, from class 60. This trend may well be reversed when the economic downturn has relaxed its grip a little and locomotives are gradually released from store.
	Most of the freight on the GWR line through Banbury is container traffic and typical of the trains seen is 4O14, the 01.15 Ditton to Southampton Freightliner service. On 23 May 66587 was in charge and is here seen approaching Banbury on the up main line. As can be seen, there are both up and down loops here and it is not uncommon for freights to be routed along these lines to allow one of the frequent passenger trains to overtake. I picked this location because it is possible to vary one's shots with the use of different lenses and this one was taken with a 200mm to bring the background, including the bridge carrying the M40 and the connection to the main line from the stone terminal, into view. Not all container traffic along here is operated by Freightliner and a little while earlier, 66043 with 4O53 from Trafford Park to Eastleigh yard had gone south.
	Just fifteen minutes behind 4O14 another 'liner appeared, this one being 4O27, the 05.29 Garston to Southampton hauled by 66955. Part of the stone terminal is visible in this photograph, this being served on Thursdays by a DBS train from Mountsorrel in Leicestershire. The terminal was opened when the M40 extension was under construction and saw at least daily trains of aggregates from the Mendips hauled by examples of classes 37, 56 and occasionally 59. The current operation uses the highly efficient self-discharge train which leaves the terminal for the north in the mid-morning and runs via Hatton, Washwood Heath and Whitacre Junction.
	The management of Hatton Estates, who own the land on the south side of the railway line, have recently created a permissive footpath along the side of the railway line between the footbridge at the south end of Hatton cutting and the three arch road bridge on the Norton Lindsey road. This has been in common usage for years but until now the Estate management have had, on occasions, a very unpleasant attitude to those using it either for walking or railway photography. I have had a fairly acrimonious encounter with them but now that access is allowed felt happier in walking along the headland of the field and thus putting myself in full view so on Monday 11 May 2009 went there with a view to taking a few shots of whatever came along. The first freight was 6U72, the 11.56 Westbury to Stud Farm empty ballast boxes hauled by 66602. The undergrowth and hedges, planted some years ago as part of Hatton Estates strategy to attract wildlife and provide cover for pheasants, is making the shot here very difficult. I don't think that photography here, one of the "traditional" locations for decades, will be possible for much longer.
	Freight trains can be pretty thin on the ground on the GWR line between Leamington Spa and Birmingham. This train, 6E55, the 13.35 (MWFO) Theale to Lindsay emptry oil tanks, appeared exactly one hour after the previous freight as shown. Until recently this was a virtually solid class 60 turn but with so many of the class now in store has gone over to class 66 haulage, in this case 66207. I have dozens of pictures of 6E55 with a 60 at the front but very few with a 66 so I suppose it's time to redress the balance. The afternoon of 9 May 2009 was beautifully sunny which is what I needed for this type of shot although there was a very strong wind howling up the hill which made holding the camera steady a bit of a problem. There is no doubting the time of year looking at the abundance of Hawthorn, also know known as May blossom, all over the background.
	Having been away on holiday for the thick end of three weeks, it's been a while since I have done any railway photography but with the prospect of a bright afternoon on Thursday 7 May 2009 I made the slight effort to have a look around Hatton North. I was just walking over the high bridge at Shrewley when 66087 appeared in the distance with an early running 4O21, the 11.10 Burton-upon-Trent to Southampton intermodal. My rucsac with the camera in was still on may back and I was fortunate to obtain a grabbed shot just as the sun was coming out of a cloud. I can never decide whether or not I like the shot from here; I sometimes feel that the bridge is perhaps a little too high and that there isn't enough angle but it isn't a picture that appears very often so I think it is worth including.
	I was keen to get a photograph of this train; one that has started to run only recently. It is 6U72, the 11.56 Westbury Virtual Quarry to Stud Farm empty ballast boxes utilising the large new Network Rail boxes. On 7 May 2009 the train was headed by 66602 and is here seen passing Hatton North Junction. This working replaces 6M01, the now-defunct Hinksey VQ to Stud Farm, although it runs in pretty much the same path to the north of Oxford. I had really wanted to take this shot from a much wider angle in order to better show the wagons, but the turf farmers on whose land runs the public footpath have placed a huge metal-caged plastic cube of weedkiller or similar in exactly the wrong spot! C'est la vie...
	One of the better loaded freightliners on the Birmingham to Southampton line is 4O05, the 12.00 Birch Coppice to Southampton service. On 26 March 2009 66591 was provided and is here seen rounding the curve at Hatton Station Junction. The sun appeared out of some thick clouds a couple of minutes before the train appeared, for which I was grateful but was disappointed that the same was not the case when 66097 with 6V94, the 10.27 Mountsorrel to Westbury ballast train. The last few times I have been out on this line during the afternoon this train hasn't run and I should like to have scored a sunny photograph in case it either ceases to run or is diverted to another destination.
	Most of the freight on the GWR line form Birminhgam to Leamington Spa is container traffic to and from the deep water terminals at Southampton. Both Freightliner and DBS operate services along here and it one of the former company's trains, 4O05, the 12.00 Birch Coppice to Southampton, that is here seen approaching Bentley Heath on 19 March 2009. Despite the downturn in traffic often seen reflected in poorly loaded intermodals, this one is well loaded with only a few empty flats being in evidence.
	The afternoon of 17 March 2009 promised some warm sun so I decided to head over to the Cheltenham to Birmingham line for a few photographs. My first port of call was the site of Defford station and not long after my arrival along came 6V92, the Corby to Margam empty steel train headed by 66030. Until recently, this was mostly a class 60 turn but is now pretty much a solid class 66 working. No doubt this accounts for the total lack of emailed sightings about the train and its early running. This locatiion is a couple of miles of the popular spot at Croome Perry Wood but sees far fewer enthusiasts despite, to my eyes at least, the more open and interesting backdrop. I shouldn't complain...
	Fastline have been running coal trains from Portbury and Avonmouth terminals and this has given the opportunity to photograph a class 66 in something than the usual EWS livery. On 17 March 2009 66304 was in charge of 4V09, the Chaddesden to Portbury working and it is here seen crossing the Warwickshire Avon at Eckington. This is a location that I like to visit now and again, but the variety of possible shots is limited so I tend not to use the spot too often. It is, however, a pleasant place alongside the river and is blissfully free of traffic noise, apart from the occasional light aircraft from Defford airstrip and a few narrow boats and cruisers on the water.
	Another steel train to have recently gone largely to class 66 haulage from class 60 is 6V07, the afternoon Round Oak to Margam empties. This is 66166 crossing the River Avon at Eckington, near Defford on 17 March 2009. Despite the forecast of clear skies, there was quite a milky appearence to the sky with some large blobs of cumulus cloud floating around. Perhaps the weather forecasters view of "clear skies and warm sun" is different from those of us who prefer a literal interpretation of those words.
	While driving to Badgeworth on 16 March 2009 I noticed that a class 66 with a short train was in the exchange sidings just south of Ashchurch station. When stock is taken into Ashchurch MOD it sometimes happens that the return to Didcot is no more than a light engine move. Luckily, there was traffic on this occasion and here is 66019 with a lovely train of OCA and VGA wagons forming 6A32 passing Badgeworth. There is far more to railways than the locomotive at the front and I really like to see a short mixed freight as shown here; sadly, these are all too infrequent these days and MOD trips are the best bet to see them. Just disappearing under the bridge in the background is 6E41, the Westerleigh to Lindsey empty oil tank train , headed by 60068.
	One of the class 86 locomotives taken to Long Marston some time ago has been refurbished and modified for use on the Hungarian rail network. The former 86248 was taken from Long Marston to Crewe for live testing on 3 February 2009 as 0Z90 with haulage provided by 66725. The colourful ensemble is here seen leaving the site about 30 minutes early at 12.44 in a luck patch of bright sun, but sadly, not in the snow that I hoped would still be lying around in some quantity following heavy falls during the previous day. Use the following hyperlink for a closer look at the class 86 as it was taken on the branch to Honeybourne.
	I really hadn't intended to go to Lower Moor for a second shot of 66725 with 86248 on their way to Crewe but the train was running early and the location I had in mind involved invloved a walk of around 3/4 mile. The last thing I wanted to see was the train passing by before I was in place so went for the more secure option. As it happened, 0Z90 left Evesham just 4 minutes early and I would have had plenty of time for the walk, but I don't think that the extraordinarily lucky spotlight of sun would have happened a couple of miles to the east.
	There was a heavy fall of snow across Warwickshire during the early morning of 5 February 2009. I quite fancied the idea of a few shots of some freight in a snowy landscape so decided to make the short journey to Hatton North Junction; the side roads were in a dreadful state and I had to drive as if there was an egg between my right foot and the accelerator pedal of my car! I arrived without mishap and quite enjoyed the walk to the Junction as the snow was pristine and crunchy underfoot. The first freight to appear was 6M18, the 05.00 Portbury to Ratcliffe Power Station service, hauled by 66302, and running just about 60 minutes late. There was little traffic on the nearby M40 and the train was audible on the climb of Hatton Bank for at least a couple of minutes before it arrived.
	One cannot stand at Hatton North Junction for too long without seeing a Freightliner and 5 February 2009 was no exception. Here is 4M55, the 08.55 Southampton to Lawley Street service headed by 66576. This is due at Leamington Spa at 11.55 and passed me at 12.09 so was running within a minute or two of its booked time, quite impressive given the weather conditions. It seems a long time since anything other than a class 66 was seen on these container trains, but going back through my older photographs I can lay claim to have taken shots of classes 33, 37, 45, 47, 56, 57, 58, 60 and 66 on liners in this area. Most of those won't be possible in the future...
	Two of GBRf's class 66/7s were booked to take a train of ECS from Old Oak Common to Crewe during the morning of 27 June 2007. Even considering the dull weather, this had to be worth a short trip to photograph and I decided on Whitnash, just to the south of Leamington Spa, as a suitable location. The train was running slightly early and it is here seen braking for the run down to Leamington Spa station with 66726 leading and 66723 almost out of sight on the back on the formation.
	The dreadful weather of the weekend on 21 July 2007 resulted in large tracts of Gloucestershire being inundated with flood water. One of the worst consequences of this for the residents of Tewkesbury, near Ashchurch, was the failure of their water supply due to a plant treating drinking water being flooded. Tesco and EWS made rapid arrangements to help out by ferrying large quantities of bottled from Mossend to the MOD depot, via Bescot. This picture shows 66207 arriving at Ashchurch with 6Z12, the 07.30 from Bescot. The water, carried on pallets in the ferrywagons, will be offloaded by fork-lift truck and then taken by road the short distance into Tewkesbury. The train will run beyond the exchange sidings to the south of the roadbridge upon which I was standing, reverse into the sidings and then propel its train along the branch, formerly the line to Evesham and Redditch, visible on the right of the picture.
	Here is 66207 after the procedure I outlined above has taken place. The branch has 2 footpaths crossing it and a shunter walked alongside the track in front of the first wagon to ensure that no pedestrians were in danger, the man being in radio contact with the driver at all times. This train seems to have required some fairly complex manning arrangements in that a Didcot driver appears to have come here by road to relieve the Bescot man, who would not sign the branch, the latter returning to the West Midlands by road. Another crew came, presumably from Worcester, to unlock the ground frame allowing access to the the exchange sidings. All this would have to happen again, but in reverse when the train leaves Ashchurch for Bescot in the late afternoon when it runs to Gloucester to run round, there being no egress to the north for trains leaving the exchange sidings.
	The sun had shone pretty much all morning up to the point when 66207 with 6Z12 appeared in the distance and went into the down loop at Ashchurch. A Voyager, a 170 and a 158 passed in sun but clouds built up just as the train of bottled water was given the road out of the loop onto the main line. The only glimmer of sun came as it reversed around the curve on the line towards the MOD facility. Here is 6Z12 about to disappear into the undergrowth surrounding the short branch.
	The Didcot to Ashchurch MOD trains have been running recently and with one booked to run on Tuesday 31 July 2007 I decided to go and photograph it. 6B36 has to run north past Ashchurch in order to run-round at Worcester as there is no access to the exchange sidings and branch from the south. Here is 66133 approaching the road bridge adjacent to Ashchurch station spot on time at 09.30 with its short train comprising of Warflats with vehicles for repair or maintenance. The exchange sidings are clearly visible on the left, although only the centre road in currently in use.
	Whilst waiting for 6B36 to return to Ashchurch from Worcester I also photographed 66159 on a long rake of IZAs conveying bottled water from Mossend to Avonmouth. The train, 6Z12, ran from Bescot as part of an initiative between EWS and Tesco to aid the victims of the recent flooding in Gloucestershire who have had no fresh tap water for some 10 days. The water is brought back north by road and distributed as necessary. Two trains of water went into Ashchurch MOD but it was announced on 30 July that the Army's involvement in this part of the operation was to cease from the following day.
	66163 was not far behind 66159 on 6Z12 and here is 6B36 running slowly through Ashchurch station prior to entering the exchange sidings and heading to the MOD facility, along the short branch visible on the right. The water tower appearing over the light green footbridge is a survivor from steam days when Ashchurch station was the interchange point for traffic from the Evesham and Redditch branch and that which ran to Upton on Severn. There were then 4 platforms and all the associated infrastructure. The present station is a fairly new re-opening at which one train each way per hour calls throughout the day with additional services during the peak hours.
	Once 66133 and 6B36 had left the main line and was locked in, it soon propelled the light load of road vehicles onto the branch. Here it is about to curve round through the undergrowth preceded by a man on foot to protect the 2 foot crossings. Click on this hyperlink to have a closer look at a couple of the vehicles in the train's consist. There was no return traffic and 66133 returned light engine to Didcot.
	I gleaned from various locomotive lists on 18 September 2007 that a class 66 was rostered for 6E55, the Theale to Lindsey empty oil tanks. Having photographed several 60s on this working reccently I thought it would be good to get something different and as Hatton is on the way from Lea Marston, decided to go to a spot at the entrance to the cutting on Hatton Bank. Here is 66003 with a good rake of tanks, some of the newer ones being just visible in the background, pretty much spot on time at 16.09. This area has seen some rampant proliferation in undergrowth in recent times and it is becoming difficult to find a clear patch for a long train, in the summer months, at least.
	Another set of six FLHH hoppers for in-warranty rectification work were taken from Hunslet, near Leeds to Long Marston on 6 May 2008. This time the locomotive was 66723 and 4Z73 is seen about to pass over the boarded foot crossing at Lower Moor, near Pershore. Despite the clear sky behind the train, quite a lot of cloud had built up near the sun and a large piece obscured the sun only a few seconds after the train had passed me. The secondman in the cab of 66723 seems to be amused by something - my large floppy hat maybe?!
	Most of the freight traffic on the Birmingham to Reading line is of the intermodal variety with both EWS and Freightliner sharing the traffic. 66593 is here seen at Whitnash representing the latter with the company's 4O54, the 06.13 Leeds to Southampton on the stiff climb out of Leamington Spa towards Harbury tunnel. Class 66s don't seem to have too much a problem even with trains loaded to in excess of 1300 tonnes and with a less than full load, 66593 was making very light work of the job on 7 May 2008.
	Thursday 8 May 2008 was a bright and sunny day and I decided to go to the bridge on the Norton Lindsay road at Hatton to photograph the northbound WSMR train due at about 10.45. First to come though was a convoy of locomotives running from Kidderminster to Furzebrook for a gala at the Swanage Railway. I must say that I have no interest in preserved lines, especially when something like a class 50 is for some reason painted into a two-tone green colour scheme whch the class never carried, but even so, this was too colourful a trainset to ignore as it rolled down Hatton Bank. The locomotives are 66724, D444, 37906, 37275 and 20096.
	I saw a message on the morning of 20 May 2008 saying that 66709 was working a 4Z87 Hunslet to Long Marston and after a quick check, realised that I didn't have a decent shot of this locomotive taken on digital equipment. I didn't want to travel too far as my day-to-day car was having the climate control re-gassed so would have to go in my 1969 Morris Minor - not a problem as it's as least as reliable as any more modern car, but the seats aren't all that comfortable for long journeys! With that in mind I went to Evesham, just for a change, and arrived to see an a FGW Adelante, 180104, sitting in the down platform. An HST soon arrived heading east so I knew that 4Z87 wasn't going to be too far away. The sky was uniformly cloudy with just a few small breaks but my luck at this location held yet again and the sun came through as 66709 appeared on the curve behind the signal box. I think this is 66709's first visit to the Cotswold Line and to Long Marston but there was no way I was going to beat the train to the latter in Albert the Morris so headed home.
	One of the few regular freights through Hatton not formed of intermodal or freightliner stock is 6E55, the Theale to Lindsey Oil Refinery empty tanks. On 21 May 66168 was diagrammed for the train which is here seen passing Hatton North Junction. A class 60 is usually on the front of this working, in which case there are normally plenty of reports of its whereabouts. The average enthusiast appears to be so locomotive orientated that when a much rarer traction for the train, a 66, is diagrammed their almost infantile attitude that "I'm not photographing that, it's only a shed" means that those of us with an interest that goes beyond the machine at front have no idea if, or when, the train is coming.
	There were a couple of train running on the GWR route from Birmingham to Leamington Spa in which I was interested on Saturday May 24 2008. The first to appear was 4m21, the Felixstowe to Hams Hall intermodal headed by GBRf's 66723. This had been looped in Hatton Down Goods Loop to allow a Chiltern Turbo to pass and is here seen exiting the loop and passing through the main line platform. There is really nowhere along this line to photograph this train with the sun in a decent position so I settled for this shot which at least has plenty of detail to enable it to be identified rather than something taken in an anonymous piece of countryside.
	A Open Day was held at Long Marston on Saturday 7 June 2008 and for the first time in recent years, a railtour from Euston was organised to take passengers directly into the site. I didn't go to the Open Day as I don't have much interest in photographing endless lines of static stock, especially when I have photographed pretty much all of them in much more interesting circumstances when en-route to the site. I also have little interest in railtours but didn't want to miss the chance to record the first passenger train on the branch from Honeybourne since 15 October 2000, so here is a filthy 66182 topping 1Z58 as it slowly approaches the end of its journey. The light here is not favourable at this time of day, especially when the sun is shining on some parts of the scene and not others. Still, I was happy to get a record shot...
	The train from Euston to the Long Marston Open Day was tailed by 66081, seen here as 1Z58 cautiously crawls along No 1 road watched by a bevy of photographers and staff ensuring nothing amiss happens to the train on the ancient trackwork.
	Long Marston has seen some odd-looking trains in recent years but this must take the biscuit for the oddest. 666722+66724 arrived from Leeds with a single FLHH hopper on Friday 13 June 2008 but the return working, 4Z89 to Crewe was the real focus of interest. 87002 Royal Sovereign was due to be taken out prior to a loaded test run next week but I wasn't really expecting to see such a mixed train being formed up in the exchange sidings. Here is 66722 with 87002, a Cargo-D Mk3, and 3 FLHH hoppers tailed by 67724 leaving the site at about 16.00, nearly 2 hours late following a delayed arrival. Following a period of fine weather it was perhaps inevitable that this interesting move was made in appallingly bad light under leaden skies and with a fine drizzle falling.
	I didn't hang about once 4Z89 was on the move and arrived at Honeybourne with just a few seconds to set up my long lens and fix the camera onto a monopod. There was only a short delay before the crew member seen here made his way towards the ground frame to obtain permission to set the points so that his train could join the main line. The light was worse here than at Long Marston and a real contrast to the beautifully sunny conditions I enjoyed here earlier in the week.
	There was obviously no passenger train due in either direction as the road was soon set for 66722 and its ensemble to leave Honeybourne East Loop and join the Cotswold Line to head for Evesham, Worcester and Crewe. Here is 4Z89 with 87002 clearly visible through the murky weather standing in the platform at Honeybourne, the fresh paint reflecting the vegetation on the currently disused island platform. Later in the journey, 66722 was sent from Worcester Yard to rescue 60093 which had failed on 6V07, the Round Oak to Margam empty steel train. The Metronet locomotive dragged 6V07 to Worcester Yard before rejoinng its own train and heading north to Crewe.
	The new GBRf initiative, a sort of modern pick-up goods serving Long Marston runs every Tuesday and Friday and is currently conveying FLHH hoppers receiving new bogies. I have covered some of the runs and knowing that only a single hopper was forming 4Z87 from Hunslet on 10 June 2008 wasn't going to bother until I remembered that a GBRf locomotive, 66722 had been left at Long Marston over the weekend in order to make an appearance at the Open Day. With the prospect of a double-header in mind I had a trip over to find the Metronet livieried locomotive at the head of 4 hoppers in the exchange sidings, to which was added a further four a few minutes after my arrival. The train locomotive for 4Z87 was 66724 which is here pictured after a slightly early arrival waiting for the gate to be opened.
	It wasn't long before 66724 ran into No.2 road and the single hopper shunted off by the resident class 08. This allowed 4Z89 to be formed and after a long period of checking brake connections and couplings the train moved gingerly towards the exit road, where it sat for some time. So long in fact that as the sun was becoming too straight for a decent shot and with about 45 minutes until the booked departure time I decided to leave Long Marston and make the short journey to Honeybourne.
	I expected to have quite a wait on the side of the roadbridge at Honeybourne before 4Z89 came into view, but it was only about 10 minutes before I heard a horn on the branch and 66724 appeared. Somewhat unusually, the train stopped on the curve in the distance with only the leading locomotive visible but after a few minutes normality reasserted itself and it ran towards the ground frame. The countryside has lost its fresh green appearance and nearly all the Spring blossom has disappeared, with the exception of the Elderberry bushes.
	There was about 30 minutes before the booked departure time and with no sign of movement from the cab of 66724 it looked as if 4Z89 would wait for the booked time. I spent a few minutes taking a few shots from different angles as this was the first time double-headed 66s in different liveries had appeared here. With plenty of time in hand I then decided to make a move to the other side of Evesham to take full advantage of the sunshine.
	The nearest decent location without a long walk, for which I might not have had time, is Lower Moor and I arrived there to find a small gallery in situ. I hadn't really thought that the train could have gone but a bit of reassurance is always nice! It was around 15 minutes before a horn announced that 4Z89 was coming and here it is running at a good speed through the attractive countryside between Evesham and Pershore on the way back to Leeds.
	A regular afternoon working to be seen at Hatton North Junction is 4M36, the 13.10 Southampton to Birch Coppice intermodal. This was hauled by 66067 on 23 June 2008 and was, as usual, not fully loaded. I don't mind a couple of empty flats at the front of the train as long as there are plenty of containers further back in the consist to balance the composition. 4M36 had been held in Hatton Loop and the exhaust resulting from getting the train back on the move can be seen above the locomotive.
	Tuesday 17 June 2008 started off dry, warm and sunny and I quite fancied another crack at getting a decent photograph of 66709 during its second run on the Cotswold Line, while on its way to Long Marston with the 10 HXA hoppers forming 4Z87 from Leeds (Hunslet). I used the opportunity to give my 1969 Morris Minor an outing and decided that a run around the Worcestershire countryside wouold be just the job. I arrived at Lower Moor just a couple of minutes before an up HST went past at 11.54 so guessed that it would only be a matter of some 20 minutes before 66709 put in an appearance. Sure enough, after about 18 minutes I heard a two-tone horn and then the train appeared around the curve behind the houses. It was good to get a proper length train again as the very short consists that turn up on occasions on these runs aren't nearly so photogenic.
	An early morning locomotive allocation list for Friday 27 June 2008 showed 60085 as being on 6X36, the Didcot to Ashchurch MOD train. Members of the class do not often appear on this working so as the sky was reasonably clear at home I made the 30 minute drive across to Northway, just north of Ashchurch station. I arrived at about 09.20 not knowing if the train had already gone north to Worcester so that 60085 could run round the load before returning south to the MOD depot. In the event it was about 40 minutes late and came not long after the sun went into some heavy cloud as shown here.
	The Ashchurch MOD train normally takes around 60 minutes to reach Worcester, run-round and get back to Ashchurch. On 27 June 2008 considerably more time than this elapsed despite the fact that 60085 had been reported as leaving Worcester at least 20 minutes after the report had been received. It turned out that the 60 had failed in the Bredon area, a couple of miles to the north and that 66161 had been taken off the Cardiff to Handsworth empty scrap wagons and was to run light diesel to Ashchurch emergency crossover, cross onto the wrong road and go the site of the failure in order to pick up 6X36. The 66 didn't take too long to appear and is here seen running "bang road" towards Bredon. The crossover can be seen just south of the road bridge - a piece of very rare track!
	The rescue process didn't take long to accomplish; hardly surprising when one considers that at least 5 passenger trains were queueing behind it and the Newcastle to Plymouth HST was cancelled at Birmingham New Street. Here is 66161 with the failed 60085 and 6X36 pottering along Ashchurch Loop clearing the line so that the backlog could be moved. In fact, the first Voyager was just coming into sight by the time this photograph was taken and several other delayed services were soon back in motion.
	I wasn't too sure how long 6X36 would remain in the loop at Ashchurch so after a few minutes I made the short trip to the roadbridge on the south side of the station. I didn't have too long to wait until I saw the point blades move to allow the train to run forward to the entrance to the exchange sidings from where it would be propelled onto the branch, formerly the branchline to Alcester. Here is 66181+60085 heading towards the MOD depot with its train of Panther Command and Liaison Vehicles , a few of the 401 new vehicles of the type currently being delivered to the army. Just before this shot was taken a rare chance to see three trains all together presented itself as 170110 charged south and 170102 worked north. The locomotives came off the branch a short while later, just after another class 66 had gone north light diesel to Worcester (or Norton Junction) to reverse and work 6A32 to Didcot. 66161 was presumably sent back to Gloucester to retrieve the Handsworth scrap but I didn't hang about to see what actually happened.
	It's been quite a while since I saw an infrastructure train during the week on the Birmingham to Gloucester line so when a friend told me that 66183 was on its way with a 6W83 Filton to Crewe Basford Hall working I was quite pleased. I always wanted a photograph of a northbound train at Defford to show the differently coloured salad crops in the field to the left. My wife assures me that the red crop is Lollo Rosso a popular and it must be said trendy, addition to the plates of the nation. The crop on the right is asparagus, that most noble vegetable of the Spring now sadly out of season for another year.
	The remaining 22 JPA cement wagons were scheduled for removal from Long Marston on Wednesday 23 July 2008. The details, timings and locomotive were identical to the move on the previous day, even to the early running of the light locomotive! The main differences on the day were that the JPAs were placed in road No.2 of the exchange sidings and that the sun shone - both better for photography. Here is 66718 in the sidings while brake tests are carried out, the train standing in sun but with a rather misty background evident.
	The brake and other checks went smoothly and 66718 with 6Z91 to Earles Sidings pulled out of the exchange sidings at Long Marston some 45 minutes early in a nice patch of sun; despite the favourable forecast there was actually quite a lot of cloud in the area. The locomotive is named "Gwyneth Dunwoody", the late Member of Parliament for Crewe and Nantwich, whose death earlier this year forced a bi-election the result of which was a loss of a formerly safe Labour seat to the Conservative candidate.
	Once 6Z91 had cleared the sidings I made my usual move down to Honeybourne Junction and arrived just as a down HST was leaving for Worcester. 66718 came into view on the East Loop a couple of minutes later, but with an up passenger due as soon as the previous one had reached Evesham, it wasn't going to move for at least 20 minutes. The uniform rake of tanks look smart behind the clean locomotive but it's a pity the very high sun at this of year is not conducive to good photography. There really is little point in taking pictures in July and August between the hours of about 10.00 and 15.00, but if the target train runs in that window, what can one do? The up HST soon came and went and as soon as it had reached Moreton-in Marsh the road was set for 6Z91 to leave the East Loop and cross over the spur and join the Cotswold Line towards Evesham, Worcester and then on to Earles Sidings via Birmingham and Derby.
	Some of the JPA cement wagons that went for storage on 19 March 2008 were removed and taken to Earles Sidings on Tuesday 22 July 2008. 66718 was the GBRf locomotive allocated to the job and it was reported as arriving from Hams Hall at Evesham at around 09.30, some 65 minutes early. I went to Long Marston to find the resident Hunslet 0-4-0 bringing the wagons into road no.1 of the exchange sidings ready for the 66 to be attached. There was clearly no path southwards onto the single track of the Cotswold Line as 66718 didn't reach its destination until 10.53. It was soon put onto the JPAs in the siding and the usual checks took place.
	Before too long, and slightly ahead of the booked departure time, 66718 drew 6Z91 cautiously out of Long Marston's exchange sidings and onto the branch to Honeybourne. It was apparent that the wagons have weathered since their arrival; hardly surprising considering the largely inclement conditions we have so far enjoyed this summer. One of the wagons had been detached from the back of the consist and I wonder if there had been a problem with the brake valve as there had been a lot of activity around the back of the train, accompanied by much hissing as brakes were blown off.
	After a fairly cloudy morning, the afternoon of Monday 21 July 2008 turned a lot clearer so I had a trip to Hatton North Junction to photograph anything that came along. First was 66603 on 6M01, the Hinksey Yard to Stud Farm empty ballast wagons. This was the first time I can recall having seen a 66/6 on this train and the mix of wagons was also unusual with the small yellow boxes in front of the much larger hoppers. Summer has clearly arrived, shown by the profusion on wild flowers in this location, including a large patch of Ox Eye daisies (Leucanthenum vulgare) covering a lot of the public footpath. There were also hoardes of ants, so much so that I had to tuck my trousers into my socks to avoid a repeat of an occasion last year when I received about 20 bites on my ankles!
	Trains conveying infrastructure materials are not especially common these days on the GWR line from Birmingham to Leamington Spa so when a friend telephoned to say that 66011 was working a 6X43 from Rotherham to Eastleigh Yard consisting of bogie bolsters loaded with continuously welded rail, I thought it worth a photograph. The time of the call was 10.10 on 18 July 2008 and the train was booked to pass Hatton at 10.30 so given a following wind and no milk tankers I felt there was just enough time. In the event, 6X43 was swallowed by the Birmingham black hole and ran some 45 minutes late as here seen passing Hatton South Junction. Just in front of it was 960014, the blue & grey "bubble" recently used to train Arriva Voyager drivers on the Chiltern Line ready for the summer diversions occasioned by the weekend engineering works on the West Coast Main Line.
	I spent a short time on Hatton station during the morning of 22 August 2008 with the intention of photographing a couple of freights from the platform to show the bright new colours being applied to the metalwork of the bridge and passenger shelters. The first train to appear was 4O54, the Leeds to Southampton freightliner which was chargong down the bank in the hands of 66576. The sun was obscured behind clouds for most of the time I was there but was in luck both for this train and for 66166 hauling 4O04, the Washwood Heath to Eastleigh intermodal which came a short time later.
	There was considerable disruption to trains along the Birmingham to Coventry corridor on Saturday 8 March 2008. Some reports suggested that a cable theft had taken place while another said that some trouble had been caused by a rail-grinder, but whatever the cause it was undeniable that problems were in evidence, exacerbated by the need to run all WCML services along the line because of engineering work on the Trent Valley. My main reason for going out was to try and get a photograph of 90021 on the empty stock of the up sleeper, 5M16, whose passengers had been detrained at Crewe and sent forward by bus. In the event, due to crewing problems this was dumped in Bescot Yard. However, various freights did run in daylight after being delayed and held at Bescot and these are always welcome on this line, which normally doesn't see much in the way of locomotive movements in the daytime. The first to come along was 66550 with a 6Y33 ballast, photographed passing near Wootton Green on the outskirts of Balsall Common.
	The next freight to appear at Wootton Green was 4M30, the 19.53 Grangemouth to Daventry intermodal running in the region of 8 hours late in the hands of 66407. The weather on 8 March 2008 wasn't particularly good, but I thought it worth the trip out to record a few of these normally unphotographable trains. It's a pity that no real variety in the shots is possible at this location which results in the pictures all looking remarkably similar!
	This freightliner train, hauled by 66570 is 4L90, the 08.43 Lawley Street to Felixstowe running only about 2 hours late, one of the more-on-time freights on 8 March 2008. The sun had only just been obscured when the train went by, but the dark sky sort of compensates for the lack of direct light. Thanks to Ron Kosys for this one's ID.
	I am confident that this train, hauled by 66406, is 4M62, the 22.22(Friday) Coatbridge to Daventry intermodal. This should have passed Rugby at 07.50 but didn't appear at Wootton Green until 12.33, thanks to the disruption around Stechford. Crewing must become something of a problem when trains are running so late, and I was told that some services had had to left at Bescot because of the drivers' allowable hours being exceeded.
	The number of trains conveying steel slab between the north-east of England and South Wales have greatly diminished in recent times, but one survivor is 6V36 which tends to run on Tuesdays and/or Thursdays, with the balancing working, 6E09, working the following day. Here is 66146 with the Lackenby to Margam train passing Lea Marston on 18 September with the loaded wagons. There were, as usual, no advance reports because a class 66 was on ther front.
	This is the view at Whitacre Junction looking towards Water Orton and Hams Hall Freight Terminal. The train is 6P20, the 08.05 Crewe Virtual Quarry to Mountsorrel headed by Freightliner's 66514, which will head towards Nuneaton at the junction rather than turn left and go towards Burton-upon-Trent and Derby. It's been a long time since the sign suggesting that the locomotive passing by is a class 25 could be considered accurate...
	This picture is in almost complete contrast to the one of 66514 shown above. This time it shows EWS' 66130 with a loaded ballast train from Mountsorrel en-route to Westbury. The train is coded 6V59 and will layover in Washwood Heath Yard for several hours before continuing on its journey to the south-west. I had to take the photograph rather earlier than I intended because a large chunk of cloud had begun to obscure the sun in the foreground and I wanted to keep the locomotive in at least partial sun.
	After spending a couple of hours at Lea Marston during the morning of 18 September 2007, I moved around the corner to Whitacre Junction once the flow of freight at the former had dried up. I had been there a few minutes when 66083 appeared from the Nuneaton Junction with 6E11, the 09.30 Rugby Up Yard to Immingham train of empty MBAs, the wagons having conveyed coal to the cement works. 6E11 was running some 80 minutes early on the booked times. This location isn't what it used to be; a proliferation of pallisade fencing and a large casting-shadow tree have conspired to make it less attractive as the years have passed.
	Adding to the green effect around Lea Marston is 66617 with its train of FLHH hoppers forming 4E42, the 09:30 Rugeley to Barrow Hill. This passed me at 10.50, making it just about 30 minutes early on the booked time. Compared to some 20 years ago, there is a distinct paucity of coal traffic over this line. The loss of regular trains to and from Didcot Power Station really cut down the amount of trains; in fact, this might just be a case where the correct use of the word "decimated", i.e.reduced by a factor of 10, is probably justifiable.
	The weather forecast for Tuesday 18 September 2007 promised a sunny morning with clear blue skies. I went over to Lea Marston for a session just to photograph anything that turned up, with no specific target in mind. The first train to turn up was 6E08, the 07.18 Wolverhampton to Doncaster train of empty covered steel vans. The motive power was 66063 and it is here seen about to the pass under the road watched by a small gallery taking advantage of the favourable light.
	Another steel train was next to turn up at Lea Marston, this one being the 6D37 Bescot to Burton-upon-Trent working with a different type of covered vans. The locomotive in charge of this train was 66030, the red livery contrasting nicely with the mostly green background.
	The final train I photographed at Hatton South Junction on 24 October 2007 was 4O54, the 06.13 Leeds to Southampton freightliner. This came around the curve in the region of 35 minutes late and nearly caught me off-guard as I was in the process of phonong a friend to find out where it was. It was been known to run early and I had wondered if it had passed before I arrived. I had to take a quick grab shot, but as so often happens it came out fine. The Autumnal colours are really beginning to show now, along with the accompanying intrusive shadows from the trees on the site of the goods yard in the triangular junction.
	From Hatton South Junction I made the 10 minute walk to North Junction. While passing the entrance to the station I noticed that a car parked on the approach road, recently adorned with double yellow lines, was being dragged onto a low loader as it blocking access for a lorry delivering materials for the weekend engineering work. That commuter would have had a shock later in the day! My main target for North Junction was 4O21, the 12.19 Washwood Heath to Southampton intermodal, but as I was halfway along the nettle festooned footpath, an EWS 66 went south with what I took to be this train running some 70 minutes early. I carried on as there were a few other shots to be had and was surprised but pleased when at 12.52 66193 appeared under the Shrewley Road bridge with another intermodal. It turned out that the train I had missed was a very late 4O53 04.30 Wakefield Europort to Southampton intermodal. There was a permanent way gang working on the points from the up main line to the Stratford branch and given the rusty state of the branch tracks, something had been wrong for a few days as there is a daily early morning movement from Birmingham to Stratford-upon-Avon over this line.
	A northbound Virgin Voyager went past me at 11.58 and then I heard a class 66 working hard as 66084 came around the curve from Hatton station with 4M33, the 08.10 Southampton to Burton on Trent intermodal. This train had obviously been looped just south of the station and was making an uncharacteristic amount of exhaust as it got the heavy trailing load on the move again.
	66194 was the next to appear with what I took to be a slightly early 4O21 Washwood Heath to Southampton intermodal. In fact though, I was later told that it was actually a very late 4O53 05.40 Wakefield Europort to Southampton which should have passed here not much after 08.00. There are several EWS container trains on this line at the moment and their 66s do make a change from the many Freightliner locomotives seen here. The Autumnal colours are really beginning to show now as are the longer shadows and quite a long lens is needed here to get beyond the worst of them.
	My final shot from Hatton North Junction on 29 September 2007 was of 66517 on 4M55, the 08.58 Southampton to Lawley Street freightliner running spot on time. This was exceptionally well loaded and came very slowly to the summit of Hatton Bank despite having had a clear run without being looped. The bright green grass in the right foreground has only recently been planted, the whole of this area being given over to the production of turf. As a regular visitor here I am amazed at the amount of work necessary to produce good quality turf with several specialist agricultural vehicles being in use.
	Engineering work between Rugby and Northampton caused some freight services to be diverted from the WCML to the line through Hatton on Saturday 3 November 2007. This train, 4O27 the 05.29 Garston to Southampton freightliner was not diverted, but with the perfect Autumn sun showing off the colours around Hatton South Junction there was no way I was not going to press the shutter release. A lot of cloud was coming from the north-west and the sun was obscured just a matter of seconds after the picture was taken, but the dark sky adds to the attraction of the scene.
	The first diverted freight that I saw at Hatton on 3 November 2007 was 4M21, the 03.05 Felixstowe to Hams Hall intermodal. This arrived in Hatton Down Goods Loop just before 10.00 and was booked to remain there until 11.50. However, as soon as a Marylebone to Birmingham Snow Hill train had cleared the section at 10.10, the points were switched and 66723 took its fully loaded train through the platforms and on towards Hams Hall. I'm fully aware that I was in the wrong place for a northbound train and that the light was simply dreadful, but I took the shot because the routing of this service when diverted is unpredictable, so I made the best of a bad job to get a picture of a "Barbie Shed" on my patch. The rear of the train is in the final few feet of the loop but the crossover leading to the down main line is hidden behind the station footbridge.
	This train is 4O69, the 09.19 Hams Hall to Dollands Moor intermodal, another which normally runs up the WCML. This was due to pass Hatton South Junction at 10.01 but was 67 minutes leaving Hams Hall, the lateness having extended to 90 minutes by the time it reached me on 3 November 2007. I have no idea from where the patch of sun appeared as the sky was a mass of cloud only seconds before the train headed by 66044 came around the corner from Hatton North Junction. The Autumn colours here are just about at their peak and the first windy day will see an end to them.
	It was unfortunate that arguably the most interesting of the post-Christmas class 325 drags took place in simply dreadful light. Metronet 66722 was rostered for 1F31, the Wembley to Warrington train on 3 January 2008 in place of the usual class 47. It was an absolutely freezing cold day with a strong wind so I certainly wasn't going to travel far and wanted somewhere with a least a modicum of shelter. As there was no sun I decided to have a shot from the north side of Berkswell station, just about the closest reasonable location to my home. The train was running a little under an hour late due to a problem with the units at Wembley and passed me at speed just before 10.55. The ground signal visible in front of the locomotive controls the entrance to a siding used occasionally for on-track plant during posessions. It once was the start (or end!) of the branch which ran to Kenilworth Junction. If reinstated, it would be a useful diversionary route for freight as it would completely avoid Coventry. There were proposals to re-lay it in the 1980s when a plan was launched for an opencast coal mine in the area, but sadly, nothing came of it.
	Here is 66151 going south away from Worcester after its run-round in the yard there with a short MOD train for the MOD depot at Ashchurch. These trains, from Didcot, have to go to Worcester on order to run-round as no access to the MOD sidings is available from the south. Even though the light was quite poor I have decided to include this shot in view of the train itself, a collection of water tanks, containers, a generator and a field ambulance.
	Here is a picture from Stoke Prior dated 29 March 2008 showing a freight diverted from the North & West route. Headed by a dirty 66213, 6M60, the 08.18 Tavistock Junction to Bescot train of loaded china clay hoppers was crawling along under yellow signals ready to enter the loop at Bromsgrove prior to being banked up the Lickey Incline by another class 66. Even in the few minutes since 55022 had passed by, the light had further deteriorated to the point where I wondered if a shot was worthwhile. Common sense prevailed though, so I at least I managed a "sort-of" shot but with the hope that there will be a sunny morning to improve on this photograph before the diversions end. If there isn't a better morning then at least I have a record of the diversion.
	I hadn't intended to go out for any photographs on Monday 31 March 2008, but the cancellation of a lunchtime concert in Birmingham Town Hall (although not known about until I reached the venue!) gave the opportunity to pop up to Hatton North. I originally thought that 6E48 with 60030 and 6E55 with 60012 were due to come, although it later transpired that the former was booked to run via the GWML and MM Lines, although no-one in the know bothered to post this useful piece of information. As I approached Hatton I saw a Freightliner class 66 in the Down Goods Loop and thought I might have a chance of getting to North Junction in time. It's a walk of about 12 minutes from the village of Shrewley, where I parked, to the photo-spot and as it happened I had plenty of time before 66530 appeared with 6M01, the Hinksey to Stud Farm empties. The locomotive was making a lot of smoke for a train of empty wagons, but this adds a little to the picture.
	Trains of stone have recently started running from Croft Quarry, in Leicestershire, to Brierley Hill. This seems to happen every now and again, the last contract being several years when stone from Mountsorrel was delivered for a few months. The train, 6Z42, the 1105 from Croft runs to Worcester Yard to allow the locomotive to run-round before returning north along the line from Droitwich to Stourbridge Junction where it turns left onto the line to Brierley Hill and Round Oak. 66148 is here seen crawling towards an adverse signal which will be cleared as the train approaches, a "feather" aspect being shown for the junction onto the single line to Droitwich.
	Just a few minutes behind 6Z42 was another special working, this time with a DRS class 66 on the front. This train was 6Z70, the 08.57 Heywood GF to Westerleigh RTS conveying a Stoneblower, DR 77002 which managed to come in the thickest piece of cloud in the area and just as a local farmer had lit a huge bonfire in an adjacent field. This accounts for the rather misty and dull appearance of the photograph...
	Whilst returning home with my wife from an afternoon stroll on Sunday 6 April 2008, I noticed a class 66 standing just outside Stratford-upon-Avon. Locomotives here are quite rare so I went home, picked up my camera and went back for a closer look. 66152 was standing on the rear of a train of redundant track panels. The crew had just arrived and were checking over the train prior to departure. Here is another view of 6P01 taken from a slightly different angle and as a snowstorm rapidly approached. The following saw the train, minus locomotive, standing in platform 2 of the station. I had hoped to see something coming from Bescot to pick up the wagons but nothing appeared in between the usual DMU traffic.
	One of the regular 6Z28 workings from Stapleford to West Ealing ran on Friday 4 April 2008. I have been meaning to go out and get a picture of this for a while and as the weather was reasonable at lunchtime, I took the opportunity to go over to Hatton. Unfortunately, things don't always run entirely smoothly and my shot of 66561 with the train isn't quite sharp. A Chiltern Trains' class 168 was just pulling north out of Hatton station as 6Z28 came slowly around the bend under adverse signals caused by a Stratford branch train having just gone south and I had to take the picture much earlier than I had planned. Due to a lack of concentration on my part, the focusing point was too far forward rendering the image a little "soft".
	It is sometimes good to go out with the intention of photographing some entirely routine trains as I did on 8 April 2008. I do tend to do this only if the light is spot on as I can't really see the point in obtaining a photograph of something that is is less satisfactory than a picture I have previously taken. Here is 66589 rounding the bend at Hatton some 25 minutes early in charge of 4O54, the 06.13 Leeds to Southampton freightliner. The sky was rapidly becoming cloudy by this time and without the likelihood of any further southbound activity I went home.
	This shot at Hatton station wouldn't have been possible until the recent resignalling work undertaken in the area. The train is the northbound West Ealing to Stapleford move of the High Output Ballast Cleaner which was looped in the Down Goods Loop to allow the passage of a down passenger train, and which was released through the Stratford-upon-Avon branch platform to rejoin the main line. Before the recent work, freights could not use this platform as trains had to fit between the signals in order for the track circuits to allow the setting of the road and signal aspects. In fact, this short train fitted quite nicely and probably would have previously been able to make the move, but standing orders prohibited it unless in an emergency. 66549 is here seen after being released from the loop and making its way north. Here it is again on the spur to the down main that has been very rarely used until recent weeks.
	This picture looks quite ordinary but in fact there are relatively few infrastructure trains of the GWR line from Birmingham to Didcot. This one is 6T94, the 08.54 Bescot to Didcot, running in the region of 90 minutes late, in the capable hands of a very grubby 66165 during the morning of 25 January 2008. The locomotive was working hard at this point despite running under clear signals; it was loaded to 31 full wagons with 12 empties tagged onto the back, so I guess there was a considerable weight to be pulled along. The light was rapidly deteriorating when the shot was taken but the sun just managed to poke out of a bank of cloud as 6T94 came around the bend towards me.
	I always like to obtain one or two pictures of 4M21, the 03.26 Felixstowe to Hams Hall intermodal during the winter, when it is frequently diverted via Oxford and Hatton. There aren't too many decent locations north of Leamington Spa but I do quite like this spot on Hatton Bank, even though the back of the train is lost in undergrowth, and the shot is also just about possible if the train uses the down goods loop in the foreground. I saw 66725 coming very slowly up the bank and thought for a moment that it was to go, as booked, into the loop. However, the slow speed was more a function of a very long and heavily loaded train, a strong headwind and finally, the 1/110 gradient from Warwick.
	Here is 66585 at Budbrooke on 6M01, the Hinksey to Stud Farm empty ballast train. This usually conveys 2 or 3 different wagon types and today was no exception with several varieties being visible in the consist. This location near Warwick is really only usuable during the winter and spring period as the undergrowth on the embankment tends to grow up and cover the train wheels during the summer months. Maybe Network Rail will clear it one day if falling leaves from the bushes cause problems in the Autumn...
	It was while standing on the footbridge at Hatton North Junction on 6 February 2008 that I message reminded me that there had been severe disruption around Derby after a power cable was accidentally severed by contractors. The train I had planned on photographing earlier, the Leeds to Southampton freightliner, had just reported at Landor Street in Birmingham and I reckoned should be with me in around 45 minutes time. Here is 66589 leading 4O54 through Hatton North Junction at 12.48 some 2 hours late. The shadows here are still problematical and the use of a long lens is necessary to avoid the worst of them.
	After waiting for an obviously late 4O54 at the roadbridge at Hatton Station, I decided to move down the line to North Junction. I knew that D1015 was running light engine from Tyseley to Reading and that 66027 was just in front of it with 4O53, a Wakefield to Southampton intermodal. In view of the perfect lighting I decided to go for a broadside shot of the 66 as its red livery would contrast nicely with the green background; hoping of course that there would be some containers immediately behind the locomotive!
	During the week of 10 February 2008, all trains had to be diverted away from the GWR line from Birmingham to Leamington Spa because of extensive engineering works. The majority of Freightliner's services ran from Nuneaton to Coventry, but 4O54, the morning Leeds to Southampton was booked to use the line from Stechford to Coventry, before turning right for Kenilworth and Leamington Spa. Here is 66501 with 4O54 passing Wootton Green at 10.59 on the sunny morning of 12 February. It was fortunate that the front couple of flats were loaded or the picture would have looked slightly less attractive, although the filthy state of the locomotive doesn't help. The early mist fuelled partially by pollution from the Birmingham conurbation has almost burned off although the remnants can be seen in the background.
	I went to Norton Junction, near Worcester, on 3 March 2008 with the intention of photographing 6V05, the morning Round Oak to Margam empty steel train. I had just arrived when the signal dropped and 66108 came around the curve under the M5 motorway with a short rake of flats from Didcot to Ashchurch MOD. This train has to run to Worcester so that the locomotive can run-round the stock, as Ashchurch's exchange sidings cannot be entered except from the north.
	There were several interesting and unusual movements on the Gloucester to Birmingham line during the morning of 4 March 2008. The forecast was for good sunny spells so I decided to go a bridge near Badgeworth, south of Cheltenham where the light would be spot-on for a northbound train. The first freight to appear was 6M96, the loaded steel coils from Margam to Corby in the capable hands of 66187. Here is the train on the approaches to Cheltenham under a virtually cloudless blue sky.
	I wasn't expecting to see a train of loaded HTAs at Badgeworth on 4 March 2008. This one, headed by 66199 is 6M38, the 05.00 Portbury to Radcliffe train running a good 3 hours late. A bit of cloud was by now building, and to my eyes, this makes an attractive addition to the sky as I feel that clouds, obviously in the right place, are a distinct advantage from a photographic point of view.
	After photographing a special working to Cheltenham Races on 13 March 2007 I decided to hang on at Norton Junction as the 6V05 Round Oak to Margam is generally not far away by 10.45. A pair of class 158s, 158760 + 158766, in   Trans-Pennine livery went south, then a Adelante came north from the Cotswold line and whilst this was negotiating the pointworks 66205 with 6V05 crept into view around the corner to stop at the bracket signal. As soon as the Adelante had gone beyond the outer starter the points were changed and 66205 moved off and is here seen approaching the junction and accompanying GWR signalbox.
	I had sort of hoped that 6V05, the 09.35 Round Oak to Margam empty steel service would be in the charge of a class 60 on 16 March 2007; not because I don't like 66s, but more that I had already photographed one of the class here on this train earlier in the week. It was not to be, as this shot of 66250 shows, with the train about to pass Norton Junction, near Worcester. The outer starter signal is "off" for an up train and this was actually under the road bridge as I pressed the shutter...
	My plan for the sunny morning of 21 March 2007 was, if a class 60 was booked on the 6V05 Round Oak to Margam empty steel, to go Norton Junction to photograph this working under the semaphore signals as I had seen a class 66 on the train on two occasions the previous week. The best laid plans and all that; no 60 was shown as being anywhere near Round Oak so I decided to go over to Hatton Bank and get a few workaday bits on my local patch, there not being much of any interest to me elsewhere in the Midlands. I arrived at Hatton at about 10.45 to find about 75% cloud cover and with the prospect of a short stay and no shots in decent light. The first train to appear, at 12.10, was 4E44, the 05.25 Southampton to Leeds freightliner, with 66575 in charge. I saw this coming for some time with the sun trying to exit a large black cloud. Fortunately, the train was moving sufficiently slowly up the 1/110 gradient to allow the shadows to go just in time.
	The train of scrap from Brierley Hill, on the truncated former freight line from Stourbridge Junction to Walsall, was shown as running om 16 August 2007. 6Z86, the Tuesday and Thursday only 14:34 Brierley Hill to Cardiff Tidal was in the hands of 66024 and it arrived, in slightly better light than 6V07, at 15.35. This is a heavy train and the locomotive was working hard to keep the load on the move towards Norton and Abbotswood Junctions.
	While waiting at Norton Junction earlier in the day I had noticed a plum tree laden with ripe fruit in the hedge close to the signal box so went back to collect a few. I had just left the car when I received a text message from a friend at Evesham saying that 66153 had just left the station hauling a single TDA from Long Marston. After a few minutes the signaller left his box, shouted up to me saying that it was coming and prepared himself for the token exchange. One doesn't see much of this these days so I was pleased to get a picture of the exact moment when it changed hands.
	The final train to appear during a short session at Defford on 24 August 2007 was 6V07 from Round Oak to Margam. This is another service that is watched by some enthusiasts because it often produces a class 60 but today 66162 was provided. The unit en-route to Worcester, 158813, is in just the right position for a crossing shot and to my eyes at least, enhances the scene.
	While I was at Defford during the afternoon of 24 August news of a stock move from Stewarts Lane to Tyseley came to my BlackBerry. The train was to be formed of WCRC's 47245 with 37248 DIT along with some coaching stock which required tyre-turning. News of progress was fortunately available and I decided, in view of the weather, to have a pop at the train in just about the only location where the sun would be favourable until at least 19.30, Hatton North Junction. The first non-passenger train to appear was 6M58, the 14.10 Southampton Western Docks to Bescot behind 66056. This is a long train run for the Ford Motor Company and tonight consisted of 3 types of car carriers. Unfortunately, because of the line's curvature, the more modern red wagons are out of sight behind the covered variety. This picture was taken at 19.05 which is pretty much the right time for this service.
	One of the 2 class 60s in the obsolete Loadhaul livery was in charge of the Lindsey Oil Refinery to Didcot Power Station oil train on Wednesday 29 August 2007. Before returning to Lindsey as 6E48 it was failed with a TPWS fault but was expected to run the following day with the 2nd empty oil train of the week included in the consist as a double load. It did, but with 66150 leading as here seen passing Hatton about 45 minutes late at 17.00. I assume that 66150 was the train engine for the southbound run with the loaded tanks in the early morning. This wouldn't have been my first choice of location but time was limited when I received news of the train's movement, and this is just about the closest location to my home.
	Here is 66518 with 6M01 Hinksey Yard to Stud Farm heading north alongside the M40 near Rowington as a Marylebone-bound class 168 recedes into the distance. This is one of the freights one can usually rely on seeing on 3 or afternoons during an average week. This time there is quite a mix of types and colours amongst the wagons; the train is quite formed just of the lower-sided JNA variety.
	While waiting for a by now terminally late 6E48 Didcot Power Station to Lindsey during the evening of 5 September 2007, 66240 came north on a well loaded 6M58 Southampton to Bescot conveying another load of white Ford Transits to annoy the country's motorists. The train passed at 19.02 just a couple of minutes after the sun had dropped out of a piece of that annoyingly dense cloud often seen at last knockings. I do love the light at this time of day; it's so much more attractive than the flat mid-day light during the summer. Just after 66240 had passed Hatton North Junction I learned that 60095 on 6E48 was just passing Radley, south of Oxford, so not having the O. Winston Link gear in my camera bag went home still without the photograph I should have had 3 hours earlier. Next week, maybe...
	During the early afternoon on 5 September 2007 the sky began to clear and, knowing that grey-liveried 60095 was due to haul 6E48 from Didcot Power Station to Lindsey oil refinery, I decided to have another trip to Hatton North Junction in an attempt to get a decent photograph of the working, the one which had eluded me the previous week. The empty oil tanks are due there at around 16.15 but by 17.00 nothing had appeared, so I phoned a friend who can get sometimes get hold of running updates. He told me that 6E48 was still at Didcot but an imminent departure was expected. This being so and with the light being perfect, I phoned home and obtained a late pass! At 17.17, 66002 tried to sneak by, the noise from the nearby M40 couple with frequent aircraft movements to and from Birmingham International and Coventry airports meaning that one sometimes can't hear quiet freights coming. It turned out that this intermodal was 4M36 from Southamton to Birch Coppice runnning in the region of 3 hours late. I was quite pleased about this as when the train runs to time it is heavily backlit so a "light on the nose" shot was welcome.
	6V07, the 13.21 Round Oak to Margam empty steel train is often watched by enthusiasts because it sometimes produces a member of the currently in-vogue class 60. On Tuesday 11 September however, 66068 was provided, but to me it the whole train that is of interest and not just the motive power. I was pleased that the red EWS wagons were at the front of the train as these don't seem to appear as often as the covered vans, known colloquially as "pig sheds". The location is the (too) well known Croome Perry wood near Pershore in Worcestershire.
	The Corby to Margam empty steel train, 6V92, is quite popular with enthusiasts because it regularly produces class 60 motive power. On Friday 24 August 2007, a class 66 was rostered for the job meaning that fewer than the usual number of email reports of the train's progress were sent. Here is 66115 passing the site of the station at Defford in Worcestershire with 6V92 in some lovely late summer sunshine.
	One of the freights I was expecting to see on 21 March 2007 was 4M36, the WThO 08.10 Southampton to Birch Coppice intermodal with an EWS 66 on the front. This didn't appear at all and my next shot was of 66542 with an early-running 4M55 09.28 Southampton to Crewe freightliner. This arrived some 55 minutes early at 12.32 and was turned into the down goods loop despite there being nothing to pass it for at least 20 minutes; plenty of time for it to have run to Dorridge loop or even on to Small Heath. Once again the sun co-operated for me, this time with a satisfyingly dark sky. There has been some engineering work going on at Hatton, the up line having been relaid at this point together with some new AWS units being installed on both the down main line and goods loop.
	My original plan had been to move a few miles north after photographing 4M55 but I was loath to go in case 4M36 was running and I missed it whilst on the road. This being the case, I decided to stay put and spent a pleasant couple of hours in the warm sun watching some buzzards performing their courtship displays over the adjacent fields together with a few shots of the regular Chiltern and Virgin units on scheduled passenger workings. I knew that 60019 was on the way north with an empty oil train from Theale, but in front of this would be 6M01, the 14.08 Hinksey Virtual Quarry to Stud Farm empty ballast train. This arrived pretty much at the right time with 66529 on the front, yet again in a more than lucky patch of sun with a decently cloudy sky in the background.
	An empty rake of HTAs is diagrammed to run from Washwood Heath to Portbury in the early afternoon and on 2 April, 6V16 was in the hands of 66040, the same locomotive as I photographed on the train at Defford last week. The train had clearly had a clear run past Abbotswood Junction as it was going a quite a lick when I photographed it at Croome Perry at 14.31`.
	The weather forecasts have been pretty accurate so far during the week before Easter 2007. On Wednesday 4 April, the day started grey and misty in Stratford-upon-Avon, but by lunchtime the cloud was beginning to break. A message arrived on my BlackBerry saying that Freightliner's new 66584 had just left Hinksey Yard, Oxford with 6M01 to Stud Farm. I had plenty of time to drive over to Shrewley and walk to Hatton North Junction. The sun was trying to break through as the train passed, but didn't quite manage it until about 10 minutes later....
	Earlier in the week, I had photographed 66233 on the southbound working of the Daw Mill to Didcot Power Station coal train and was thus keen to get a decent shot of the return, 6M53. I was already at Hatton North Junction during the afternoon of 4 April 2007 and as the sun was shining from a perfectly blue sky I decided it would be silly to go before it had come. Here is 66100 accelerating slowly around the curve, having been held in the down goods loop to allow the passage of a Chiltern Trains class 168 on a stopping train to Birmingham Snow Hill.
	Coal from Daw Mill colliery, near Coleshill, has again been running to Didcot Power Station. I saw, although didn't photograph, a return working one evening last week and was keen to get a shot of the loaded southbound run. Monday 2 April 2007 was the ideal day, with wall-to-wall sun promised throughout the day, so I presented myself on the roadbridge adjacent to Hatton station about 30 minutes before what I guessed to be the right time for 6V32, the 08.57 from Daw Mill. Things don't always work out perfectly and the train hadn't made an appearance by 10.30. Fearing that it might have been cancelled, I made a 'phone call to a friend in the know, to be told that it was, at 10.50, just passing Dorridge behind a Virgin Voyager. The long train of 29 HTAs passed me in lovely Spring light at 11.01.
	I like to visit certain locations perhaps once or twice each just to keep an up-to-date record of how traffic, the background and vegetation growth changes. One of these is Lea Marston, on the fast lines between Water Orton and Kingsbury Junction, and I paid a visit on Thursday 8 August 2007. No sooner had I arrived on the bridge at about 09.00 than 66505 came into view with a not very well loaded 4O54 Leeds to Southampton freightliner. I'm ambivalent about the southbound shot here; I think it is just about acceptable with a longish train but the expanse of bare ballast on the left and the somewhat anonymous and green background don't do the picture any favours.
	Here is another picture from Lea Marston taken on 8 August 2007. This time it shows 66174 in charge of 4E69, the 05.15 Southampton to Wakefield Europort enterprise service; on this occasion yet another poorly loaded container train. The background has dramatically changed since the demolition of Hams Hall Power Station, the cooling towers of which once dominated and enhanced the view. The first container is about to cross the River Tame - from "Tamworth", near where is its source, and which further downstream used to be just about the most polluted water course in the Midlands. These days. the water quality has improved although the amount of ammonia contained in the water, as a result of it being used to carry the effluent from Minworth sewage works, is still a cause for concern. However, further upstream the water quality is excellent and the river supports a variety of aquatic life.
	This train, or at least its locomotive, was the subject of some anticipation and confusion on 6 April 2007. The working is 6V32, the 08.57 Daw Mill to Didcot Power Station and TRUST was showing 60063 to be allocated to it. I heard it approach the signal at Hatton North Junction where a short wait was necessary as a southbound passenger train was in front of it, and then heard it move away a couple of minutes later. The unmistakeable sound of a 66 getting a heavy train on the move was not exactly what I wanted to hear when the much rarer 60 on a power station coal train was expected, but at least the older HAA hoppers were used; hence my inclusion of this photograph to give a comparison with the one a little way below taken earlier in the week.
	The return working of 6V32, the Daw Mill to Didcot coal train as shown above is 6M53, and it is here seen passing Warwick Parkway at 16.30 on the afternoon of 6 April 2007. This shot won't be available for more than a few days now the trees and bushes are in their season of rapid growth. As it was I needed to use a 180mm lens (270mm in 35mm terms) to find a big enough clear spot on the embankment. This embankment comes to end just a few yards to the north, and this was the site of Budbrooke signal box, which used to control the entrance to the goods loop that now starts much further north at the beginning of Hatton cutting.
	It was just before 3pm at Abbotswood Junction when a really dirty class 66 turned up at the head of 6V07, the 13.21 Round Oak to Margam empty steel service. The locomotive is particularly dirty, almost as if it has had to run through a flood - note the mud on the "cow-catcher" and the bogies. The train is leaving the Worcester line by means of the single track lead and about to join the main Birmingham to Gloucester line. It was, unusually, quite a short train; 6V07 is often the best loaded of the daily services from Round Oak and is generally twice the length of this one.
	A relatively new train was the next to come south, this being the 6Z89 08.15 Lindsey to Westerleigh loaded bogie oil tanks. This showed up at 15.27 behind 66164 and was routed along the main line, the "Old Road", rather than via the Worcester branch. This is a pleasant location and it is to be hoped that the mindless vandals in charge of installing totally unnecessary pallisade fencing across the countryside don't have this field in their sights.
	This is a fairly new addition to the freight working timetable; 6Z46, the 10.52 Halewood to Southampton loaded car train. Once again, it is the train itself and the load that are of interest rather than the motive power. 66225 was in charge on Saturday 21 April 2007 and the ensemble is here seen passing the car park at Berkswell en-route to Southampton via Coventry, Leamington Spa and Oxford. After Didcot, the train will be running via Chippenham due to engineering work on what would be be its normal route via Basingstoke.
	I started off the morning of 30 April 2007 at Norton Junction, near Worcester, with the intention of photographing 6V05, the 09.38 Round Oak to Margam empty steel carriers. However, the first train to appear was 6B36, the TX-Q 07:09 Didcot Yard to Ashchurch train of MOD supplies headed by 66111. At 10.18, the light was still a little straight with not really enough illumination on the sides of the locomotive and vehicles, but I took it the shot largely because of the clear signals under which the train was running. In the event, 6V05 was cancelled but a small bonus appeared in the form of  47839 running light engine to Worcester Yard prior to going to Long Marston where a short rake of KAA flats was due to be taken to Crewe. I don't normally bother with light engine photographs but thought that this one was worthwhile in view of the semaphore signals and the human interest in the form of the lookout protecting a gang working on the track near the bridge.
	I have had several attempts to get a good picture of 4M36, the 11.15 Southampton to Birch Coppice intermodal service but have usually been thwarted by either bad weather or a poor load on the train. On 1 June 2007 the weather was good but the front of the train was not well loaded as it passed Hatton North Junction after coming out out of the down loop where it had been recessed to allow a Virgin Voyager, a Chiltern Turbo and 67013 on an ECS to pass. At least the curvature of the track here allows some of the containers to come into view, and in fact, I quite like the effect of the empty flats followed by the loaded.
	The weather was again warm and sunny on Thursday 5 April 2007 and with a few freights running on the Leamington Spa to Birmingham line I had another trip to Hatton. The first of the trains in which I was interested was 6M31, the Banbury to Mountsorrel Laharge self-discharger. This is scheduled to pass Hatton just after 10.00, but on this day was running a little over one hour late. Still, the light gets better here as time passes and a wait in the pleasantly warm sunshine was no chore. Here is 66148 having just passed the entrance to the down goods loop on Hatton Bank at 11.21.
	The weather on Friday 27 April 2007 ran close to the forecast; a dull start with sun appearing later in the day. Once the sun had burned through the mist and cloud I went over to Bentley Heath, near Dorridge, to photograph 60068 on the 6E55 Theale to Lindsey empty oil tanks. I was also expecting to see 6M01, the empty ballast working from Hinksey Virtual Quarry to Stud Farm and sure enough 66548 rounded the curve from Dorridge station at 15.25 with a train of HQA hoppers. This is an unusual consist for this train as the usual wagons are the much smaller JNA variety. Still, with variety being the spice of life and all that, I wasn't complaining.
	Part of the West Coast Main Line was closed on Good Friday, 6 April 2007 and some of the freight was diverted via Birmingham and Oxford. The only one I bothered with was 6M76 Mossend to Wembley which I hoped might have had a class 92 DIT, as was the case with a much earlier train the same morning. Sadly, only 66133 was provided for the run south and the train is here seen passing Hatton South Jnction, just about spot on time at 09.02.
	This is a train that I have been meaning to go out and photograph for a while now; the 4M36 Southamton to Birch Coppice intermodal. Sadly, on 5 April 2007, there wasn't much of a load as it climbed Hatton Bank behind 66139. It makes a change to see an EWS locomotive in charge of containers on this line, as most of the trains are run by Freightliner.
	Brierley Hill, on the former freight line from Stourbridge Junction to Bescot, has recently seen a small number of trains conveying scrap metal. There was the first of what will hopefully become a regular flow today, 14 February 2007 when 66187 took a train of   containerised scrap to Southampton for export. This working is here seen leaving the Worcester line and about to join the main Birmingham to Cheltenham line at Abbotswood Junction, from where it will run via Gloucester and Swindon to Reading, Basingstoke and Southampton.
	Coal from Daw Mill colliery, near Coleshill, does sometimes run to Didcot Power Station. I saw, although didn't photograph, a return working one evening last week and was keen to get a shot of the loaded southbound run. Monday 2 April 2007 was the ideal day, with wall-to-wall sun promised throughout the day, so I presented myself on the roadbridge adjacent to Hatton station about 30 minutes before what I guessed to be the right time for 6V32, the 08.57 from Daw Mill. Things don't always work out perfectly and the train hadn't made an appearance by 10.30. Fearing that it might have been cancelled, I made a 'phone call to a friend in the know, to be told that it was, at 10.50, just passing Dorridge behind a Virgin Voyager. The long train of 29 HTAs passed me in lovely Spring light at 11.01.
	Earlier in the week, I had photographed 66233 on the southbound working of the Daw Mill to Didcot Power Station coal train and was thus keen to get a decent shot of the return, 6M53. I was already at Hatton North Junction during the afternoon of 4 April 2007 and as the sun was shining from a perfectly blue sky I decided it would be silly to go before it had come. Here is 66100 accelerating slowly around the curve, having been held in the down goods loop to allow the passage of a Chiltern Trains class 168 on a stopping train to Birmingham Snow Hill.
	The weather was again warm and sunny on Thursday 5 April 2007 and with a few freights running on the Leamington Spa to Birmingham line I had another trip to Hatton. The first of the trains in which I was interested ws 6M31, the Banbury to Mountsorrel Laharge self-discharger. This is scheduled to pass Hatton just after 10.00, but on this day was running a little over one hour late. Still, the light gets better here as time passes and a wait in the pleasantly warm sunshine was no chore. Here is 66148 having just passed the entrance to the down goods loop on Hatton Bank at 11.21.
	This is a train that I have been to go out and photograph for a while now; the 4M36 Southamton to Birch Coppice intermodal. Sadly, on 5 April 2007, there wasn't much of a load as it climbed Hatton Bank behind 66139. It makes a change to see an EWS locomotive in charge of containers on this line, as most of the trains are run by Freightliner.
	The weather forecasts have been pretty accurate so far during the week before Easter 2007. On Wednesday 4 April, the day started grey and misty in Stratford-upon-Avon, but by lunchtime the cloud was beginning to break. A message arrived on my BlackBerry saying that Freightliner's new 66584 had just left Hinksey Yard, Oxford with 6M01 to Stud Farm. I had plenty of time to drive over to Shrewley and walk to Hatton North Junction. The sun was trying to break through as the train passed, but didn't quite manage it until about 10 minutes later....
	An empty rake of HTAs is diagrammed to run from Washwood Heath to Portbury in the early afternoon and on 2 April, 6V16 was in the hands of 66040, the same locomotive as I photographed on the train at Defford last week. The train had clearly had a clear run past Abbotswood Junction as it was going a quite a lick when I photographed it at Croome Perry at 14.31`.
	Here is the train referred to above, albeit with HAAs rather than HTA hoppers, with 66040 quietly and efficiently slipped under the roadbridge at Defford with the 6V16 coal empties from Washwood Heath to Portbury. I decided, for this shot, to put on a slightly longer lens to cut out some of the distracting background and to bring up the tree with its blossom just bursting into flower.
	The 05.48 Margam to Corby train of steel coils, 6M96, os generally class 60-hauled, but on 6 March 2007 66205 was provided. Here is the train near Stoke Works Junction travelling very slowly as it prepares to enter Bromsgrove loop to pick up another class 66 as the banker for the grind up the Lickey Incline. There are not that many freights up the Lickey in daylight hours, but most of the loaded trains of steel and coal are banked. Just before I left, 60028 with 6E41 Westerleigh to Lindsey went north and this was also looped to await the banking engine despite being a train of empty tanks. Sadly, the light for this move was dire and I didn't bother...
	The morning of 7 September 2006 dawned bright and sunny and I decided to have a trip to Ashchurch in order to try out my new 300mm Nikkor prime lens. As this is designed for 35mm cameras, the equivalent focal length on my D200 is in the order of 450mm, slightly more powerful than the 8x binoculars I also carry. The first freight to appear was 6V35 Lackenby to Llanwern and here it is passing over the road crossing just north of Northway. The locomotive was working extremely hard with around 2000 tonnes on the drawbar, and the telephoto lens really accentuates the exhaust haze.
	This must have been one of the "workings of the year" in 2006. On 6 September 2006, the Bridgwater to Crewe nuclear flask working, 6M67, was allocated DRS locomotives 20307 + 37605, but the class 20 failed before departure. As these trains' safety case states that 2 operational locomotives must be on the train Freightliner Heavy Haul's 66620 was summoned, presumably from Bristol Barton Hill. Here is the train, just some 45 minutesd late, at Defford in Worcestershire, having just passed over the River Avon.
	Saturday 7 October started out with a clear blue sky so I drove to Hatton with the aim of photographing 4M21, the Felixstowe to Hams Hall intermodal and 4054, the Leeds to Southampton freightliner near the station. Whilst waiting for 4M21 in a one-way location, 4O54 went south and when 4M21 came I let it run too far towards me, with the result that the loco's cab was in shadow. I knew that 66165 was coming north on a 6M69 Portbury to Rugeley coal train and decided to move to Hatton North Junction for this, and a little later, 4O02, the Lawley Street to Southampton freightliner. 6M69 would clearly be well backlit at this time of day so I planned to take a wide shot to minimise the dark loco front which would result. The heavy train passed me near the summit of Hatton Bank at 11.35, having taken 2 hours for the journey from Culham, near Didcot.
	I spent an hour or so near Hatton during the afternoon of 23 November 2006 with the intention of photographing 60069 on 6E48, the 13.35 Didcot Power Station to Lindsey empty oil tanks. I placed myself in a location with not much potential for anything heading south so had to make the best of a bad job when 66055 turned up with an early running 6Z50 Mountsorrel to Westbury ballast. Still, the combination of bright sunshine, some Autumnal colours and a colourful train made for a reasonably atractive photograph and gives a good view of the wagons used on this service.
	The use of two of GBRF's new 66s on an Old Oak Common to Derby move predictably caused a great deal of interest on Saturday 13 January 2007. 66727 and 66726 running as 5Z81 topped and tailed a pair of barrier wagons before taking 3 MkIII coaches from Derby to Laira. The short ensemble is here seen passing Hatton station in extremely dull conditions at 10.31, some 30 minutes early on the schedule despite a late start from London. The train was booked to sit in Hatton Goods Loop but in the event was routed down the main line a few minutes behind a Marylebone to Birmingham Snow Hill class 168 unit.
	4O02, the Saturday morning Lawley Street to Southampton freightliner, can usually be relied upon to run pretty much on time, being booked to pass Hatton at 12.13. Today, 7 October, it passed Hatton North Junction at 12.14 with 66568 taking 57009 DIT to its destination. The junction visible is that for the branch to Stratford-upon-Avon via Claverdon and Bearley. There is only one train booked over the pointwork and curve to Hatton West Junction - an ECS to Stratford first thing in the morning.
	Here is 66118 hauling 4V09, the 13:36 Washwood Heath-Portbury empty HTAs came south past Defford on 2 November 2006. It is noticeable that these class 4 trains really take advantge of their higher permitted speed of 75mph. This train certainly wasn't hanging about and was running easily as fast as some of the passenger trains on the route.
	My first sighting of a GBRF Metronet class 66 took place today, 31 August 2006. 66718 was allocated to work a 5Z98 08.40 Laira to Derby Litchurch Lane train of HST stock for refurbishment. Interestingly, the locomotive was taken to Plymouth on the rear of the down Paddington sleeper rather than work down light engine. 5Z98, complete with "Vulture Squadron" headboard is here seen near Defford in Worcestershire some 20 minutes early at 12.57 in somewhat poor light. Still, it would have been difficult to have photographed this working with a clear sky on the Cheltenham line at this time of day as the sun would be pretty much straight down the lens.
	Here is 66089 hauling 4V09, the Washwood Heath to Portbury empty HTAs at Defford in Worcestershire. This was really moving and can't have been doing much less than its permitted 75mph. I had hoped to get a picture featuring the tractor and baler in the adjacent field, and this was to be the only one as not much straw was left to be collected. The tractor finished its job soon after this image was taken.
	The line through Cheltenham was closed at weekends in Septemebr 2006 and whilst most freights, if running at all, are diverted via Hereford, one or two are scheduled to run via Swindon and Oxford to Birmingham. On Saturday 23 September 2006, 6M04 the 10:00 Portbury-Washwood Heath coal train was reported as passing Kings Sutton at 14.38. This just gave me time to get to Hatton - and it was "just" - as I could hear the train hauled by 66159 coming as I parked my car in the station at 15.12. Fortunately, the train was moving quite slowly at this point thanks to the 1/110 ruling gradient of Hatton Bank. I chose this location to ensure that the background was identifiable, something I like to do for diversions.
	There is, to my eyes, something particularly unsatisfying about a poorly loaded intermodal train. I have never seen such a light load on 4M21, the 03:26 Felixstowe to Hams Hall service as there was on Saturday 9 December 2006, although it wasn't quite as bad as it looked with a few containers being conveyed on the rear of the train, out of sight beyond the footbridge. The attraction was, of course, the use of GBRF's Metronet 66718 and this was my first sighting of the sub-class on the line through Hatton.
	One of my fairly rare Sunday outings took place on 19 November in order to photograph 66416 + 66418 topping and tailing a RHTT move from Crewe to Willesden. The train, running as 6Z70, gave an unusual opportunity to record this formation along the Birmingham to Coventry line. It is here seen approaching Tile Hill, west of Coventry, at 13.14, just a couple of minutes down on the schedule.
	The line to Stratford-upon-Avon has seen major engineering work over the past 2 weekends. On Sunday 5 November, one of the work sites was at Bishopton where the up line was relaid overnight with CWR on steel sleepers. Train number 6P17 from Bescot headed by 66059 is here seen standing on the down line with a long rake of ballast wagons, which are being unloaded by a pair of rail-mounted machines, currently out of sight beyond the Bishopton Lane bridge. Any locomotive is a rare sight on this line these days, so the chance to photograph an engineering train is not one to miss.
	A relatively new train to run over the Birmingham to Didcot line is 6Z50, the 11.45 from Mountsorrel Quarry to Westbury, conveying ballast. The reason for this apparently strange move is that Southampton Docks is no longer used for unloading ballast to allow for more intermodal trains to run. I had previously taken a couple of shots of this train, but one was in dreadful light and the second was simply not sharp so when a message came through on 26 October saying that 66048 had passed Whitacre Junction at 13.05 I decided to take advantage of the sunny afternoon to redress the balance. I also planned to move south after photographing 6Z50 in order to get a shot of 60051 on a 6E48 Didcot Power Station to Lindsey working, but in the event, this came north whilst I was still waiting in a "one direction" location for 6Z50, which eventually passed Hatton South Junction at 16.02, by which time shadows were beginning to encroach on the scene.
	The morning of Saturday 4 November was sunny and crisp and armed with the knowledge that at least northbound freights were due to climb Hatton Bank within the next hour or so I went across to a favourite location just south of the cutting. The first train I was expecting was a Portbury to Rugeley train of HTAs but a photone call from Kenilworth saying that this was running via Coventry put paid to this. At 10.18 66078 appeared with what appeared to be the Banbury to Mountsorrel SDT but with loaded hoppers. This turned out instead to be 6M31 Hinksey VQ to Mountsorrel - the train had run to Banbury as normal, but a problem there resulted in it being diverted to Hinksey and then returned from whence it came. The gradient at this point is 1/100 and with a heavy load in tow, 66078 was working hard to keep the train moving.
	4M21, the 03.26 Felixstowe to Hams Hall intermodal is booked to run via Oxford and Solihull during the winter months, so giving an opportunity to photograph a GBRF 66 at Hatton. This train is scheduled to use Hatton's Down Goods Loop, but in my experience at least, rarely does so. This picture shows 66712 easing its train off the main line and into the loop at 10.35. I chose this location as it is just about the only spot where a picture of a train in the loop is possible in the winter - just in case... After taking this picture, I went to the farm shop at Hatton and when leaving there saw that 4M21 was still static just south of Hatton station. It eventually moved off northwards at 11.11 after 3 trains had passed it.
	One of the most reliable trains on a Saturday at Hatton is 4O02, the 11.14 Lawley Street to Southampton freightliner. It is normally double-headed, often by a 66 + 57 combination, in order to get a locomotive to Southampton after an unbalanced working. There was no 57 today as this picture of 66538 + 66533 about to pass Hatton station demonstrates. Still, I think a pair of 66s has a particularly powerful appearance and as this is not especially commonplace was pleased to get this shot in clear winter light. The fuel tank on the leading 66 has the words, "Pastry Express" and "Dirty Leeds" drawn in the grime - I wonder what that's all about?
	The North Warwickshire line through Henley-in Arden sees little in the way of locomotive-hauled workings, so when I heard that major track replacement was taking place on Sunday 8 October I went over to have a look. I had been told that a 7P12 from Bescot was on the way south at about 13.00 so when I arrived at Henley at about 13.20 I expected to find an empty station with the prospect of photographing a class 66 hauled ballast passing through. Instead of this, I found 66159 standing in the up platform with a huge train of recovered track panels together with a road-rail vehicle on the down line from which the crew were sawing off some excess lengths of track. There was little other than this photograph to be obtained so I decided to have a walk along a public footpath running north from the station to see if a photograph of the front of this train, 6P11, was possible.
	As it happened, the leading locomotive of 6P11 was not in a good position so I walked further along the path to the next overbridge. Here, 66186 was standing in just the right place for a photograph with 7P12, the driver being given instructions by the PIC of Operations. It was a piece of luck that the stop boards protecting the possession had been placed some 15 yards from the bridge; they all too easily have been put somewhere less convenient.
	7P12 soon obtained permission to proceed and is here seen moving away towards the station. It stopped at the outer home signal which gave me the chance to walk back to the station for another crack at it, but not before this taking this image of the brake van number 993914 at the back of the train. This is a Shark brakevan and would have been used to spread the ballast dropped from the Seacows. It may have also been included in the consist because local regulations state that any train left without a locomotive i.e. for run-round purposes, must have a brake in the consist because of the falling gradient from Henley-in Arden to Bearley. Thanks for Dave Ashworth for this information.
	I had plenty of time to reach the station before the down line was cleared and 66186 allowed to proceed into Henley-in-Arden station. The train was under manual control and no signals were pulled off as the train passed the signal box and moved towards the possession. There is quite a contrast between this shot and the last I took here on 19 August when the Blue Pullman ran this way to Stratford -upon-Avon. By now, 6P11 with 66159 on the rear and 66185 on the front has pulled clear of the station, and I expected to see this train disappear towards Birmingham. In the event, something far more unusual was to happen...
	I was more than mildly surprised to see 66159 detached from the train and to see the points switched over to allow it to enter platform 3, or "the bay" as it is locally known. This piece of line is used just once each week day when an early morning train to Birmingham starts its journey here. I have never seen a locomotive make this move before and it gave me some degree of satisfaction to record it in the only sunny spell of the afternoon.
	The driver of 66159 pulled his locomotive sufficiently clear of the footbridge to enable me to obtain this shot of it it the bay with 66186 waiting to head south with its train of seacows. It probably won't mean much to non-locals, but this sight is pretty well unprecedented and is one of those are events that make the session really notable.
	66071 is here seen is passing fields of potatoes and asparagus with a rake of loaded HTAs from Portbury. This was 6M71 11:45 SX Avonmouth No. 5 Wharf EWS - Ironbridge Power Station, which judging by the exhaust and the low speed at which it was travelling had been looped at Eckington, a mile or so to the south.
	On 28 July 2006 there were only 2 class 60s active on the Cheltenham line. One of the trains often 60-hauled is 6V36, the 08.17 Lackenby-Margam loaded steel slabs, but today was in the hands of 66246. I wasn't at all bothered by this, as I have far more pictures of these steel trains with 60s than 66s...
	Saturday 7 October started out with a clear blue sky so I drove to Hatton with the aim of photographing 4M21, the Felixstowe to Hams Hall intermodal and 4054, the Leeds to Southampton freightliner near the station. Whilst waiting for 4M21 in a one-way location, 4O54 went south and when 4M21 came I let it run too far towards me, with the result that the loco's cab was in shadow. I knew that 66165 was coming north on a 6M69 Portbury to Rugeley coal train and decided to move to Hatton North Junction for this, and a little later, 4O02, the Lawley Street to Southampton freightliner. 6M69 would clearly be well backlit at this time of day so I planned to take a wide shot to minimise the dark loco front which would result. The heavy train passed me near the summit of Hatton Bank at 11.35, having taken 2 hours for the journey from Culham, near Didcot.
	This is 4Z55, the 10:00 Southampton-Leeds; a relatively new working over the Oxford and Solihull line, hauled on this occasion by 66574. It is seen approaching Dorridge against a background of trees beginning to change to their Autumnal colours. Some freights are routed over the down loop, but I was glad that this was not the case with 4Z55 as the shot would have been head-on and shadowed.
	One of the trains I have been keen to photograph over the past few weeks has been the 6X52 TWFO 16:30 Portbury-Washwood Heath loaded cartics. The shot across the field near Abbotswood Junction is one I particularly like so on Tuesday 18 July I decided to brave the almost tropical weather and went across, more in hope than expectation. I say this because last week I tried for the train on Wednesday and had to give up at 20.40, and after planning to go again on Friday, found out it was running very early and would not have had time to get there. So... I arrived at Abbotswood at 17.40, just in time to see a class 66 heading south on the 6V36 Lackenby to Llanwern steel slabs. Not a portent for all-round late running, I hoped. At 17.55, the train pictured here appeared. It looks like 6X52 except that all the wagons appear to be empty, so I'm not 100% sure. Still, it's a photo in the right spot at the right time, so I'm not too concerned.
	Freightliner and intermodal traffic is the mainstay of photographic interest at Whitacre Junction, neat Coleshill. This is 66517 with 4L93, the 10.08 Lawley Street to Felixstowe passing the exit from the Hams Hall complex at 10.38 on 25 July 2006.
	During the Spring and Summer of 2006, Freightliner HeavyHaul hired 2 DRS class 66s to cover a motive power shortage. 66407 is seen passing Whitacre Junction at 123.18 on 25 July 2006 with 6P27, the 10.50 Stud Farm to Crewe Virtual Quarry.
	I was working in my garden on the morning of 22 June when a message appeared on my BlackBerry to the effect that 66606 had just passed Evesham station en-route to Long Marston, no doubt to collect some stock. I was waiting for a parcel containing my new Nikon D200 camera body to be delivered so was twitching with impatience. Fortunately, UPS did their bit, my parcel arrived as did some more messages about the timing and destination of the train. It turned out to be 6Z71 11.29 Long Marston to Hitchin. As it was already 11.35 I decided to head for the nearest location with easy access, which is Lower Moor on the Cotswold line. The train consisting of 66606 and 18 of the JNAs stored at Long Marston passed me at 12.08. I like this shot as it shows the 1st 66/6 to use this line, and could almost be a "proper" freight service. Incidentally, this is being uploaded to my hosting server at 13.07, just within an hour of the picture being taken.
	During the morning of Saturday 15 July, a message came through that blue 60044 was working 6V36 Lackenby to Llanwern steel slabs. This is due in the Ashchurch area at around 17.15 so I planned to go over later. At about 14.00 another message came from Whitacre Junction saying that 60044 had just passed. This meant that the train was almost certainly 6V40, booked some 2 hours earlier than 6V36. There was plenty of time to get to Northway so I made the 35 minute journey from Stratford-upom-Avon. The first freight to appear, at 15.30, was this, 6Z97 Beeston to Cardiff Tidal loaded scrap behind 66531. This was a a bit of a surprise as I thought it had returned to its booked route via the Welsh Marches line.
	A welcome addition to the sparse freight traffic on the Leamington Spa to Birmingham line is the 6Z23(Q) 13:10 Southampton W.Docks-Bescot train, conveying Ford vans. As the evening of 11 July was particularly pleasant and sunny, I made the short drive (and quite long subsequent walk!) to Hatton North Junction, where I knew the sun would be spot on at around 19.00. At around the expected time, a Virgin Vogager followed by a Chiltern Trains class 165 went north. Seven minutes later 66049 came slowly around the bend demonstrating that 6Z23 had been routed into Hatton's down goods loop to allow the passenger trains to pass. This picture is timed at 19.05. The line leading off to the right is the rarely used connection to Hatton West Junction and thence the Leamington Spa to Stratford-upon-Avon line. The only timetabled train to use the curve is an ECS to Stratford in the morning, although the steam runs to Tyseley on summer Sundays return from Stratford this way.
	The second freight I photographed at Hatton North Junction on 11 July was the 6M65 Didcot to Carlisle. A message from further south had said that this was, as usual, quite a short train so I decided on a location to make it look more balanced. This picture was taken at 19.57 as the shadows really began to lengthen.
	I was expecting the 6V07 Round Oak to Margam allocated to 60016 to appear when this train came under the bridge at Croome Perry at 15.13 on 4 July 2006. I was surprised when what appeared to be this working appeared in the hands of 66012 + 66064. In fact, it later transpired to be a 6V54 1440 Worcester-Llanwern consisting of wagons that should have gone on 6V05 last Friday. Thanks to Mike Hollick for this gen.
	Here is 66089 hauling 4V09, the Washwood Heath to Portbury empty HTAs through Defford on 28 July 2006. This train was really moving and can't have been doing much less than its permitted 75mph. I had hoped to get a picture featuring the tractor and baler in the adjacent field, and this was to be the only one as not much straw was left to be collected. The tractor finished its job soon after this image was taken.
	66071 is seen here passing fields of potatoes and asparagus at Defford with a rake of loaded HTAs from Portbury. This was 6M71 11:45 SX Avonmouth No. 5 Wharf EWS - Ironbridge Power Station, which judging by the exhaust and the low speed at which it was travelling had been looped at Eckington, a mile or so to the south.
	There were only 2 class 60s active on the Cheltenham line on 28 July 2006 and one of the trains often 60-hauled is 6V36, the 08.17 Lackenby-Margam loaded steel slabs. Today, however, it was in the hands of 66246. I wasn't at all bothered by this, as I have far more pictures of these steel trains with 60s than 66s...
	I had a choice of trains to photograph on the afternoon of Saturday 1 July. There was 37417 with a rake of scrap wagons and a dead 66 from Northampton, 60099 on the 6Z41 Theale to Lindsey tanks, or 66555 with the diverted Beeston to Cardiff scrap. Not a difficult decision; I have hundreds of pictures of 37s around Birmingham, I already have a very decent shot of 6Z41 so the rare chance to get a Freightliner class 66 on the Cheltenham line was really my only option. The timing was fortuitous as it enabled me to be out in the warm sun and avoiding the histrionics associated with the World Cup football. There was a surprsingly large amount of cloud coverage at Croome Perry and I wasn't too surprised that the sun was obscured when 6Z97 came slowly under the bridge.
	Say what you will about class 66 locomotives, but there is no denying that they were ready to run "straight out of the box". This picture shows 66096 on an Ironbridge Power Station to Margam empty MGR working on Thursday 29 April 1999. Not that unusual, but it was only unloaded on Tuesday 27th! 645
	The lines to Stratford-upon-Avon either from Leamington Spa or Birmingham do not see much in the way of locomotives, other than occasional steam specials. It was therefore with some anticipation that I awaited this train, 6P06 from Bescot to Bearley Junction in connection with major track replacement on the North Warwickshire line. 66098 is seen here passing through Claverdon station on Sunday 19 March 2006. The train was slightly delayed, no doubt because the engineers weren't quite ready for it, but that delay meant that it came in a fortuitous patch of sun at 13.04. Worthy of note is the old BR double arrow sign at the entrance to the station. There are not too many of these around so click here for a closer look . There is another of these on the A3400 at the entrance to Bearley station. The bus shelter-syle station building here is a fairly recent replacement for the older GWR style construction.
	Sunday 26 March saw more engineering work on the North Warwickshire line south of Henley-in-Arden. There were fewer trains booked than the previous week, but I knew of 2, 6P06 and 6P05 which were timed to be at Hatton North Junction at 09.15 and 10.30 respectively. There was nothing in sight as I drove past Bearley Junction and assume that I missed the first, having arrived at Claverdon station at around 09.20 but thought a wait of around an hour not too bad. A friend arrived after a while and he said that a rake of yellow ballast wagons were on the line when he had gone by Bearley. Right then, it can't be far away. By 11.30 we were ready to give up and Steve cracked first, promising to 'phone if there was a sign of life at Bearley. Eight minutes later, my 'phone rang and Steve said that he was on his way back as the train was now moving. It took an age to reach Claverdon, but here is the result - 66089 on 6P05 to Bescot, a rare sight on this normally DMU-only line.
	66098 has obviously switched stock as it is now on a different rake as it prepares to join the Leamington Spa to Birmingham main line at Hatton North Junction with 6P04 from Bearley to Bescot. It is exceptionally rare to see a diesel locomotive on this piece of track; indeed, the only train other than the steam specials on summer Sundays to use the line to the Stratford-upon-Avon branch is a morning ECS move from Tyseley. There have, in the past, been occasional moves of the Royal Scotsman train returning north, and indeed one of these is my only such shot here, but this has not happened for quite a while.
	The working timetable shows that 6B36, the 07:09 Didcot Yard to Ashchurch MOD trains runs as a "Q", Tuesday excepted. It ran on Tuesday 6 June however and is here seen approaching its destination behind 66130. This train used to use the loop on the right-hand side of the picture to await its path into the exchange sidings - a propelling move blocking the main line - but as can be seen from the rust, these tracks are currently out of use. 6B36, with a load of armoured vehicles, passed me at 10.40 and duly entered the sidings. It appeared to have some difficulty getting onto the branch, and the locomotive could be heard slipping, even from some distance away. Following the passage of a Virgin Voyager, the 66 pulled the train back out onto the main line and had another go. This time, with much noise from the locomotive, the train was finally propelled down the branch at 11.11.
	The morning on Saturday 6 May 2006 dawned bright and sunny with the news that Metronet 66722 was working the 4M21 Felixstowe to Hams Hall intermodal. Off to Hatton then, I thought; that would be nicely as a broadside shot from the footpath across the field. Unfortunately, 4M21 ran very early and down the WCML but I didn't find this out until about 10.45. After a visit to the farm shop at Hatton for provisions, I decided to go the roadbridge by the station for 4O02, the Lawley Street to Southampton freightliner, as this is often double-headed. True to form, it was, by numerically similar 66534 + 66543.
	One of the workings class 66 took over until class 67 became more widely available was the SERCO train. Here, 66027 is topping the train as it passes Evesham signal box and the remains of the inner home bracket signal on 1 April 2005. 66030 was on the rear of the train. This was the only patch of sun that appeared all day, the return working from Oxford being witnessed in extremely dull weather. I suppose it has turn to out that way on occasions...
	The next 2 photographs show 66027 on another non-freight working. On 10 June 2000 the locomotive was used in top and tail mode with 66096 on railtour duties. Hertfordford's "The Sword and Pen", running as 1Z41 Finsbury Park to Stratford-upon-Avon and 1Z42 return came to my home town via the MOD facility at Fenny Compton. The train is here seen arriving at Stratford, pictured from the station footbridge.
	The same train as seen in the picture above is seen while shunting from platform 1 to platform 2 at Stratford-upon-Avon. Several young Network Rail "Suits" were in attendance for this exercise and their complete lack of experience and ineptitude was well demonstrated. As mentioned above, the train was run in TnT mode so one would have thought that a simple move such as this would have caused no problems. Wrong. First, 66027 was shutdown. Second, it was restarted and detached from the train. Third, and after a delay of some minutes during which the driver was consulted, the loco was re-attached and the shunting move carried out. There was, needless to say, considerable delay caused both to a local train from Birmingham and a Chiltern service from London.
	Class 66 is the standard motive power for EWS's intermodal traffic on non-electrified lines. When diversions are required for trains normally hauled by class 92 it is usual for the 92 to be removed but on 30 November 2002 the electric locomotive was left behind the 66 on 4M64 Wembley to Daventry. The somewhat rare sight of an electric loco on Hatton Bank is seen in this picture with 66149 hauling 92009 and its train towards Birmingham. The weather was, as one would expect for a working like this, extremely dull, hence the black & white image. The train was fortunately following a unit going to Stratford-upon-Avon so was travelling at walking pace towards an adverse signal, meaning that a fast shutter speed was not required.
	In the middle months of 2005, many class 60s were stored and their workings taken over by 66s. Previously solid 60 turns, such as the heavy steel trains from Margam to Round Oak in the Black Country were handed over to 66s, as witnessed by this shot of 6V07 Round Oak to Margam hauled by 66109 on 12 July 2005. The train is seen passing the well-known but nonetheless attractive location of Croome Perry wood near Pershore in Worcestershire.
	In my opinion, the most attractive livery currently carried by class 66 is the blue of GBRf. These variants, 66/7s, do not regularly appear on the GWR line from Birmingham to Banbury but diversions necessitated by engineering work elsewhere mean that some intermodal traffic traverses the line on occasions. This is 66717 with the 4L21 Hams Hall to Felixstowe approaching Banbury on 12 March 2005.
	Here is another view of the same working as shown above, coincidentally hauled by the same locomotive as it passes Hatton South Junction just as the sun began to appear after early morning mist on 21 January 2005.
	The autumn and winter of 2005 saw the 4M21 Felixstowe to Hams Hall diverted to run via Oxford and Hatton. There was a path shown too for the southbound 4L21 but it did not run, although even if it had, it would have before daybreak. Fortunately, 4M21 runs at a suitable time for photography and the train is seen here climbing through Hatton station behind 66714 on 24 September 2005. I had not intended to photograph this train here, but through early running was not able to get to my chosen location in time. In retrospect, I'm glad that I stayed here, because it does show a train in a clearly indentifiable spot, and I think that this is valuable with something diverted from its normal route. Hatton Bank still presents quite a formidable obstacle to heavy northbound trains with its several miles averaging 1/110 and even the normally quiet class 66 can be heard for some time before coming into sight.
	This photograph is dated 19 February 2005 and shows 66717 climbing Hatton bank with the diverted 4M21 Felixstowe to Hams Hall intermodal. I was a little later arriving than I intended because of icy lanes between where I live and the car park at Hatton, which meant that I was only halfway along the footpath to my chosen spot when the train came. Still, it's quite a decent close-up of the locomotive against a nice clear sky...This was the shot I was aiming for, taken a few minutes later of   67005 on a northbound railtour.
	In the spring of 2005 a short-term trial of MGR traffic took place from Daw Mill colliery near Coleshill to the cement works at Westbury. This train, given the headcode 7Z57, ran only for a few weeks, and I managed just 2 shots of it. This one was by far the better, being taken in reasonable light on 18 March 2005. The location is just to the south of Hatton cutting, and the locomotive is 66134. It seems a long time since regular rakes of HAAs were seen on this route, and it was so long ago that 66s had not been imported when the last regular trains to Didcot Power Station ran this way.
	The Bristol to Birmingham line has recently seen a resurgence in coal traffic from Avonmouth Bulk Handling Terminal to various power stations in the Midlands and further north. This picture shows 66246 passing Ashchurch station on 9 August 2005 with a train of loaded HTAs. Due to the coupling arrangements, only class 66 locomotives can haul these large hoppers, and should the 66 fail and need to be rescued by another class, it needs to be left in the consist for compatibility. This photograph was taken at 11.45 which accounts for the heavy backlighting in evidence.
	Taken from the same footbridge as the photograph above, this one shows 66233 heading south then minutes later with a rake of empty HAAs en-route to Avonmouth from Ironbridge Power Station for reloading. This train was running under the headcode 6Z72, whereas if it had formed of roller bearing fitted HTAs would have been a class 4, allowed to run at up to 75mph. One of the odder features of class 66 is the fitting of side mirrors to make shunting slightly easier for the driver. These are clearly visible in this picture.
	Class 66 does not have any booked passenger turns but can be seen on certain workings of the VSOE. The branch from Hatton to Stratford-upon-Avon is not cleared for class 67 locomotives so when the VSOE is scheduled to run to the town, class 66 has normally been diagrammed since the demise of the Royal class 47s. 660033 is seen here about to descend the 1/75 gradient from Wilmcote station, just visible in the background, with the attractive luxury train on 13 August 2003.645
	Some 6 weeks later, the train again ran in glorious light and this time I photographed it, behind 66150, a little closer to Stratford from the Bishopton Road bridge. I was glad that the EWS luggage had been marshalled at the back of the train. This always looks a little incongruous when compared to the chocolate and cream of the passenger stock. The train was running some 20 minutes early after having been given the road from Leamington Spa in front of a Marylebone to Birmingham Snow Hill service. This would not have delayed the Chiltern Trains' unit as it would have been booked to call at Warwick Parkway, just a couple of miles from the junction with the Stratford branch. 645
	A final VSOE shot for now is this one taken on 15 September 2004. I wasn't able to get out for the inward working to Stratford-upon-Avon at lunchtime, but did get out of work in time to grab a camera and walk up the towpath of local canal to this spot adjacent to the flight of locks leading to Wilmcote. The locomotive on this occasion was 66122.
	Another of the class 66 variants is seen here at Hatton South Junction. This time it is 66407 in the stylish house colours of Direct Rail Services. Freightliner were experiencing some motive power shortages at the time and 66407 was on hire to them when I pictured it hauling 4O17, the 15.52 Lawley Street to Southampton service. 645
	Some trains understandably run under a cloak of semi-secrecy. One of these is the train conveying nuclear material from the Royal Navy's premises at Devonport, to Sellafield in Cumbria. Nevertheless, with the availability of modern technology it is not very often that news of such a working passes unnoticed. This was the case on 11 June 2003 when 66199 was rostered for 6X40. It is seen here passing Stoke Works near Bromsgrove, the train consisting of 2 special nuclear flasks and 2 escort vehicles complete with armed personnel to counter any possible terrorist threat. 645
	On Tuesday 19 July a move of redundant LPG tanks was planned from Avonmouth LPG Terminal to Stoke-on-Trent. In the event this actually ran to Didcot because of train crew difficulties so it seemed likely that a northward move would take place over the next few days. This happened on Wednesday 20 July, the tanks being added to the consist of 6M65. It was timed to leave Didcot at 18.30 and I recorded it passing Bentley Heath crossing behind 66011 at 20.07 in a fortuitous bit of weak late evening sun. Without the tanks, 6M65 would have been a very short train, consisting of just one ferrywagon, as the tank behind this and the one at rear of the train are barriers.
	Following the shot of the LPG tanks shown above, I decided to return to Bentley Heath on 21 July to get a shot of MTho 6M23 Fawley to Bromford Bridge bitumen tanks. The light was was excellent all the way from home with just a few bits of wispy cloud around. I found out that the train, hauled by 66198, had passed Wolvercote Junction around 35 minutes late but wasn't too bothered as it was likely to pass me at around 19.20-19.25 and the sun would be plenty strong enough at that time. Just as I had had that thought, I looked north and saw a large bank of very dark cloud racing towards the sun. To curtail a long story, the train crossed the crossing no more than 15 seconds before the sun was suddenly and totally obscured.
	The fourth colour variant of class 66 is shown here with 66583 hauling 4M55 Southampton to Lawley Street up Hatton Bank on 15 July 2005. This spot is getting very overgrown during the summer months and there is a strong possibility that photography here will be impossible before too many years are out. Young trees have been planted all around the area but my environmentally-friendly views preclude me from doing a hatchet job on them.
	To finish off the colour schemes currently applied to class 66 (except the GBRf loco with the Union Flag, which I've never seen...), here is 66709 in it's fetching black paintwork. The train is 4M21 Felixstowe coming off the slow lines at Whitacre Junction on 15 August 2003 as it nears the end of its journey.
	Here's another shot of 66709, this time on a diverted 4M21 Felixstowe to Hams Hall intermodal on 26 October 2002, complete with "Bluebirds on Tour" headboard. No prizes are offered for guessing the location...
	I had the sunny afternoon of 2 September away from from the office and one of the trains I expected to see at Abbotswood Junction was 6V70 the 10:55 Cliff Vale-Cardiff Tidal empty china clay working. This arrived in the loop where it was held to allow a Voyager and a class 170 to pass. 66150 was finally released at 16.13 and it is seen here drawing the unusually long train back out onto the main line. Class 66 seems to photograph well with a strong lens. Maybe the compressed perspective gives it a more powerful aspect compared with a shot with a wider angle lens which accentuates the long body of the locomotive.
	Round Oak steel terminal in the Black Country takes considerable tonnages of metal from South Wales. The train pictured here is 6M41 from Margam in the hands of 66227 on the afternoon of 2 September 2005. It was photographed at 16.43 moving away from a dead stand at the signal adjacent to the road bridge visible in my shot of 47826. The stop was necessitated by a unit from the Worcester line heading south and thereby blocking the single lead from the Cotswold line. I've included this picture because of the impressive amount of smoke emanating from the locomotive whilst getting its heavy load on the move. The train will turn left at the junction just visible and run via Worcester, Kidderminster and Stourbridge Junction to its destination on the truncated line, which once ran through to Bescot and Walsall.
	My last shot of the day just south of Abbotswood Junction on 2 September 2005 was this of 66068 on the 6X52 14:11 Portbury-Washwood Heath loaded cartics taken at 17.39. I must admit to a fondness for this late afternoon shot showing, as it does, the beautiful Worcestershire scenery at its best.
	Due to engineering work on the Bicester to Oxford line in September 2003, the MOD train from Didcot to Bicester was retimed and diverted. It ran via the Hanwell Loop, Princes Risborough, Aylesbury and Claydon LN&E loop. I pictured it passing Quainton Road station top and tailed by 66060 and 66054 on 4 September. The top and tailed consist was in place in order to avoid runs-round at Claydon Loop. 645
	A rumour ran around the West Midlands on Saturday 13 September that 37709 was to appear on 6B61 Bescot to Hams Hall. This was true, but the real story was that it was booked DIT inside the allocated train locomotive, 66005. The opportunity thus presented itself itself to photograph a tractor inside a shed... The ensemble is seen passing the foot crossing at Coleshill. 645
	Here is a photograph guaranteed to strike fear into the heart of a shed hater. 66061 meets an unidentified sister locomotive at Whitacre Junction on 10 April 2004 while both are working MGRs on the Daw Mill circuit. Note the contrast between the HTAs and HAAs on the two trains.
	The short branch from Ashchurch exchange sidings to the MOD facility is the remnant of the line to Evesham and thence to Redditch. The former down line has been partially lifted and the bit that hasn't gone is mostly hidden by bramble bushes. The up line isn't really that much better as can be seen here as 66233 propels its train across one of the 2 foot crossings. It is not an easy branch for photography and in my opinion, this shot from the station footbridge is the about the best.
	Here is an earlier shot at Ashchurch, with a lot more undergrowth than in the picture above, showing 66158 propelling down the branch on 12 June 2000 with 6B30 from Didcot. The footpath mentioned in the caption above was in use today by the runners just visible. They had quite a wait for a clear road as the lengthy train backed very slowly along the branch. 645
	6M31 Banbury to Mountsorrel has been running quite regularly on Saturdays in November and December 2005 and here it is at Hatton South Junction on 19 November behind 66134. I wouldn't normally have put a going-away shot like this online, but it does give a decent view of the Lafarge wagons used on this service.
	One of my favourite areas for railway photography is that around Calvert in Buckinghamshire. This picture shows 66546 on the "Avon Binliner" from Bath & Bristol under the unloading crane at Calvert on 25 June 2004. The box wagons on the adjacent road being unloaded by mechanical grab contained contaminated soil from Baglan Bay in South Wales and formed a short-term flow at this time. 645
	This train is yet another that has ceased to run since this photograph was taken on 14 March 2003. It is the 6E99 Baglan Bay to Humber empty pressure tanks pictured at Whitacre Junction, near Coleshill. 645