July 2023

47765 at Rawtenstall after arriving with 1J61 1230 from Heywood during the East Lancashire Railway's Diesel Gala. A sudden downpour had temporarily empties the platform, hence the apparent lack of participants (01/07/2023)

70804 ambles through Horbury Cutting with 6M44 1005 Preston Docks to Haverton Hill bitumen empties. The long -standing flow from the Lindsey Refinery at Immingham has recently been diverted to Teeside and although the train passes through Wakefield in the same path as before, this is the first time I've made the effort to record it (07/07/2023)

Running as an unscheduled 4G01 trip working, Freightliner's 66501 and 66953 top-and-tail a couple of intermodal flats from Midland Road across to Leeds FLT. The duo are seen passing through the cutting at Stourton (07/07/2023)

MSC-liveried 66709 'Sorrento' passes slowly through Stourton Cutting a few minutes later with 6E97 1044 Newbiggin to Tees Dock gypsum empties. The long-standing DB flow made a welcome return this week after an absence of several weeks, albeit in the hands of GBRf. Time will tell whether this is a temporary or more permanent arrangement (07/07/2023)

47813 at Manchester Piccadilly after arriving on the rear of UK Railtours' 1Z86 0648 'Buxton Brush' charter from London Euston. The loco was about to work forward to Buxton via Furness Vale and would then cover the freight-only line to Dowlow (08/07/2023)

47813 is pictured again on the blocks at Buxton after arriving from the URS with the empty stock for the return leg (08/07/2023)

Another view of 47813 in Platform 2 at Buxton on the rear of 1Z87 1555 to London Euston. 47826 would haul the train the short distance into the URS, from where its sister would work forward via Peak Forest (08/07/023)

47813 is pictured again a couple of hours later during a photo stop at Altrincham. From here 1Z87 would continue via Middlewich and the Crewe Independent lines before re-joining the WCML at Basford Hall (08/07/2023)

47802 is pictured on arrival at London Kings Cross with 1Z49 1611 from York. The Railway Touring Company's 'White Rose' charter had been steam-hauled on the outward leg and returned via Lincoln and Sleaford rather than taking the direct route. On the left is the DVT on the rear of 1D34 2200 to Leeds (15/07/2023)

47579 'James Nightall GC' awaits the arrival of the incoming stock before working 2A14 1315 to Aton during the Mid Hants Railway's Diesel Gala (16/07/2023)

There'd been plenty of sunshine around during the course of the day but the closest I got to a suitable picture of the '47' was this view at Alton prior to working 2A29 1715 back to Alresford (16/07/2023)

66502 'Basford Hall Centenary 2001' waits to depart from Alton as 0W74 1833 to Southampton Maritime Container terminal via Guildford, Havant and Fareham. The loco had been one of the guests at the Mid Hants Railway's Diesel Gala (16/07/2023)

Northern's 158850 is pictured at Selside Far Moor with 2H89 1058 Carlisle - Leeds, which today had started forward from Appleby after its inward working had been delayed by a failed train at Kirkstall (17/07/2023)

Half an hour later 66737 'Lesia' is pictured a quarter of a mile closer to Selside village as it descends towards Horton with the empty 4N03 1125 Carlisle NY - Clitheroe Castle Cement (17/07/2023)

Against the classic backdrop of Pen-y-ghent, 67005 'Queen's Messenger' heads north towards Selside with 1Z85 0729 Euston - Carlisle, which it had taken over from 90039 at Preston. The 'Pride of Planning' charter had been arranged by Network Rail to celebrate the efforts of the train planning community in responding to ongoing timetable-related challenges faced by the rail industry in recent years (17/07/2023)

Running as 0K05 1232 Carlisle NY - Crewe Basford Hall despite having a couple of wagons in tow, 66091 passes New Bridge (17/07/2023)

With a threatening sky over Blea Moor I'd retreated to Selside Shaw to await "the logs" on the off-chance that the weather might be kind to me. Remarkably I was in the midst of a 45-minute window of almost uninterrupted sunlight as 158756 passed me on its way back south with the slightly-delayed 1E65 1336 Carlisle - Leeds (17/07/2023)

Literally seconds after I'd lost the light, 56051 + 56094 pass Selside Shaw with 6J37 1252 Carlisle Yard - Chirk Kronsopan. To say I was gutted is an understatement - particularly as the train's departure from Blea Moor Loop was several minutes later than it might have been had the preceding 1E65 not been held back at Kirkby Stephen for operational reasons (17/07/2023)

66529 on shed at Midland Road. Lurking in the background is Colas Rail Freight's 56096, which was presumably awaiting tyre-turning (20/07/2023)

40145 passes Midland Road with 5Z39 1406 Butterley MRC to Castleton Hopwood GF. Having seen photos earlier in the day of it returning HNRC locos to Worksop from the ELR Diesel gala earlier this month I'd assumed from the headcode and convoluted route that the back load would be a steam loco and support coach. To find 40012 'Aureol' in the consist was a pleasant surprise in this era of blanket social media coverage (20/07/2023)

68028 'Lord President' propels 1U29 0720 Leeds - Scarborough through Stourton. I was on my way into town for the train to work at the time and attempted to capture the working on my phone having noticed it was a couple of minutes away. I should perhaps have taken my camera with me as conditions were considerably better than when I left home (26/07/2023)

68027 'Splendid' stands at Stalybridge after being terminated short of its destination on 1U28 0648 Scarborough - Manchester Piccadilly. An earlier points failure at Dewsbury which led to most of TPE's traincrew being out of position was the cause of the disruption (26/07/2023)

The first light of day greets the arrival of 47805 + 47593 at Shrewsbury with 5Z93 0501 from Crewe (29/07/2023)

Several hours later there pair are pictured on the blocks at Weymouth after working 1Z93 0550 'Statesman' charter from Shrewsbury via the Hereford, Chepstow, Kemble and Basingstoke. Ordinarily today's itinerary wouldn't have been possible, but strike action by the members of the RMT Union meant that we were the only train of the day west of Southampton (29/07/2023)