Home run
Another shot from the negative strip sees me at Guide Bridge and catches class 40 no. 40030 leaving the loop with what looks to be a parcels train. If you look carefully down the side you can still see the bolt-holes which carried the nameplate 'Scythia' - an adornment that was sadly removed when the locos were downgraded from top-link services on the West Coast Mainline post electrification.
If my ID skills are working properly I can count five ex-Southern Railway parcels stock vehicles in the consist (S-vans I believe). While it wasn't unusual to see them in 1977 they were in the process of being phased out, and a few years later were very rare indeed.
I'm intrigued by what I assume to be a driver walking trackside towards me - it's possible he has just signed off his shift at the stabling point out of sight on the right, or he may have been part of a crew change on 40030 while she was looped.
A day when I probably wished I had something wider than a 35mm focal length lens in the kit bag, I did at least manage to include three of the cars on the left - to my uneducated eye they look like a Ford Escort, Ford Cortina, and a Renault - but I'll take any corrections.
Judging by the shadows I'm guessing the shot was taken early afternoon.
Ilford FP4 rated at 160asa, developed in Acutol.
17th November 1977
Home run
Another shot from the negative strip sees me at Guide Bridge and catches class 40 no. 40030 leaving the loop with what looks to be a parcels train. If you look carefully down the side you can still see the bolt-holes which carried the nameplate 'Scythia' - an adornment that was sadly removed when the locos were downgraded from top-link services on the West Coast Mainline post electrification.
If my ID skills are working properly I can count five ex-Southern Railway parcels stock vehicles in the consist (S-vans I believe). While it wasn't unusual to see them in 1977 they were in the process of being phased out, and a few years later were very rare indeed.
I'm intrigued by what I assume to be a driver walking trackside towards me - it's possible he has just signed off his shift at the stabling point out of sight on the right, or he may have been part of a crew change on 40030 while she was looped.
A day when I probably wished I had something wider than a 35mm focal length lens in the kit bag, I did at least manage to include three of the cars on the left - to my uneducated eye they look like a Ford Escort, Ford Cortina, and a Renault - but I'll take any corrections.
Judging by the shadows I'm guessing the shot was taken early afternoon.
Ilford FP4 rated at 160asa, developed in Acutol.
17th November 1977