Rail UK: Warwickshire Railways
View allAll Photos Tagged atherstone
1Z60, I think Edinburgh - Wolverton, races past Atherstone on the fast; I was relieved that there weren't any containers on the flats just behind. And a Pendolino is only just out of sight round the corner. I see the branding is not just ‘DB’ but ‘DB Cargo’. Perhaps just a joke on our Royalty. Thanks to discreet gen.
6Y57 Crewe - West Ealing passes Atherstone, the loco working hard and part-HOBC set with a monumental flat near the rear.
6C97 Crewe Pre-Assembly Depot - Rugby Electrification Depot move for some track machines, the 97 humming along here with little drama - apart from the Pendo that I could see on the track diagrams catching up, just a few seconds short of blocking my view!
I gather the track machines are 'Linsinger SF06-UK Milling Machines', they have slanted grills on their front ends, look rather like a class 70's ugly young sibling.
Thanks to gen providers.
3Q41 passing Atherstone with 3Q41, the Orion post and parcels service from Shieldmuir to Willesden. Noticeably slower than the 57 along here, and two Pendos right behind. It was on time arriving at Crewe and then sent out late onto the slow line rather than the fast as timetabled, so it wasn't all the poor old 37s fault! There's no law against me photographing a car on the street, but I have changed the reg number and darkened the faces, they were standing out somewhat in the light which was almost sunny. There's no trick photography here (not with the perspective, but two images are blended together to get the car in the right place), but I do like the way the railway looks 'big' and the car is almost a model by comparison.
It had to be done, the Midland Pullman reincarnated as an HST on a daylight run through the Midlands, back to Eastleigh for some fettling and adding the kitchen car, I gather from gen. I use the term daylight loosely, it was a dull morning. Yet again it shows that the HST was a brilliant design, it takes so many liveries and looks great it all of them.
With the second unit mobilised today, the eight coach loco-hauled combination on the fast line makes a fine sight. 3Q41 Sheidlmuir - Willesden.
1Z94 Euston - Manchester, LSL providing the train for Avanti during the mounting and funeral periods.
6Z18 Middleton Towers - Ravenhead sand, with a fair amount of the sand distributed along the way, where the train is up to speed.
Looking pretty as a picture, 90001 hauls 1Z40 Euston - Mossend on the fast by Whittington Lane, Atherstone.
6M89 Middleton Towers - Ravenhead. GBRf have just taken their 60s out of use, DCR have hired in 60026, nice to see this here.
Well, like everyone else I went out for this, super to see and hear the 40 on the fast - and it was going fast. 5Z36 Euston - Crewe after a railtour. Intermodal in the background going the other way - with a couple of seconds of the 40 passing a southbound service on the fast passed by. With another intermodal northbound on the slow a minute earlier, it was all action but no bowling.
Direct Rail Services Class 68 diesel locomotive 68004 "Rapid" passes Atherstone workinf service 4M27 Coatbridge Down Refuge Siding to Daventry International Railfreight Terminal.
325001 and 325002 head south at Dordon partially illuminated by a patch pf rolling sunshine heading the final 1M27 12:35 Shieldmuir to Willesden.
With a toot and a wave, the driver of 56302 PECO passes through Atherstone with 6Z58 Guide Bridge Brookside Sidings to Dollands Moor Sidings, with DR 73110 Peter White and DR 77908 in tow.
5Z54 Southall - Crewe, after providing extra power to help a steam engine for the weekend, the 47 is given a blast on the fast on its way back to Crewe. It was pathed on the slow, so I was pleased to get the slightly random change in plan.
The post train has a 37 on this week! After 57310 and 57312 did the honours before Christmas, here is 37884 racing up the fast line with 3Q41 Shieldmuir - Willesden. The panning shot isn't as easy as with a class 57, the area of interest is wider so inevitably it isn't all stopped. No use of blur filter.
A brief spell of brightness in between the showers as the 4L75 05.00 Trafford Park to Felixstowe liner heads south.
A couple of months previously this was a solid turn for a pair of class 86's.
With the 56s on the sand going only to Chaddesden, I had to make do with a kettle for local entertainment on my way to the shops, though I am inclined to make an exception and go out of my way to photograph an A4, such a piece of timeless beauty. 1Z72 Euston - Chester.
5H70 Longsight - Wolverton with 68025 on the back passes Atherstone, nice green livery and the undercarriage looking to have been washed down with a rust solution.
Great to see and hear the grid thumping away, a rare appearance as it's usually a 60 on this service. The load is getting lighter by the minute though...6M89 Middleton Towers - Ravenhead sand.
With 350372 and 350374 on 5Q57 Northampton - Derby Litchurch Lane. I tried the burst setting on the Mini 5, in between the first and last of the five images the train moved about 4 metres - better than the Phantom and perhaps Mini 2, but not really useful for my purposes. Did record all images in RAW and jpeg.
3Q41 Sheildmuir - Willesden back in action, and I got a photo! When it started, I got an iPhone image and a drone shot, but the DSLR battery showed flat - odd I thought. Day 2, the shutter failed, sticking in the up position, a fault that has been present in cold weather for a while, but intermittent. Day three, ran two hours late and I couldn't get to see it. Day four, shutter failed again, battery showed fully charged, and it had worked fine earlier. The internet mostly said the camera frame would be warped and the fault isn't usually repairable, but someone mentioned once a battery issue. I ditched the battery at fault and no more problems. So even if a battery shows fully charged it can fail mid shot, leaving the mirror stuck up and an 'err' message on the screen.
The train didn't have much more luck, the 326 unit came off on day 2 or three, on day 4 the 768 had a horrendous wheel flat. However, 2 weeks later back in action and very smooth on the fast line!
The first picture was taken on August 4th 1976 and features 87029 heading for Euston.
The pendo was 390136, one of the eleven car formations which was also Euston bound with 1A36 from Manchester Piccadilly on August 4th 2016.
It took me 40 years almost to the day to go back to find a station in much better condition with a more frequent service too. The footbridge has gone, as has the rather naff bus shelter.
The passenger experience has gone backwards though in my opinion, give me a seat on a mk3 against the cramped and usually overcrowded pendlino.
Rob glances at the speeding train, he told me that the lovely station building is now a vets practice.
I took a burst of frames, but chose to have the train in the 'now' shot a bit further back to show the brickwork which was best covered up by the loco in 1976.
Matching Schenker 'pink' 90018 'Pride of Bellshill' and 90040 power through Atherstone with '4M25' the 06:06 from Mossend-Euroterminal to Daventry-IRFT.A very unusual day today!Not a cloud in the sky from dawn to dusk!
----7 may 2018----
16 July 2021
90037 and 90020 passing Atherstone on a poorly loaded 4M25 Mossend to Daventry. My first sunny shot in over a dozen attempts but cursed by a load of just 4 boxes towards the back.