Saturday Yoshi and I had a brief trip to South Wales in the hope of seeing at least one Transport for Wales (TfW) liveried Class 67 working. We also caught up with @smithy.377 (please check out his Instagram account for a fabulous collection of railway images). Our first stop was Newport as what should not have been a diesel-multiple unit working had suddenly been switched to locomotive hauled.
Newport station was originally opened in 1850 by the South Wales Railway Company and saw expansion in 1928. A new station building was built in 2010 with four full size platforms, to facilitate new 10 car bi-mode Intercity Express Trains (IET).
Station staff were friendly and allowed us access in time to see DB liveried Class 67 No. 67010 arrive with a service bound for Manchester. Followed shortly after by a Great Western Railway (GWR) Castle set headed up by Class 43 No. 43040 ‘Berry Pomeroy Castle’. This loco was of interest as it carries 40th Anniversary Falkland Island decals on the body side. While I was recording images of this set, I managed to miss seeing a Class 66 on a freight working go through on the centre road. To compound matters, as we left the station we heard a Class 60 approaching, but had no time to get to platform level to take photographs or video. Luckily we were to see the same locomotive later in the day as it worked back through Cardiff, which was our next stop.
We arrived in Cardiff just in time to miss a double-headed light engine movement through the station heading to Westbury. But we saw a number of GWR Castle HST sets on Cardiff services to and from the West Country.
Good news that GWR will be retaining four of its Castle Class HST sets into 2024. The operator had originally planned a phased rundown of the fleet through 2023.
The four carriage HST’s are used on a variety of regional and inter-urban services in the West of England. While they are gradually being replaced by IET’s on these diagrams, the retention of a small number of HST’s will assist GWR with providing adequate capacity. A planned cascade of Turbo DMU’s to the West of England, released by the introduction of Class 769’s in the Thames Valley, has been abandoned as the 769’s have been sent off lease. GWR will still rid themselves of the HST’s which are owned by Angel Trains, but a small number of sets are either owned by FirstGroup or are franchise assets, and it is these sets which will remain into 2024. It is understood that they are likely to remain in service until December 2024.
The Class 60 we missed at Newport reappeared much to our relief working Llanwern to Margam train. We saw two Class 60’s during our trip. I have a soft spot for these locos and hope that they find a future. It’s understood that GBRf will be undertaking an evaluation study at EMD Longport with the view of possible Class 60 conversion work in the future.
Having managed to miss out on other Class 66’s earlier I was pleased that I eventually managed to catch a couple of the locomotives, one of which can be seen in images below and the other, No. 66053 can be seen in the accompanying video further down this page.
Our last train of the day was scheduled to be another Class 67. This, like the first working we saw at Newport, was in DB red livery instead of the hoped for TfW colours. It didn’t really matter, Yoshi still barked at it. On leaving Cardiff Central, gate staff were very enamoured with Yoshi and we swapped cockapoo stories and I was shown photographs of cockapoo’s owned by the TfW staff present.
The following day in inclement weather @da_buckley967, Yoshi and I headed over to Somerset for a fleeting glimpse of LNER A3 Pacific No. 60103 ‘Flying Scotsman’ as she worked the first rail tour of her Centenary year programme, The Railway Touring Company organised “The Royal Duchy”. To avoid trespassers on the railway, timings for this excursion were released a couple of days prior to the train running. But there were still good many people positioned safely on over bridges waiting for the ‘people’s locomotive’ to pass by on her way to Par.
Monday morning I set the alarm for 0350am so I could drive over to Bournemouth to see the Midland Pullman blue HST set which was running an excursion to and from North Wales. On arrival at the Bournemouth station I found everything locked up, but managed to video the arrival through a convenient gate! Thinking I’d be the only one foolish to get up at such an hour for the purpose of seeing a train, I was pleased that this was far from the truth as a number of railway enthusiasts had made the effort. I was doubly pleased that an old colleague and friend, Nick, was at the station to witness the occasion. Slightly late, the station doors were unlocked, and train crew, passengers and railway enthusiasts gained access to the platforms. It really is a stunning train and the onboard staff were very friendly and happy to show off their charge.
This is the first time the Midland Pullman HST set has visited Bournemouth, and the second time I’d seen the train. Back in October 2020 the set was seen in public for the first time as it departed Eastleigh Arlington Fleet Services. Having always loved the original Blue Pullman train set of the 1960’s Yoshi and I headed over to Eastleigh in good time prior to it’s intended departure. However, as usual in railway moves, things did not go to plan and the HST set last several hours late under cover of darkness. I was caught out by a passing container train and by the time Yoshi and I had made it over the station footbridge to get a clear view the Midland Pullman was already passing through the station. In my rush, I’d also knocked the video setting on my phone to time lapse. You can see the results in the video below. The honking at the beginning is the HST set making its presence known over on the works at the time it should have been well on its way to Crewe.
The carriage set, powered by Class 43 no.’s 43046 and 43055 has been fully configured using leather First Class seats from GWR HST trailers, with a Pullman motif on the antimacassars.
We’ve been beaten by the clock once again, although to be fair any arbitrary deadline is one of my own imposition. But if I didn’t set myself a Wednesday posting date, I’d never edit photos, video or update anything. The bank holiday weekend was very enjoyable and it was good to share it with some lovely folk and the best cockapoo buddy I could wish for. The next week is looking to be a quiet one in Dorset and for Yoshi and I, but all being well, we’ll find something to write about. Thank you for reading and your comments, corrections and observations. As always these are much appreciated.
I didn’t want to close this week without paying tribute to well known photographer and author, Brian Morrison, who has sadly passed away, at the age of 93. Brian’s name is one I fondly remember from railway magazines of my youth right up to more recent publications. Brian’s images were, and continue to be, an inspiration to all who enjoy railway photography. His was a name that spanned the generations, with his first picture being published in 1951 and across almost every British railway magazine to have been published.
The following is from “The Railway Herald”:
Brian had a railway interest since a young age, and after being ‘demobbed’ from the army in 1951, went and bought a camera, the same day visiting Liverpool Street station in London and taking his first picture, depicting Gresley-designed B17/1 ‘Sandringham’ 4-6-0 No. 61625 ‘Raby Castle’ being serviced in the yard at the end of the platforms. Remarkably, it was published a couple of months later in “The Railway Magazine”! Few photographers can claim to have their first picture, taken on their first camera, published!
Through the pages of Ian Allan published abc number books and subsequently in almost all printed and digital railway titles that have been published in the UK, Brian’s photographs have been enjoyed by a wide variety of people and have inspired generations into photography of the rail network. In addition, he was also the author, or co-author, of over 50 books.
Our thoughts and condolences go to Brian’s family and friends.
