7th March 2012 - Cold Pork Pie7th March 2012 Feeling unusually full of enthusiasm after working a week of nights, I decided on a jaunt to “Pork Pie Land” (Melton Mowbray) to try and get a picture of the Old Dalby to Amersham LUL S stock delivery move - like this but with different locos, the use of DRS class 20s having ceased. Having a definite preference for a ride on an HST rather than a Meridian unit, the 07:00 from St. Pancras was chosen and taken all the way to Nottingham to kill some time, there being not much point in getting to Melton Mowbray too early as it was on the chilly side to be standing around for too long plus I was (obviously) rather tired. A perusal of the Leicester to Peterborough timetable revealed that a further time-killing move was possible to Oakham where there is a signalbox which could be photographed. Unfortunately, my arrival at Oakham coincided with a downpour, not very handy when the subject was a short walk down the road – also not handy was the fact that the station was being re-painted so there wasn’t really anywhere to sit down. I ended up hibernating in the small booking hall rather than risk being re-liveried in red and cream and the booking clerk confirmed that he had seen the class 20s and barrier wagons heading west earlier so at least 7X09 should be running. The rain eased off so I ventured out onto the platform and heard the level crossing alarm going off – no passengers due so this must be a freight, not just one freight but two, one in each direction and one was top-and-tailed so three locos to photograph. By now the rain had almost stopped so a quick stroll down the road to the signalbox, the sun even made an appearance, and back to the station to catch the train to Melton Mowbray. By the time Melton was reached the sun had gone in and there was a distinctly chilly breeze, never mind – should only be here for an hour…………… famous last words. The expected GBRf 66 went past on it’s Mountsorrel to Whitemoor train, any minute now, then..... nothing. The hourly passenger service calls at Melton at the same time in both directions so letting one train go would mean another hour to wait for one in either direction. Surely the 20s can’t be far away? So I decided to wait for another 60 minutes with the same result – nothing, zilch, other than a couple of light engine moves. Thoroughly fed up, cold and tired I made tracks for home on the next train heading towards Leicester. By the time I arrived there, the sun was out so I let the faster “Meridian” service go and waited for the following HST and netted a bonus photo of a freight heading round the goods lines though the sun angle was not the best. In the end, the class 20s emerged nearly two hours after I had departed so the best decision was taken – will just have to hope for better luck next time.
Keywords:
S Stock
Comments
No comments posted.
Loading...
|
Subscribe
RSS
Recent Posts
9th & 10th January 2018 - A lucky trip
8th January 2018 - Brewery Bonus
7th January 2018 - To Bern for steam
6th January 2018 - Onwards and westwards
5th January 2018 - A Tale of two Banskás
4th January 2018 - Bobbing around Brno (again)
3rd January 2018 - Delay Dodging
2nd January 2018 - Third Time Lucky
1st January 2018 - Happy Republic Day
31st December 2017 - Farewell 2017
Archive
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
|