The Flickr Doncasterbelmontdownyardtototontmd Image Generatr

Finally arriving through here from the Severn Valley Railway, see-
svr.co.uk/
for details of one of the best long-time Heritage Railways in the country, and last weekend's 4-day Spring Diesel Gala proved this point admirably. What a splash of colour there has been in this area in the last hour or so, the 2 class 37s at on the Woodhouse Station Reception line, the 2 red DBC class 66s, a Freightliner a class 57 and now the 2nd of the Freightliner moves with the 2nd of the G.B.R.f moves arriving here at approximately the same time... On the up line passing south through the old station site is 66418, named 'Patriot - In Memory of the Fallen Railway Employees', and is hauling a long container train from the Leeds Freightliner Terminal to the Southampton MArine Container Terminal on the regular 4099 working. Passing the other way and heading north is brightly coloured G.B.R.f class 69, looking good in 'Mustard-Yellow' livery, 69014, 'E.M.D. Longport' and ex-56104, on the light engine return move, 0E14, from the Kidderminster, Severn Valley Railway to Doncaster Roberts Road Shed. The loco is excellently turned out and did very well on passenger stock moves between Kidderminster, S.V.R. to and from Hampton Loade, Bridgnorth Station of course being unreachable due to the bridge collapse just south of Bridgnorth, earlier this year, see-
svr.co.uk/news/severn-valley-railway-makes-steady-progres...
This looks to be costing an awful lot of money, maybe more than half a million pounds but they have good support from their own resources, their insurers, who thankfully are honouring the claim, private individuals and other concerns, and by the time the work is complete, it will have taken the best part of this year. Their Heritage services have been running as usual on the 12mile section from Kidderminster, with the loco for the trains 'running-round', or being top-and-tailed, at Hampton Loade Station, about 4.5miles south of Bridgnorth. The S.V.R. are 60 years old this year and will be taking part in the widespread events occuring for the 'Railway 200' celebrations, marking 200 years of railways in the UK, see-
railway200.co.uk/search-for-activities-and-events/
So, with all this behind it, it was good to go out and take a picture of one of the locos involved in the 'Spring Diesel Gala' on the S.V.R. and, its my first shot of a class 69...
Here, at Woodhouse Mill, I am glad to see the Treeton Down Goods Loop on the left is still in place! and looks to be well used, its to be hoped that this isn't removed anytime soon in any push to a more 'rationalised' railway infrastructure, unlike the cross-over junction between the up & down main lines and goods loop, which were being removed in February, 2017, see-
www.flickr.com/photos/daohaiku/31974713024/
showing two 'Deltics' approaching from the south, D9002, 55002, 'The Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry' along with D9009 55009 'Alycidon' which went south on the 0Z55, from the N.R.M., but returned at a more amenable time of 15:15. They have just passed the partially deconstructed up to down main line cross-over and it wasn't too long before the down the goods cross-over was removed as well, 6 months later as it turned out, by August of that year in fact.

After the 57 had left the area there were another four moves before the DBC light engine turned up, shown for convenience in the last picture. Here we see two 'proper' trains passing at about the same time, around 12:15. Heading south is a Civil Engineers train, another almost daily working, 6M73, with Freightliner class 66, 66572, heading to Toton North Yard from Doncaster Up Decoy with the track-bed of the old goods line running along side the train. Woodhouse Mill used to have passenger service and the two goods lines flanked the main lines at either side of the station, see-
www.flickr.tightfitz.com/_MG_9371+WM-1950.jpg
which shows a comparison between the lunchtime Freightliner, 66522, passing south on the then, 4O55, Leeds F.L.T. to Southampton M.C.T. Whilst underneath a view of the old station site in around 1950 with all the glories that were extant in the railway system at that time.. a wonder to behold
In the right-hand shot, an unusual working for this day, and making it also well-worth being here to see it. HAuling a long rake of what look like very old BYA Wagons is another DBC class 66, this one 66012, on the 6E94, Corby B.S.C. to Tees New Yard empty wagons move and what a long rake it was, 24 in all which stretched from the bridge here all the way north to the curve in the line behind the Freightliner rake of rail carriers. A pleasure to watch this slowly, relatively, pass by as the wagons kept coming under the bridge...

Well this turned out nice again! Only tentative planning had me consider that the proverbial 'two birds with one stone' could be had, if everything behaved itself, timing-wise, and the correct spot was picked. So for two lots, 1 and 6, of interesting moves to be captured and with only the slightest possibility that the first would come anywhere near the camera, there would be a good chance of a win in the Woodhouse area. As this 1st trio of pictures show, the 2 class 37s not only appeared in the distance, slowing at the old Woodhouse Junction signalbox location a good distance from the now restricted carriageway Furnace Lane bridge at Woodhouse Station, but they actually ambled along the 'Reception Line' and came right into the Station.. WIN. I had sort of naively waived them on from the Junction, hoping they would at least come up the RL a reasonable way before the driver changed ends and then departed back to Derby, but no, they come into the back of the station and the driver and second man got out and had a little wonder round. At left the set has just come across Woodhouse Junction from the direction of Worksop and is now coming along the Reception LIne, not reversing near the old box site and with clear intention of coming up to the station; my hand waving to 'come up' obviously worked! This is a very unusual working these days, not much comes up to the station anymore, any reversals taking place at the far end of the Reception line and in fact today, these two didn't use, or had any need, to use the 'Run Round Loop' to the right of the two locos, the line now rusting away slowly. In the centre shot, the pair are seen within the 'green-wood', much of the station site is now covered in it, with leading class 37, 37418, ex-D6971, 'An Comunn Gaidhealach', and behind, 37508, ex-37606, on the rounds from Derby R.T.C.(Serco) via Woodhouse Jn. Sidings and back to Derby RTC(Serco), a 5 hour hour round-trip jaunt via Beeston, Mansfield, Worksop and here and back the same way. Its only the 2nd time I have seen 37606 in 13 years, the last time, 2011, it was at Beighton Junction, just down the line from here and the loco was in D.R.S. blue livery crossing the River Rother with 37612 at the back.
The name on the 'Loram Rail' liveried loco, 'An Comunn Gaidhealach', 'The Gaelic Association', is a Scottish organisation that supports and promotes the Scottish Gaelic language and Scottish Gaelic culture and history at local, national and international levels.
At right, the set has come to a stand at the top of the Reception Line, partly parked across the Reception to Run-Round Loop junction and the state of its rail-head can be seen, the Reception Line being only slightly 'shinier'. The turn around timing was only 20 minutes and having arrived, as I did, on time at 11:28, they had until 11:59 to 'do their stuff', whatever that was before setting off back to Derby the same way. I left before they did as the next interesting move was at Woodhouse Mill and was set to pass through on the Midland Line at about 11:50, this last picture here being taken at 11:40, I hot-foot it the short distance over to the other line and it wasn't too long before the class 57 passed through.. well worth the gamble here though!

At left in these two shots, this working ran on Sunday to Wednesday this week with a different loco on the Tues & Wed, 57310 rather than today and Sunday which is the one shown at left. Here the E.C.S. is being hauled up and down the line by a G.B.R.f. class 57, 57303, once named, and may still be, 'Alan Tracy', then 'Pride of Carlisle' and finally 'Thunderbirds are Go', on the 5Z51, Derby to Doncaster Down Decoy with a set of Eastern Railways Empty Coaching Stock. There were 4 moves on this day, timings for here-
5Z50 Doncaster to Derby at around 09:20
5Z51 Derby to Doncaster at around 11:50, this one
5Z55 Doncaster to Chaddesden Sidings, near Derby, at around 14:32
5Z53 Derby to Doncaster to Derby at around 17:50
And, as mentioned above, the working hasn't run at all today, Thursday, 24th May. In this shot on Monday, it is seen heading north, shortly after the 2 class 37s had set off back from Woodhouse Station and passed over the Rother Valley Viaduct, the line can just be made out in the trees behind the E.C.S., at the foot of the large pylon. The old works building at the right has finally lost all its slates, see this DRS working with 66432, passing in September, 2018, with a local officials poking their head through one of the holes in the slate roof!-
www.flickr.com/photos/daohaiku/30014996687/

In the right-hand shot, about 30 minutes after the 57 had gone, the usual lunchtime light engine(s) move, 0F54, from Doncaster came by with, sadly today, only a single, but brightly colour red DBC loco. 66177 is on the LE return, Doncaster Belmont Down Yard to Toton T.M.D., 'Traction Maintenance Department' and is seen passing the Woodhouse Mill Sewage Works at left, and what a smell there was that day, muck spreading/drying was in progress. The hill in the background above the loco hides the now 4000-house Waverley Estate beyond, at the north end of the old Orgreave site; it too has now changed out of all recognition and really, isn't worth visiting anymore...

A lot of interesting loco traction was around at that time, the album for Woodhouse Mill in 2018 is worth a look-
www.flickr.com/photos/daohaiku/albums/72157636383147513/

And, after taking just under a minute clearing the station, there was a 20 minute wait for the next two trains, this time regular freight moves from the north, first up, at left, the now once again regular move, 4099 from the Leeds Freightliner Terminal with, today, class 66, 66420, Leeds F.L.T. to Southampton Marine Container Terminal and hauling yet another long and full container train all adding some colourful contrast to the old station, graffiti'd once again, station brickwork. I think those 4 metal posts and their small counterparts may well be the posts of the signal that used to stand at this end of the station where a line of 4 magnificent semaphores with bracket signals, used to stand, directing trains either along the main line left to Sheffield or a crossing move over to the 'Old Road' and this worked on both sets of lines; must have a look to see if this is correct... In the right shot 10mins later, another lunchtime regular, a long 'rails carrier' train, this one with Freightliner class 66, 66565 on the 6M73, Doncaster Up Decoy to Toton North Yard. An out-of-gauge train also runs with this type of consist but heads much further south to Eastleigh, near Southampton on the south coast, this is 6X01, which runs through here about an hour earlier, but on this day was cancelled. The metal posts mentioned above are also visible in this shot though the far left one is out-of-shot...

Just 3 minutes behind the liner train, once it had cleared the station site. the sky-blue 'Midland Pullman' set came slowly up from the signal heading to what was, by then. a yellow on the north end signal, S0425, which meant the train was set to pass straight through the old station site without stopping. It ran to time throughout the day, setting out in Paignton on the south-west coast in in Devon, very close to Torquay (of Basil & 'Fawlty Towers' fame) and on the line to Plymouth, Devon and Penzance in Cornwall. This is the L.S.L.'s, 'Locomotive Services Ltd' 'Midland Pullman' with class 43 H.S.T., 'High Speed Train', 43049, 'Neville Hill', leading a set of B.R. Mark III coaches. The coaches are now in 'Midland Pullman' blue-livery, and 43058, 'Loch Eil' is at the back on the long(ish) day's charter, 1Z32, the 'Yorkshire Coast Pullman' from Paignton to Scarborough. Matching sky-blue livery can also be seen on the old red-brick wall, a long-time relic of the past when to goods depot was just here, the blue-design/tag on the wall being c/o a graffiti artist and in this instance a sort of 'nod' of appreciation to the traction passing!

The leading class 43, 43049 has now tripped the AWS ramp at the north-end of the station and the single yellow, no double yellow aspect here, has now been set to red, as the train picks up speed and heads towards the main line at Masbrough North Junction, once the location of yet another signalbox over on the left side at the foot of the steep bank in the cutting.
Although the coach numbers were published on 'RailCam' I found a couple of errors in the numbers/order, this is what was photographed as it passed through with the published information in parentheses-
leading 43049('Neville Hill')
followed by-
41169 + 40801 + 41183 + 41162 + 41176 + 41182(not 40802) + 41149(not 41182) + 44078
and bringing up the rear, seen here at the south end of the station
43058('Loch Eil').
This is the L.S.L.s, 'Locomotive Services Ltd' day charter, 1Z32, 'Yorkshire Coast Pullman', from Paignton, Devon, departing at 06:05 to Scarborough, East Yorkshire, arriving at 13:47 almost eight hours. It then set off back at 16:30, having spent just 2h 40mins at the East coast resort, finally arriving back in Paignton, 16mins early at 00:05, very early Friday morning... quite a long jaunt for just 3 hours on the East Coast!

A complete surprise next whilst waiting for the 'Yorkshire Coast Pullman' to come into the area from the south, it not being far off at this stage. in fact it was being held at the signal, S0411, next along the line and right behind the container train. Now, the fairly frequent light engines movement from the Doncaster area was just around the corner at Aldwarke and, not expecting much, didn't really think about the shot as it started to approach. 'Gliding' along the old platform 4, goods line, a veritable armada of different liveried locos appeared in blue-red-blue-red-blue formation and consisting of 1 GBRf loco at the front followed by alternately red-blue-red-blue D.B. Shenker class 66 locos in convoy heading south. This is the regular lunchtime return of traction, 0F54, from Doncaster Belmont Down Yard and heading to Toton T.M.D. with, in order, GBRf class 60, 60056, 'Great Gable. then D.B.S. class 66s, 66114 66xxx(unknown), followed by 66134, & 66162, 'Maritime Intermodal Five', what a sight and the shot not composed in the best possible way, though the liner train had something to do with that! Standing at the Masbrough north end signal, S0425, waiting for the off, is GBRf class 66, 66712, now named 'Peterborough Power Signalbox' on the daily 4L11, Masbrough Newell & Wright Terminal to Felixstowe North(GBRf) with a very long and full set of containers.

Its been a year and time to revisit the still extant site of the old North Midland's site at Masbrough and, apart from the vegetation, not much has changed in the 10 months or so since my last visit, see-
www.flickr.com/photos/vinc2020/53839266885/
In addition there wasn't actually many folk here to see the 'Pullman', 2 photographers and an 'on-looker'.. bit odd but I guess this set is well documented these days, I have only captured shots one time before and, as it happens, it was here, see-
www.flickr.com/photos/vinc2020/51396241297/
from August, 2021. In under an hour here, there were 3 freight, 1 charter working and of course the plethora of passenger traction with the usual DMU and Cross-Country services. In this first picture, passing rapidly along the MIdland Main line heading south to Sheffield is a Cross Country train class 222, 'Voyager', 220007 on the 1V54, 20 station-stop, Edinburgh to Plymouth service. The Masbrough Station South Junction 'forest' where the large North Midland signalbox used to reside, it hardly seems credible that what once used to reside at this important junction, has been replaced, repeatedly over the years, by a persistent silver birch tree wood! Crawling slowly up from the Masbrough Container Terminal, heading for a station stop at the north end at Signal S0425, is GBRf class 66, 66712, now named 'Peterborough Power Signalbox' on the daily 4L11, Masbrough Newell & Wright Terminal to Felixstowe North(GBRf) with a very long and full set of containers. The GBRf loco looking, as is usual, in well turned out form... and the old Millmoor Football ground could be said to be in the same well-looked after state over to the left..

Another 'steam treat' passes through the area as its early Xmas time and on this day its another 'Christmas White Rose' i.e coming into Yorkshire's capital, York itself. On this occasion it turns out, once again, that its been (a) some time since I was last in this area, Thornhill, near Parkgate and north of Rotherham Masbrough Station, August, 2020 in fact, see-
stills Here-
www.flickr.com/photos/vinc2020/50224810576/
and a video, here-
www.flickr.com/photos/vinc2020/50224808986/
and a 'Then & Now' piece from June last year, here-
www.flickr.com/photos/vinc2020/52988672938/

and, (b) its also some years since photographing the loco on the charter today, 'Earl of Mount Edgcumbe', on 10th December 2016, for the same Yule charter run to York, crossing Ickles Viaduct further south along the line and 2 years before that, 13th December 2014, for the 'White Rose' Charter once more, here at Thornhill, amazing... Wasn't quite sure what the site here would now look like however as a 5 year gap since last doing any shots here, meant it could have turned into another dump... though not quite that, it was still challenging to get the shots as N.R. have put mesh fencing up everywhere but have left the 'old portals' in the original bridge mesh.. with 6 of us there, almost all the small 'portals' were being used..
I had watched the coaching stock depart Tyseley at 08:19 on RailCam and on the short 'hop' from there to Birmingham New St. it paused twice, at Grand Jn; and Proof House Jn, for around 10 mins each and so ended up at platform 11 at New Street, about 29 minutes late at 09:12. I had though after this that there may well have been a problem with 'Castle' 5043, and it would result in the steam being taken off.. very disappointing if so. ANyhow, this delay resulted in a late departure of the 'White Rose' of 25mins and it ran with this just about all the way north, picking up a few mins in Derby and thence a 'sprightly' performance on north to this area. Views on RailCam, from the Derby, Wingfield and Chesterfield cameras showed the loco steaming well with plenty of the white stuff in the cold damp air, with some steam escaping from the right side, looking towards the loco, valve chest, also seen in these shots here.
These four shots show the excellent performance provided by 5043, after a brief pause at Masbrough it is seen 'doing very well' on the slightly up-grade towards Parkgate ... This is 'Vintage Trains' with 'Castle' class 4-6-0, 5043, ex-98743, the 'Earl of Mount Edgcumbe' on the 1Z15, Birmingham New Street to York, 'Christmas White Rose' charter. It all started out that morning with the 3Z15, E.C.S. move from the Tyseley Steam Trust to Birmingham New Street, platform 11, with two-tone green class 47, 47773 at the back. There were 10 coaches, and these have now been entered into the 'additional info' on the RailCam 'Livetrain' list-
W96100, W5177, W5212, W5198, W9101, 99971 'Eagle' Pullman, 99361 Pullman2, 99349 Pullman3, W3110, W35470
The charter was running only a few minutes down here and ran almost to time arriving in York just 4mins late at 12:46 .. The return service 1Z17, left York just 4 hours later at 16:41 and arrived back at Birmingham New Street, 11mins late at 20:41...

After the 'White Rose' charter headed off north to Yorks, there were other workings in the area and 2 of them, which turned up pretty soon after the 'Earl' had departed are shown here..
In a composite at top left, a set of 3, class 66, D.B.C. locos are seen heading south in sunny conditions on the 0Z54, Doncaster Belmont Down Yard to Toton T.M.D., on what one assumes is 'return to base' working. The locos in the ensemble are 66011, 66128 & 66135.
At upper right, the trio of 3 class 66s are heading towards Masbrough's S0424 signal with the divergence 'feather' lit at the top, for the move left, onto the 'Old Road' south to the Chesterfield area and beyond. Walking back along the old two-line track-bed at left, 3 N.R. personnel on 'surveying' duties, one of them told me.. The formation here was once a 5-track assembly with up and down fast line and up and down goods lines, with along a goods line running from Holmes West Sidings, along the back of the station next to platform 1 and then up to here, for slow moves out of the sidings an on north to this area..
At lower left and now in the right timing sequence, compared to the upper left shot, another of the local services now passing through here, at about the same time as this, another container train gets away north from Tinsley through Aldwarke Junction behind the camera, so its a moderately busy area at this time of day. This one however has come out of the local Newell & Write container terminal on the land once occupied by the Masbrough Sorting Sidings, a shot distance away. This is G.B.R.f. 66787, 'Three Bridges A.S.C.', on the 4L11, Masbrough Newell & Wright Felixstowe working, and on time, as they usually are.. The naming of 66787 took place on 30the June, last year, see-
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJ5g1EJoX8Q
A.S.C. being an 'Area Signalling Centre'.
In the lower right shot, the 'Eagles are Landing' or just coming to have a look at what all the fuss was about, think they are actually gulls scurrying about looking for another refuse dump to poke their nosey beaks into ... still, a colourful interesting shot with the background businesses now having changed yet again from what they were 8 and 10 years ago...

* Not all plain sailing on this charter day...

Just 3 minutes behind the steam charter, and running around 15 minutes early, hence closely following 'Royal Scot', just around two sections behind, is DBC class 60, 60074. 'Puma Energy - Luke' on the 6E01, Wolverhampton Steel Terminal to Masborough Freight Depot working with 'Pig Pens', BYA Wagons or 'Hoods', depending on your preference!. With a 600 tonne timing load, this isn't a very heavy load and its set to terminate at the Masbrough Freight depot, south of Masbrough Station site, in only 12 minutes, the steam charter having gone straight through the north end of the old Masbrough Station site at about 13:00.. This loco, DBC 60074 was once named 'Teenage Spirit', the name something I was always keen on, the loco with just a slightly different shade of blue, more 'ice blue' than this 'grey-blue', the loco in the old blue livery and with the original nameplate can be seen here-
www.flickr.com/photos/daohaiku/14796014840/
crossing Norfolk Bridge at Attercliffe making its way into Sheffield Midland, 19th August, 2014, and some information about this locomotive here-
railexclusive.com/old-models/class-60-no-60074/

Those wagons certainly do look like 'pig pens' so guess this is not an unusual name.. not clear to me why they are used to convey steel though, unless the material has to be kept away from the elements, during the trip.. The right wo shots show the line to the north with little of immediate interest, the old concrete plate-layers hut still stands, but will soon be hidden by birch saplings, the route into Tinsley Yard is now overgrown and all redundant trackwork has now been removed, signal S0305, glowing with a double yellow aspect, possibly indicates the steam charter isn't far off. Beyond this signal, there is only S0401 and S0405, the latter being the controlling signal for moves into the MAsbrough Freight Depot, so presumably S0401 will be at single yellow and S0405 at red, the signals after that one, being S0411 and the last one, at the north end of Masbrough is S0425 controlling the junction onto the Midland Main line out of Sheffield to the north...

* Not all plain sailing on this charter day...

An eventful 2 hours, waiting around for the most part, for the steam charter to arrive in the area which eventually turned up around an hour late. Whilst all this was going on, there were other 'treats' in store, at Treeton which, as it turned out, I hadn't been back too since last March, see-
www.flickr.com/photos/vinc2020/50996549177/
and
www.flickr.com/photos/vinc2020/50995730653/
in somewhat similar conditions, misty and wet; heavy rain occuring whilst en-route to this location. Another interesting passage of traction also occuring around 6 months earlier, in August 2020, see-
www.flickr.com/photos/vinc2020/50277699243/

On arrival, it was still raining, so deployed the highly technical and expensive 'rain-hood' i.e. a 'toucan motif' plastic bag; seems to work well when paired with a broad elastic band! The first trio of shots in this set of 4 shows, in the di8stance, GBRf class 66, 66783, 'The Flying Dustman' approaching the camera on the Treeton Down Goods Loop, having paused briefly at Signal S0293, the first signal at the southern end of the loop, it is now approaching the loop exit signal, S0297 and preparing to stop. This is the 4E57, Ratcliffe Power Station to Immingham International Terminal with a rake of around 25, empty HYA Boggie Coal Hoppers, bound for a refill at the Immingham coal terminal'; foreign coal of course. It had to wait time here for a short while and whilst doing so, a south-bound Freightliner appeared on the usual mid-day 'rails' train, here its class 66, 66418, 'Patriot - In Memory of the Fallen Railway Employees' on the 6M73, Doncaster Up Decoy to Toton North Yard, Civil Engineers train hauling a long rake of new rail-head. Its good to know the loop line is still used fairly regularly but all other rail infrastructure has now been removed in the area though there are old bits and pieces lying around in the Orgreave Exchange Sidings area over on the far right.

* Not all plain sailing on this charter day...

Around 30 minutes after the departure of both the coal train to the north and the light engine move to the south, seen in the last trio of pictures, the steam working finally came into view. The wait was due to various 'problems' which were resolved further south, when the backup loco for the charter, a class 47, was deemed a failure at Bescot and this delayed the charter service by an hour. Although some of the time was recovered due to missing out a half hour pause at Ambergate, a further delay ensued whilst 'Batman and Robin' came over from Crewe on a rescue mission to save the day and help the steam hauled charter arrive in York, only 27 minutes late. Although not pictured here, a VSTP working ran, 0Z60, with two further class 47s, 47853 & 47805, ex-D1935 'Roger Hosking MA 1925-2013', from the Crewe Holding Sidings to Barrow Hill North Junction. Here the 'rescue locos' for the failed 47501, at Bescot, were divided and 47853 went on to the back of the Steam Charter whilst 47805 took 47501 back to Crewe as 0Z61, Barrow Hill to Crewe Holding Sidings and the day continued. The Charter was due for a stop for around 30 minutes anyway, to take on water, so the move with the rescue locos would have occured during this time, the set however left Barrow Hill 54 minutes late, having picked up 30 minutes at Ambergate, and arrived in the area here at around 12:55, an hour late. The set managed to pick up a bit of time en-route and arrived in York just 27 minutes late, considering the shenanigans they had gone through with the rear loco, watering, I think this is sterling work and from such a great looking locomotive leading the set, class 7P, 4-6-0, 46100, ex-98702, 'Royal Scot'. This is yet another run of 'The White Rose' charter, another ran around Xmas along with 'The Xmas White Rose', see-
www.flickr.com/photos/vinc2020/51753701592/
where both tours passed through Masbrough Station site at around the same time; a rather splendid happenstance. Today 'Royal Scot' is now in charge, with newly 'hitched on' class 47 at the back, 47853 ex-D1733, 'Rail Express', on the 'Saphos Trains' tour with 'Locomotive Services (TOC) Limited' locos hauled 46100, 'Royal Scot' on the 'The White Rose' charter, 1Z60, from the Bridgnorth, Kidderminster on the Severn Valley Railway, to York. The conditions were 'perfect' for producing prodigious amounts of the 'white stuff' and as the engine was also working a bit hard though here, a fine show was seen... what a splendid loco this is and those that keep it in such good condition must be very gratified by this performance. With 11, 'Blood and Custard', ex-British Rail coaches, the set performed well, and there were more than a dozen folk here, mainly on the footbridge behind, out to view this passage.. There is another of these Charter services this Saturday, this time from the Tyseley Steam Trust to York with 7029, 'Clun Castle' in charge and class 47, 47773, ex-D1755 at the back and operated this time by 'Vintage Trains'. The ex-B.R coaches were- 35461, 3122, 3045, 80044, 3100, 3148, 3125, 3330, 1203, 5991 & 17159.

* Not all plain sailing on this charter day...

Around 15 minutes after the Freightliner departed, DBC 66783 revved up, slowly, it had also parked up some distance away from signal S0297, as can be seen in the last pictures, parking alongside the north-bound main line signal, S0299. It came forward, with a toot to the massed ensemble, 6, there was a further, bigger crowd to the south on the old grey metal footbridge, 'Biffa the Red', 66783, 'The Flying Dustman', gets away north out of the loop and onto the main line towards Catcliffe on the 4E57, Ratcliffe Power Station to Immingham International Terminal working with a rake of empty HYA Boggie Coal Hoppers destined for a refill of foreign coal at the Humber port. To the left of the loco and first wagons, a vestige of the 'olden days' in the form of a length of point-rodding, with once, a local lever frame just in front of the bridge, now long gone, apart from the rodding and a bit of old rail-head. At centre, the well-battered HYA wagons can be seen, presumably the bent metalwork caused by years of loading up with tonnes of coal from overhead hoppers and to the left, at centre, the access to the double-track rail formation into Tinsley Yard; all of which has now been removed. Though there is new activity in the Yard of course with the arrival of the N&W container terminal juts north of the Sheffield Parkway, the DBS 'Spoil Pad' just beyond, taking in London's HS2 excavation 'muck' and at the north end, the Amey Stone processing plant along with a steel yard... the most busy the place has been for a very long time. At far right, rumbling down from the north, and almost missed, as it came along very quietly, another DBC loco, this time a nice red liveried class 66, 66066, 'Geoff Spencer' on the 0Z54, Doncaster Belmont Down Yard to Toton T.M.D. light engine move; presumably traction returning to base for some further work; 'Bracketed by the Reds', you could say..

* Special Composition with the two Charters passing through the station site...

A composite of 2 shots, taken about 20 minutes apart, showing today's two 'White Rose' charters.
On the right, the 'Saphos Trains', L.S.L., 'Locomotive Services (TOC) Limited', 'The Xmas White Rose' with L.M.S., London Midland Scottish Railways class 7P, 4-6-0, 46100, ex-98702, 'Royal Scot' with class 47, 47853, ex-D1733, at the back on the 1Z40, Llandudno Junction via Chester & H.V.L. to York'. It returned that evening, 17 minutes late, at 16:18, on the 1Z44 working from York but this time taking the northern route via Wakefield, Todmorden & Manchester Victoria back to Llandudno Junction.
On the left VNTL, 'Vintage Trains Ltd', 'The White Rose' charter with another L.M.S. locomotive, this one LMS 8P, class 4-6-2, 46233, 'Duchess of Sutherland' with class 47, 47773, ex-D1755, at the back on the 1Z34, Tyseley Steam Trust to York. The set left York at 17:19, 4 hours later, and headed back south on the 1Z36, from York back to the Tyseley Steam Trust.

A very splendid showing indeed, though a bit more 'flat light', would have helped enormously...

The 'going away' shot shows the steam loco exhibiting a little more steam as it climbs the gentle grade up towards Aldwarke Junction, it also may be a little cooler in the cutting resulting in the steam condensing here. Passing over the top on the Wortley Road bridge, a German outfit, based in Regis-Breitingen, 'Spedition Sierpinski Cargo & Freight Co. Ltd.' being enveloped in steam, now how serendipitous is that.. sort of! To the right of the loco, the points at MAsbrough North Junction, taking moves off the Midland Main Line and onto the 'Old Road, are still set for the 'Old Road', the last move being the earlier 2-loco convoy of D.B.S 66057 and 66142, seen in the last picture; the points will be set 'normal' again as soon as traction needs to move along the Midland line, at centre, towards Sheffield. The small Ground Position Signal, showing a double red aspect, controls moves ahead to take workings heading north off the 'Old Road', crossing over the south-bound Midland line and onto the north-bound line, which 'Royal Scot' is currently travelling along; hence the reds on the Ground Position Signal. When there is a crossing move, the light changes to a diagonal aspect indicating a crossing move from the down to the up line... Looking to the south, now that the 'Xmas White Rose' charter is making progress to the north, time to get ready for the next one, now due in about 20 minutes. Heading along the north-bound Midland Main Line, another T.P.E. unit come around the curve from Holmes Junction on the semi-fast service, 1B74, with a 2-car set with 185101 at the front and at the rear, 185139. The light is still troublesome and these short were difficult to deal with, especially after combining the raw images to achieve something like this here, where 4 images were combined to give this result... On the 'Old Road' at left, and again travelling along the platform 4 line heading south, the pair of D.B.S. locos which were seen in the earlier shot of the 'Royal Scott', are now heading off towards Beighton with the second star of the show, 'Duchess of Sutherland' just around the corner in the distance and about to come into view. The light engine loco moves is with 66057 or 66001 at the front, it was hard to tell at this angle, and, at the back seen here, and easier one to 'spot', 66142, 'Maritime Intermodal Three' on the 0Z54, 'Doncaster Belmont Down Yard to Toton T.M.D', Traction & Maintenance Depot working. Crossing over Coronation Bridge, heading towards Rotherham it seemed, was a 'Sherburns LGV Driver Training Ltd.' H.G.V, adding a 'bit of blue'! to the background. It features again in the next shot of the approaching 'White Rose' charter, this time the blue H.G.V. is going the other way though.. fascinating stuff! No idea what the pair of cables are for, which run between the rail formation between platform 3 on the left and platform 2 on the right... signalling or power cables possibly ..

More traction both ways, this time, again heading south along the old platform 4 'goods' line, along the 'Old Road' at left, creeping into view is a light engine move from the Doncaster area, the locos being 66057 or 66001 at the front, it was hard to tell at this angle, and, at the back, and easier one to 'spot', 66142, 'Maritime Intermodal Three' on the 0Z54, 'Doncaster Belmont Down Yard to Toton T.M.D', Traction & Maintenance Depot working. Yesterday, whilst photographing the pair of D.R.S. class 37s on the R.H.T.T. up at Deepcar, see-
www.flickr.com/photos/vinc2020/51750983613/
working was observed to pass through Chesterfield, on the 'RailCam' in this instance, with no less than 5 class 66s in the move, 66088, 179, 244, 224 & 060; would have been good to see that here in this picture! ON the right, having come under COronation Bridge, is London Midland Scottish Railways, class 7P, 4-6-0, 46100, ex-98702, 'Royal Scot' running on the the 10 minute delayed 'The Xmas White Rose' charter, 1Z40, from Llandudno Junction on the north Wales coast near Anglesey, via Chester where the steam loco was attached to the front and then east through Manchester and along the Hope Valley, through Sheffield, without stopping, and on to York, arriving 19 minuets late at 13:19. It has a rake of fine looking 'blood and custard', British Rail coaches and at the back, class 47, 47853, ex-D1733 to provide additional motive power if required. Hardly a wisp of steam from the over-pressure valves and only a wisp of blue smoke from the chimney ... shame..

Although the T.P.E. service, seen in the earlier picture, had not long since passed to the north, it looked like a signal check would be in order and the charter would stop in the station, this didn't happen though, and it slowly sailed straight through! This pair of shots now show the charter in easier lighting conditions in the Masbrough North cutting. At left, in matching livery to the West Coast Railway Company maroon liveried coaches, 46233 'Duchess of Sutherland' heads for the Junction where the points are set for moves north off the 'Old Road' and over the Sheffield, down line to the up line taking it towards Swinton and either Moorthorpe or Doncaster. At the front of the coaching stock is a G.U.V. coach, a General Utility Van. no. W96100 and then a rake of maroon West Coast Railway Company standard coaches. Like the earlier 'Royal Scott', 6233, is not producing much steam from either the chimney or over-pressure valves, shame again!! and it looks like the tender is well down on coal, still there's only around another hour to go before terminating in York. The disconnection of the old back of station goods line, can be seen over on the left, signal S0423 protects the north-bound up line and over to its left, in the shrubbery, is S0421, still lit but now serving no purpose whatsoever.. In the right picture, bringing up the rear, green liveried class 47, 47773, ex-D1755, manages to come into shot just as the sun comes back out from behind a cloud, the latter causing the last shot at left, to be somewhat dull. There 'blood and custard' coaches in this rake as well and the set is on the VNTL, 'Vintage Trains Ltd', 'The White Rose' with LMS 8P, class 4-6-2, 46233,' Duchess of Sutherland' leading on the 1Z34, Tyseley Steam Trust to York charter; the set left York at 17:19, 4 hours later, and head south on the 1Z36, York back to the Tyseley Steam Trust.

A bit of an event on this mi-week day as two sets of 'White Rose' charters are time-tabled to come through here at Masbrough Station, one, along the 'Old Road' on the left from the Tyseley Steam Trust and set to pass at 11:36 with Duchess of Sutherland' leading and, 20 minutes later, with 'Royal Scott' in charge, timed to come along the Midland Main Line, over on the right.
In addition to the two steam events, there were also 3 freights passing along the 'Old Road', amongst passage of the two steam charters, 'The Xmas White Rose', on the Midland line on the right and, on the left, 'The White Rose' on the 'Old Road', plus two Transpennine Express services to boot! This first pair of pictures shows the action having begun in approximately correct time sequence, some liberty having been taken with all these shots in terms of timing, so that 'interesting' passes could be constructed, of the differing traction. At left, and the grimiest class 66 I have ever seen, GBRf as well which _is_ unusual, heading north on the lunchtime container train from the Masbrough Freight Depot area is 66727, 'Andrew Scott CBE' or 'Maritime One' nowadays, someone having cleared the front panel around the loco's number, on the 4L11, Masborough N&W(GBRf) to Felixstowe North(GBRf), long, full container train. The stark, overhead light when taking shots here around mid-day is evident and it has taken a long while to get all this reasonably processed so details could be seen in the pictures, though in 66727's case, it probably wouldn't have mattered. Just shortly after this, other rumbling sounds were heard coming from fore and aft and on the Midland Main line over on the right, a pair of class 185 T.P.E. units hurry south towards Meadowhall and Sheffield on the 1B75, Cleethorpes to Manchester Piccadilly service with 185130 leading and 185121 at the back. To their left having slowly come along from the north, A Freightliner class 66, smokes its way south along the old platform 4, up line, with 66570 in charge of an empty rake of empty MLA Wagons, on the 6M73, Doncaster Up Decoy to Toton North Yard engineers train. As can be seen in the distance, Coronation Bridge is 'thronging' with enthusiasts, awaiting the arrival of the two steam charters, the early one from Tyseley set to come through at 11:36 having been delayed, by at least 40 minutes and the 2nd, on the Midland main line, by about 10 minutes.