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Another dash, this time by foot, but now just the smaller of the two distances mentioned before, about 250m back to the Midland Main line at Kilnhurst to await passage of another regular, the 'Dewsbury'. Fortunately this was halted at Swinton for a few minutes then appeared to take a few more minutes longer than expected to come just south to here at the old Midland's Kilnhurst Station site below St Thomas Church in the background. Fortunately not only did a red truck pass by as the Freightliner got to this point, but a Northern Rail DMU, class 142, rattled north to Swinton Station giving what could be sub-tiled, 'a Red, Green & Blue aspect to the frame. The passenger DMU is on the 2R11, Lincoln Central to Adwick service and is seen passing Freightliner class 66, 66587 on the regular late morning 6M89, Dewsbury Blue Circle Cement, depart 09:46, to the Earles Sidings at Hope, arrival 12:10, 600 tonne empties working. The red truck belongs to another recycling firm, 'Universal' this time and their base is also in the Swinton area this, along with much else in these parts, is now indicative of what has taken over the old, heavy industrial concerns which used to pervade the are in every nook and cranny; recycling materials these days is big business and everyone appears to want to get in on it, no bad thing really.

At the platform end, on the left, there is temporary speed restriction advance warning board for the junction to the south and at present, Swinton's S0464 is showing a red aspect though by this time, south-bound services were running through and a Northern service en-route from Scunthorpe to Lincoln Central, had just passed. DBC 66134, is on the short haul of a motley set of old wagons including an MBA type and an old coke hopper along with 3 others I do not recognise... Think it may bell be the time for 'Mr. Scrapman'.... At last some finer weather is here and after the recent snow falls, it once more feels like Spring with Astronomical Spring starting on Saturday night when the UK puts the clock forwards one hour and B.S.T. starts again..

With more controllable light in the north facing images, a set of passengers await the next local service, the Northern 2N19, Leeds to Sheffield stopper, as class 66, 66134 ambles along the platform one line with its motley rake of old wagons, presumably for scrap somewhere further north? Some slight interest is being shown by the passengers and one has a camera out, I think, taking shots of the interesting scene happening a few feet away. Although not visible in the image, Swinton's S0461, was showing green with the 'feather' lit as the set is taking the east-bound cross-over just ahead, to proceed on through Mexborough and Conisbrough and so to Belmont Down Yard in Doncaster, having set off from the T.M.D. at Toton this morning at 08:34, it will arrive in around half an hour, 12 minutes late, at 11:02; the 6E23 working.

Not wasting anytime at all today and neither is this working being put in the Kilnhurst Loop, over on the left in front of the loco, as it does on very many occasions, especially if south-bound freights are in the area and they have to pass each other. Today that isn't the case and GBRf 66745, 'Modern Railways - The first 50 Years at Doncaster', rattles off north, it too now not far from completing the 5 hour journey from Leicestershire to Doncaster on the 6E42 working. All looks clean a tidy here, the ballast is new(ish) all the point-work is being retained and there is another signal with feather, S0716, for moves off the main line and into the loop, just behind the camera. To the right of the yellow MBA wagon, partially in shadow, the old site of the 'Thomas Hill Vanguard Locomotive Works', constructed in May 1978, by and for the Thomas Hill Vanguard Locomotive Works which continued in business until taken over in 1990 by the owners of Doncaster Wagon Works, R.F.S. Industries, now of course, Wabtec. The locomotive works finally closed here in 1993 when all work was transferred to Doncaster; the building survives and looks pretty much the same as it ever did, it is currently being used for light industrial purposes and looks to have been recently extended; there are still signs of rails going into the building at the north end, viewed on Google Earth. And, speaking of 'wasting no time' above, on the main road alongside the canal on the other side, another form of waste is being dealt with, this time its HGV belonging to 'Moulding Solution Plastic Recycling Ltd.', another local business in the Swinton area and it will presumably be dealing more and more with one of the now recognised blight's of the modern era, since the last war, plastic waste. The Chinese now of course are no longer willing to import the stuff, from here and elsewhere, and well, not actually sure what they used to do with it all, one assumes they recycled it into more products which were then sold back to us; seems like a 'heads they win, tails we lose', scenario!

The real reason for the mad dash over from Swinton Interchange appeared around 15 minutes later, running on time, in the form of colourful GBRf class 66, 66745, with a longish name, 'Modern Railways - The first 50 Years at Doncaster', on the regular run from the Cliffe Hill Stud Farm in Leicestershire, to Doncaster Up Decoy, on the 6E42 working. This working has a 2000 tonne timing load but today only 13 of the 20 box wagons appear full of aggregates from the quarry. On the right, a 'Stagecoach' bus, the No. 217 service to Mexborough is heading north right alongside the other side of the canal and behind the bus the large grey building belongs to 'Charles Thompson Ltd', fabricators of steel products of one sort or another and who have a rather prestigious on-line presence-
www.charles-thompson.co.uk/contact-us/
and a rather typical sort of industry to have in this once very industrial area. If its thirsty work in there during the long, hot Summer days, across the other side of the canal to the left of 66745, 'The Ship Inn' has a water-side view but no access and little in the way of outside space to enjoy the scene, the beer barrels appear to have the optimum spot... shame really. Sticking out above the rear of 66745, right on the bank of the canal is Sheffield PSB's, now controlled from York R.O.C. of course, S0716 MAS signal with feather, the latter authorising moves off the main line and into the Kilnhurst Goods Loop at the other side of the road bridge, behind the camera.

At the platform end, on the left, there is temporary speed restriction advance warning board for the junction to the south and at present, Swinton's S0464 is showing a red aspect though by this time, south-bound services were running through and a Northern service en-route from Scunthorpe to Lincoln Central, had just passed. DBC 66134, is on the short haul of a motley set of old wagons including an MBA type and an old coke hopper along with 3 others I do not recognise... Think it may bell be the time for 'Mr. Scrapman'.... At last some finer weather is here and after the recent snow falls, it once more feels like Spring with Astronomical Spring starting on Saturday night when the UK puts the clock forwards one hour and B.S.T. starts again..

Another dash, this time by foot, but now just the smaller of the two distances mentioned before, about 250m back to the Midland Main line at Kilnhurst to await passage of another regular, the 'Dewsbury'. Fortunately this was halted at Swinton for a few minutes then appeared to take a few more minutes longer than expected to come just south to here at the old Midland's Kilnhurst Station site below St Thomas Church in the background. Fortunately not only did a red truck pass by as the Freightliner got to this point, but a Northern Rail DMU, class 142, rattled north to Swinton Station giving what could be sub-tiled, 'a Red, Green & Blue aspect to the frame. The passenger DMU is on the 2R11, Lincoln Central to Adwick service and is seen passing Freightliner class 66, 66587 on the regular late morning 6M89, Dewsbury Blue Circle Cement, depart 09:46, to the Earles Sidings at Hope, arrival 12:10, 600 tonne empties working. The red truck belongs to another recycling firm, 'Universal' this time and their base is also in the Swinton area this, along with much else in these parts, is now indicative of what has taken over the old, heavy industrial concerns which used to pervade the are in every nook and cranny; recycling materials these days is big business and everyone appears to want to get in on it, no bad thing really.