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Another run from the south to collect a 'vehicle', class 37, 37884 from the Loco depot at Leeds Balm Road and take it back to the Loco Inspection Point at Leicester. The 37 was brought up last Tuesday, a week ago later on in the afternoon, setting off over an hour late and not knowing exactly what was on it, I failed to grab some shots of the two moves, one up with the 37 and one back south a few hours later with just the two classic traction units on it, 73951 and 31233. Today I was unfortunately distracted elsewhere for the trio's return and so only got the pair of units coming up from the south, the class 73 diesel-electric loco seen here leading, as it was last week I understand, and behind that the class 31, 31233. The 37, 37884 had been brought up to Balm Road for 'wheel turning' by all accounts form the local 'expertise', and having accomplished that work, this is the 'pick-up duo' coming to get the 37; the 73 being accompanied by the 31 due to some misgivings about the reliability of the 73. With bright overhead sun now veering round to the south directly behind the pair, this shot was taken facing as much north as practicable and the set were around 20 minutes late and appeared now not to be wasting any time. The north-end signal, S0425, at Masbrough was showing green, meaning the pair wouldn't slow for a stop and with a busy road right behind it meant the shot on the right was the best that could be done with the pair rattling off at what must have been 50mph or so! 73951 is a named diesel-electric, 'Malcolm Brinded' and if my information is correct, this is him, details c/o of Wikipedia-
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_Brinded
he doesn't appear to have any connection with the railways though, but could be mistaken. Some, fairly scant, information about the 73-

Number: 73951
Class: 73/9
Depot: BH - Barrow Hill Roundhouse Museum
Pool: RVLO - Railway Vehicle Engineering - Operational
Livery: NZ - Network Rail Locomotives/Departmentals - Yellow with Grey/Black roof and NR Logos
Builder: English Electric Vulcan Foundry
Built: 21/10/1965
Works Number: E3572/E342
73951 Renumbered
From 73104 on 31/07/2014
73104 Renumbered
From E6010 on 31/12/1973

So, this is the return 'pick-up' goods, 0E37, coming up from Derby to Leeds Balm Road, arriving at 13:46, the trip taking two hours after which the trio set off back just 45 minutes late, the return, working 0M37, taking two and a half hours. In the left picture, on the far right, the 'Black Bull' public house still has the shutters down, but not quite sure whether this means it has closed for good or is just daytime security, for when the place isn't open. Note the central triangular area between the Midland Main lines over on the right and the 'Old Road' on the left is now filling up nicely with tree-growth once more, after such a short interval after removal of it all!

* Parkgate
Bit of a liberty taken once more here, time-wise, as the canal barge hasn't moved much before an approaching DMU can be seen on the right. The NOrthern passenger service is in fact the returning trio of units which were seen heading to Sheffield around an hour ago on the Leeds to Sheffield, 2N25 service. The set has now had a change of end for the driver and set off back, now on the return 2N28, Sheffield to Leeds service with the 153332 leading and 142036 at rear. Exol Pride is heading a short distance along the canal to the only point these types of barges can now reach the locks this side of the last large, Eastwood Lock, not being big enough to take this size of craft, and it will moor alongside the Terminal about a half mile away. Disgorging it thick oil takes a few hours after which the barge reverses back to the turning hole where it comes about and sets off back along here to either Goole or the King George Dock in Hull. Looks like the raft of swans is being pushed along to the turning hole alongside of which is a canal side cafe full of generous folk who feed them and hence the flock has grown to rather large proportions. The tuning hole was built in the 1980s lock refurbishment program which saw all the locks as far as and including Eastwood Lock , rebuilt to handle these larger boats, the turning hole was used for exactly that reason for the larger craft but now, with only 'Exol Pride' coming this way, it only sees use when oil has to be delivered. The down-turn in canal traffic in the 1980s appears to have gone hand in had with the large amount of money spent on revamping all the locks; by the time the work was finished the potential canal traffic of 2,000,000 tons a year had been whittled down to only one tenth of that. Now, it is essentially zero, though of course the canals have seen a huge increase in the number of pleasure craft using them, though they hardly need large locks and turning holes to enable them to ply there way along the quiet, now non-industrial waterways, still floating past, as they do, what was the heart of the largest iron, steel and coal industries in the land, in South Yorkshire.

* Parkgate
At another location for the passage of the DRS route learner and as a prelude, as usual at this place, time to look round and see what progress is being made on the Parkgate Tram/Train terminus. As a prelude to the 66 coming by, this 1st quartet of 4 pictures shows the 'bits-n-bobs' of stuff happening in the area surrounding the location of the now non-existent swing bridge, across the Rotherham cut of the Sheffield & South Yorkshire Navigation. At top left, the Swinton Lock Activity Centre's barge, aptly named, 'Swinton', has just come past the constriction in the waterway where the canal swing bridge used to be, I once having walked across it before climbing the steps of the GCR's stepping bridge, to have my shorts and nostrils filled with the steam, oil and smoke of a passing 4F or some such, on a mineral working, in about 1954; a long time ago and the bridge is still there, for the time being only... maybe. To the right of the passing 'Swinton' cruiser/barge, on the GC's line to Mexborough, a Northern Rail DMU comes along from the canal turning hole just under Rotherham Road bridge, the DMU approaching the lineside paraphernalia which now resides about the place to do with the Tram/Train work and the new terminus along the line about a half mile away. Northern class 142, 142017, passes the slower moving barge heading towards the turning hole, and will be back soon, the DMU on the 2R15, Lincoln to Adwick service. At top right, a short time later, another Northern Rail DMU, what else, approaches the 'stepping bridge' with TkMaX over on the right at the southern end of the shopping centre. The bridge has had a concrete caisson cast about the two, right-hand, cast-iron supporting pillars; lending to the possibility that the bridge may be renovated and retained, I hope so, though this may just be a convenience and the bridge will get renewed with the arrival, eventually, of the terminus building further along the track. Another class 142, 142094, passes by under the bridge, on the 2R71, Sheffield to Scunthorpe interval stopping service; though, it won't stop here one assumes. At lower left, a bit of an oddity I haven't seen before and at 1st I thought it was a pair of similar class DMUs in tandem, bit no, at the front with its 'green brim' is another Northern class 142, 142036 but behind a single unit of the class 153 variety, 153332, so.. two 'nodding donkeys', Pacers and a Sprinter at the back. This is the 2N25, Leeds to Sheffield service and one assumes it is well patronised, hence the extra coach, possibly!! At lower right, 'Poundland' or 'Poundworld' or 'Basement Bargains or BignMassive', whatever, stock up with new quality gear from the 'discountUK' HGV offering 'Big Brands-Big Discounts-Big Savings'; all big then, everything a pound... can't wait.. Passing by in this quartet of interesting Pacer stock is yet another class 142, 142093 and heading south towards Rotherham Central, this time on the 2R82, Adwick to Sheffield service. The concrete caisson surrounding the bridge cast iron support pillars looks large so just maybe this is one of the footings for the new bridge, to span canal and railway; although a classic GR bridge, I have seen folk struggle with bikes, pushchairs and its non too easy for the disabled, attempting to cross this bridge, and its is rather narrow; could it be found a home if unwanted here????

* Parkgate
Finally, with the shot planned out as the DMU headed slowly northwards and with the 'Swinton Lock Activity Centre' boat coming slowly along from its mooring along the canal towards Eastwood Lock, an attempt was made to get the boat in the shot with the DMU service which was ambling along northwards. With only a minute or so to spare before 'Swinton' came under the footbridge, and at the other end of it, with 'Exol Pride' now having been in the shot facing southwards, time leg it over to the other side, to get another panorama, looking north; made it.. just. The 3-coach DMU set with 153332 leads the set away with class 142, 142036 at the back and it doesn't look anywhere near full for that number of units, on the 2N28, Sheffield to Leeds service. Whizzing along south on the Parkgate to Rotherham 'Albino' bus service, is the local double-decker shopper with relatively more folk on-board having accomplished all their desires at the soon to be served by Tram/Train, Parkgate Retail World; well soon, August 2017. Beyond the front of the DMU set is the location of the new Parkgate Terminus and I was informed that the station will be at the north end, not half way down in front of where the bus is, this means shoppers will have a short walk into the northern end of the shopping area from the station, and not a half a mile as looked to be the case earlier in the year! Rails have been stacked and laid to the left of the DMU, in the formation and curving on the correct path around to the station. The electricians were on site attending to cabling work near the footbridge, it does still seem a long way from showing signs of being finished in .. 10 months, but you never know. As 'the Swinton' boat passed underneath the camera, I thanked the folk on-board for the tip off regarding the Oil Barge, as they motored underneath me and off back towards the turning hole; though I guess now they may have been headed further south-west towards Sheffield, though, I thought, probably not. With the rain now easing up but the sky still looking daunting, time to head off back for some lunch...

Moving swiftly on, as they say, though not really in this case. Was kind of hoping the working would not idle in the Moorthorpe Goods Loop, further north, for an hour, but in the event it did; don't know whether this had anything to do with the later event, where it failed en-route into Sheffield but it ran 'right-time', past the camera here at Holmes Junction, albeit coming quite slowly through from Rotherham Central. This 1st shot shows the light engine DRS class 66 having literally ambled along the Holmes Chord, paused briefly at the up line signal, to the right of the one that can be seen with a a single yellow aspect for down-line moves, but looking at the time-table this slowness appeared to be due to traffic density to and from Sheffield at this time; 14:00. Here it is seen passing the junction of the old Westgate Branch, now a stub of a line just into the Booths Scrapyard area, but did one continue, 1st passing under the Midland's 'Old Road line, around the corner in the trees, the formation now invisible due to tree growth in the foreground. It was then carried on a high bank across the ground here crossing the River Don on a wooden bridge and finally terminating in Rotherham's most central station at Westgate on Main St.; now, the the only bit which is left is just a scrap line, and it doesn't look as if that has been used for a while, it almost seeming to have been cut off just in front of the warning board on the left. The background is cluttered with the jibs of cranes in the scrapyard, the lamp standards at the old RUFC football ground at Millmoor on the left and the corresponding 'new-build' at the New York Stadium on the right. The driver route knowledge working is the 0Z01, York Parcels Sidings via Sheffield & Worksop to Barnetby, and the loco DRS Direct Rail Services class 66, 66301; in very fine condition as well.

And finally, as road 'traction' backs up along Psalters Lane, having had to wait the passage of 4 DMUs, one Cross Country Service and now the driver route learner, the latter ambles by onto the main line into Sheffield and although there was traffic immediately in front in the next section but one, it appeared to be going more slowly than required.. Some of the traffic to the south of the crossing can be seen poking into the picture to the left of the loco in the right picture, but on the other side, upto the main road, a whole line of HGVs, vans and cars must have been wondering what the hell was going on; the barriers not rising after the DRS loco went through as yet another local DMU was sat along the line to the right waiting its crossover operation onto the up line the 66 is on, to take the Holmes Chord into Rotherham Central. The HGV traffic is very dusty and very heavy and it looks to be wreaking havoc with the road and the state of the crossing; maybe its time to press the old bridge into action, just visible in the background of the right picture, and make it one way, over to Holmes, the bridge deck nor being wide enough for 2 vehicles; then using the crossing as a one way route back this way... It would help as the queues tend to be worse on the inbound route, on the right, to the industrial sites over the crossing. DRS class 66, 66301 didn't get any further than Sheffield on its 4 hour jaunt from here, via Sheffield for reversal and then along the Lincoln line to Worksop, Gainsborough and then onto Barnetby; arriving at Sheffield at 14:21, just eight minuter slate, it was declared a failure at 14:29, this message appearing in the time-table-
12/09/2016 14:46
Cancelled at SHEFFIELD (14:29) due to DIESL TRAC
(Diesel loco failure/defect/attention: traction)
Network Rail then inserted a VSTP, Very Short-Term Path, 0Z02, schedule into the time-table and the DRS loco went back along the main line once more, ending up at Doncaster, Roberts Road Shed, at 15:25, apparently, 60 minutes early... not sure earlier than what though.. and coming back through here, about an hour after it went towards Sheffield! DRS, class 66, 66301 is working the 0Z01,York Parcels Sidings via Sheffield & Worksop to Barnetby but cancelled at Sheffield when it was routed on the 0Z02, Sheffield to Doncaster Roberts Road Shed, for remedial action presumably; the working which was supposed to run the day after, today, Tuesday the 13th, hasn't run.

* Parkgate
The next three pictures are all two-part panoramas to fully give justice to the scene of rail and canal with, as can be seen here, the Rotherham Oil Terminal barge, 'Exol Pride' coming along from the dock at Hull with 4-500 tonnes of heavy oil for the Terminal. I have the crew of the 'Swinton' barge, seen in the top left photograph in the 1st image, to thank for the information about this pending arrival. After motoring along to the turning hole, they came back just as I was walking back from Eastwood Lock and I took the opportunity to ask if they were going back towards the turning hole later; the intention being that their passage would form the right-hand side of this picture. The reply was they they would be coming back later as they were... waiting for the Oil BArge to pass before making the trip back, they had no idea how long this would be though and there was some uncertainty as to which way it would be travelling, full of oil to the terminal or back empty to Goole. With a half hour between the arrival of the DRS route learner, seen here on the left, and the 'Exol Pride' on the right, the weather deteriorated and although these images may look slightly out-of-focus in parts, they aren't, its just the rain. Looking to the distant Eastwood Lock, I could see that the downstream colour light signal, in railway parlance, was at a single yellow, this meant the lock was free from boats to enter from this direction, so this made me think that just maybe the barge was returning empty from the oil terminal and had free access to the lock. However, what was encouraging, after about 20 minutes or so, the distant yellow changed to a red, an indication that there must be traffic heading upstream and the way was blocked for moves downstream; so time to wait it out but, as it turned out, it was only 10 more minutes. On the left the 'daily' route learner operated by Direct Rail Services has run sporadically, it failed two weeks ago when it got to Sheffield after it was photographed at Holmes Junction and it has only run on one other day, Monday 19th Sept. Today, Monday Sept 26th, looking like a weekly, not daily run, it managed to complete the trip after the Sept 12th failure, and got to its destination, Barnetby, 1 minute late at 15:51 having set off from York at 11:53. This is DRS class 66, 66301, once more on the 0Z01, York Parcels Sidings via Sheffield & Worksop to Barnetby, working and having arrive at the Moorthorpe Loop further north 25 minutes early, I was hoping for an early arrival, but its actually a good job it waited time else I may just have missed the Oil Barge! The loco passed here on time at 13:54 and the Oil Barge was about 30 minutes later, though it took 10 minutes from 1st sighting at the lock in the background, to come towards the location of the old swing bridge, the site indicated by both the canal constriction and some remnant on the right-hand bank of the bridge support structure.

Another run of the DRS Route Learner alongside the S&SYN at Parkgate - 9169/181
* Parkgate
The barge comes very smoothly under the new footbridge where, a few weeks ago, a boy was tragically killed, 'Tombstoning' off the bridge. The Oil Barge, 'Exol Pride', seems apparently to glide along noiselessly and without a whiff of pollution though I guess its engines produce some diesel fumes; having said that it IS carrying 4-500 tonnes of oil, what's that, the equivalent of 20-25 oil lorries off the main roads from the Humber to here; a no-brainer really and more of it please. A flock of very slowly moving swans and a 'bridge-hole' underneath Rotherham Road lies just ahead and the barge will soon pass the old building of Waddingtons whose canal side premises were here after moving back from Don St in Rotherham in the 1980s; the premises are now used as a steel stockyard but without any canal usage as far as I can see. On the right, DRS class 66, 66301 passes TkMaX and the new McDonalds eatery, recently built on Rotherham Road at just about the site of the short stretch of the Earl Fitzwilliam Canal which used to have coal staithes situated at the top end, about half a mile away, to transfer coal from the New Stubbin Colliery about 2 miles further north near Greasbrough. The Colliery initially had an incline and subsequently a tramway to take coal to the staithes for onward shipment along the canal, there was another swing bridge, this time across the railway line, the allow barges to connect to the Rotherham Cut. Eventually when the Midland line arrived in the 1840's and the GC's line towards the end of that century, a railway line was built up the side of the canal formation connecting to both the Midland and GC main lines and subsequently, the canal fell into disuse; it is now a quiet, elongated fishing pond. The area is changing a bit again, with the exit of the large BnQ DIY store from the large site in the background, next to the Midland line, their old premises can just be seen above and to the left of Mcdonalds, its hard to see what will take its place; though that could be said of much of the large tracts of land left when large business evacuate previous large, traditional, industrial spaces.. 66301 is heading towards Rotherham and then a reversal at Sheffield Midland before heading of east to Worksop and Lincolnshire and terminating at Barnetby. This is the DRS, 0Z01, route learner from the Parcels Sidings at York Station and this may well be in aid of the Autumn leaf fall RHTT workings, which are operated by DRS using class 20 locomotives and originate in York.

* Parkgate
The next three pictures are all two-part panoramas to fully give justice to the scene of rail and canal with, as can be seen here, the Rotherham Oil Terminal barge, 'Exol Pride' coming along from the dock at Hull with 4-500 tonnes of heavy oil for the Terminal. I have the crew of the 'Swinton' barge, seen in the top left photograph in the 1st image, to thank for the information about this pending arrival. After motoring along to the turning hole, they came back just as I was walking back from Eastwood Lock and I took the opportunity to ask if they were going back towards the turning hole later; the intention being that their passage would form the right-hand side of this picture. The reply was they they would be coming back later as they were... waiting for the Oil BArge to pass before making the trip back, they had no idea how long this would be though and there was some uncertainty as to which way it would be travelling, full of oil to the terminal or back empty to Goole. With a half hour between the arrival of the DRS route learner, seen here on the left, and the 'Exol Pride' on the right, the weather deteriorated and although these images may look slightly out-of-focus in parts, they aren't, its just the rain. Looking to the distant Eastwood Lock, I could see that the downstream colour light signal, in railway parlance, was at a single yellow, this meant the lock was free fro boats to enter from this direction, so this made me think that just maybe the barge was returning empty from the oil terminal and had free access to the lock. However, what was encouraging, after about 20 minutes or so, the distant yellow changed to a red, an indication that there must be traffic heading upstream and the way was blocked for moves downstream; so time to wait it out but, as it turned out, it was only 10 more minutes. On the left the 'daily' route learner operated by Direct Rail Services has run sporadically, it failed two weeks ago when it got to Sheffield after it was photographed at Holmes Junction, see-
www.flickr.com/photos/daohaiku/29540626172/
and it has only run on one other day, Monday 19th Sept. Today, Monday Sept 26th, looking like a weekly, not daily run, it managed to complete the trip after the Sept 12th failure, and got to its destination, Barnetby, 1 minute late at 15:51 having set off from York at 11:53. This is DRS class 66, 66301, once more on the 0Z01, York Parcels Sidings via Sheffield & Worksop to Barnetby, working and having arrive at the Moorthorpe Loop further north 25 minutes early, I was hoping for an early arrival, but its actually a good job it waited time else I may just have missed the Oil Barge! The loco passed here on time at 13:54 and the Oil Barge was about 30 minutes later, though it took 10 minutes from 1st sighting at the lock in the background, to come towards the location of the old swing bridge, the site indicated by both the canal constriction and some remnant on the right-hand bank of the bridge support structure.

Another run from the south to collect a 'vehicle', class 37, 37884 from the Loco depot at Leeds Balm Road and take it back to the Loco Inspection Point at Leicester. The 37 was brought up last Tuesday, a week ago later on in the afternoon, setting off over an hour late and not knowing exactly what was on it, I failed to grab some shots of the two moves, one up with the 37 and one back south a few hours later with just the two classic traction units on it, 73951 and 31233. Today I was unfortunately distracted elsewhere for the trio's return and so only got the pair of units coming up from the south, the class 73 diesel-electric loco seen here leading, as it was last week I understand, and behind that the class 31, 31233. The 37, 37884 had been brought up to Balm Road for 'wheel turning' by all accounts form the local 'expertise', and having accomplished that work, this is the 'pick-up duo' coming to get the 37; the 73 being accompanied by the 31 due to some misgivings about the reliability of the 73. With bright overhead sun now veering round to the south directly behind the pair, this shot was taken facing as much north as practicable and the set were around 20 minutes late and appeared now not to be wasting any time. The north-end signal, S0425, at Masbrough was showing green, meaning the pair wouldn't slow for a stop and with a busy road right behind it meant the shot on the right was the best that could be done with the pair rattling off at what must have been 50mph or so! 73951 is a named diesel-electric, 'Malcolm Brinded' and if my information is correct, this is him, details c/o of Wikipedia-
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_Brinded
he doesn't appear to have any connection with the railways though, but could be mistaken. Some, fairly scant, information about the 73-

Number: 73951
Class: 73/9
Depot: BH - Barrow Hill Roundhouse Museum
Pool: RVLO - Railway Vehicle Engineering - Operational
Livery: NZ - Network Rail Locomotives/Departmentals - Yellow with Grey/Black roof and NR Logos
Builder: English Electric Vulcan Foundry
Built: 21/10/1965
Works Number: E3572/E342
73951 Renumbered
From 73104 on 31/07/2014
73104 Renumbered
From E6010 on 31/12/1973

So, this is the return 'pick-up' goods, 0E37, coming up from Derby to Leeds Balm Road, arriving at 13:46, the trip taking two hours after which the trio set off back just 45 minutes late, the return, working 0M37, taking two and a half hours. In the left picture, on the far right, the 'Black Bull' public house still has the shutters down, but not quite sure whether this means it has closed for good or is just daytime security, for when the place isn't open. Note the central triangular area between the Midland Main lines over on the right and the 'Old Road' on the left is now filling up nicely with tree-growth once more, after such a short interval after removal of it all!