Season 2, Episode 15: The quest for grubby grids (air date October 18, 2018
Arrangement to meet a friend in Nottingham gave me an opportunity to catch a few movements in the Nottingham / Derby area. I wasn't expecting too much in the way of winners, but I really wanted to catch the East Milands RHTT which this year is again being worked by Colas 56s.
My appointment wasn't until early afternoon, but a Derby Litchurch Lane - Old Dalby working on RTT grabbed my attention and I decided to make a point of being at Long Eaton in time to catch it on the way through. I surmised it would be a London Overground 710, but as Europhoenix / ROG 37611 hoved into view it transpired that Crossrail
345054 was attached to its drawbar. Chalk one up for the day already!
@The_Train - my guess is it'll be at Old Dalby for a couple of weeks so you should be on the look out for it doing mileage accumulation on the WCML in early November.
There was nothing else exciting that passed through Long Eaton during the half hour I was there, and with precious little showing on RTT I soon decided to move on.
AXC 170103
EMT 153302, 153326, 153384
EMT 156470
EMT 158856
EMT 222006,222014
ROG 37611
XRL 345054
I'd decided to go into Nottingham on the NET tram, and with time to spare I decided to drive up Banks Road and take a look at Toton depot. That turned out to be a mixed blessing as I have never seen the front of the sheds so empty of locos. The only 'runners' of note were Colas 66848, DBC 60024 and a DBC (EWS livery) shed. There are plenty of redundant 60s and a few broken 66s stabled on the various headshunts and sidings, with the following being identifiable:
DBC 60003, 60004, 60005, 60008, 60012, 60014, 60018, 60023, 60025, 60027, 60031, 60033, 60034, 60035, 60037, 60042, 60045, 60048, 60050, 60051, 60052, 60053, 60060, 60061, 60067, 60068, 60073, 60077, 60078, 60079, 60081, 60083, 60086, 60088, 60089, 60090, 60093, 60097, 60500
DBC 66012, 66018, 66039, 66061, 66103, 66138, 66139, 66145, 66167, 66207
DBC 67002, 67029, 67030
DBC DVT 82146
Plenty more dead 60s are hidden by trees and buildings, but with the foliage now falling the situation should improve slightly over the coming weeks. While I was surveying the lines of DB's detritus the following passed through on the main lines:
DBC 66221
GBR 66717, 66760
And guess what - all duds!
A lot of effort for nil return but I was expecting that really.
Having exhausted my willingness to log rusting Tugs, I made the short drive up to the NET park and ride at Toton Lane and while buying my ticket the first few trams of the day entered the book:
NET 205, 209, 222, 223
Alstom Citadis 223 was my ride into town, and a seat at the front ensured I could check the oncoming vehicles in the hope I'd catch the two NET trams I still needed for sight. Almost immediately this paid dividends with winner
204 inbound to form the following service. Hurrah, one down, one to go! Sadly the next few failed to yield another positive result and in about 30 minutes I was in the Old Market Square.
I quickly settled into the Wetherspoons (an ideal meeting place as it overlooks the tram stops where all the NET lines pass) to await my friend, and set about noting the frequent movements. Only the second to pass was winner
221, enabling me to claim the complete set of 37 trams and ignore NET from now on. So now I can genuinely claim I don't do trams - well at least not in Nottingham anymore! For what it's worth, during an hour and a half the following were noted (in addition to those logged earlier in the day):
NET 201, 202, 203, 205, 206, 207, 208, 210, 212, 214, 216, 218, 219, 220,
221, 224, 225, 226, 227, 229, 230, 231, 232, 234, 235, 236, 237
After some pleasant chat and pleasant beer, I boarded 225 for the five minute tide back to Nottingham station. Fortunately the barriers were open so there was no problem accessing the platforms to observe the happenings. I'd been monitoring the RHTT on RTT and knew it would be on time on Platform 1 just before 14:00 and within five minutes of my arrival a mucky 56090 hauled the set in from the east.
Colas Rail 56090 arrives from Lincoln for reversal on Platform 1 at Nottingham
The ten minute signal check provided enough time for the crew (and a gaggle of enthusiasts) to get from one end to the other for a few pictures of 56094 which was to head the next leg back east again.
56094 awaiting departure for a RHTT trip out to Grantham
As we know, the locos tend to get filthy - especially the ends nearest the tanks which get coated with the gunk blasted up by the water cannons - and 56090 did not disappoint in that respect.
56090 needs a wash - the locos tend to get liberally coated with the gunk from the RHTT tanks
Pretty soon the Grids screamed their way towards Grantham and I settled down to see what the rest of the action could offer. EMT is of course the staple diet, supplemented by the odd Northern unit working from / to Leeds and Cross Country Turbostars on the Birminghams The London services are a mix of Meridians and HSTs, while the local routes are the domain of 153s, 156s and 158s. Over the course of the next hour or so, the following duds all entered the book:
AXC 170103, 170107, 170110, 170519, 170520
EMT 43049, 43066, 43076, 43081
EMT 153302, 153321, 153326, 153374, 153384
EMT 156403, 156404, 156410, 156413, 156414, 156415, 156470, 156497
EMT 158774, 158780, 158810, 158812, 158813, 158847, 158856, 158862, 158863, 158865
EMT 222013, 222018, 222101
NOR 158859, 158903
The only other entertainment on offer was 60017 working a long rake of oil tanks from Immingham to Kingsbury and GBRf 66785 coming from the east with loaded hoppers bound for Ratcliffe On Soar power station - it was one of the recent transfers / renumbers from DBC, but I'd seen it in its new guise a few weeks ago and had also marked it off when it was 66132, making it a double-dud!
GBRf 66785 heads a working to Ratcliffe power station
Alas that very much set the trend, as everything noted at Nottingham turned out to be dud. A grand total of 136 locos, units and trams noted, but at the end of the day I had to content myself with the only winners being the 345 in the morning and the two NET trams that completed the set. Of course I had also caught up with the East Midlands RHTT working which I really wanted to photograph. And the all-day tram rover cost only £4.00 (and parking at Toton Lane was free), so the trip was a cheap day out. Onwards and upwards - hopefully the next outing will bring in a greater haul of winners, but I also want to catch the South Yorkshire RHTT which is top and tailed by Class 20s and maybe those will be part of the next mission.
