Train spotting

[delboy_toon]

Hello everyone! My son is a massive train enthusiast and I have booked next Monday off work to take him out to feed his passion for trains. He absolutely loves freight trains and I was wondering if anyone could advise me of a place that has a lot of freight passing through? I live in between Sheffield and Nottingham near a town called Worksop. I had planned on taking the train to the destination for spotting. Thank you for your time and help!
Dave.

 

[Drogba11CFC]

Get the Spotlog app.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

My first thought would be Doncaster?

 

[zwk500]

Doncaster or Possibly York would certainly be my first point of call. Have a look at Real Time Trains to find freight trains. Be aware that simply being shown in the timetable is no guarantee of running, freight is often cancelled on the day (or simply never activated) if there is nothing to transport.

For reference, here is a list of freight at Doncaster next monday between 10.00 and 16.00: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/se...2-20/1000-1600?stp=WVS&show=freight&order=wtt

 

[Bertie the bus]

It depends on your definition of a lot of freight because very few stations have a lot of daytime freight but some that have a reasonable amount and are easy to get to from Worksop are Doncaster, Peterborough and Lincoln. Lincoln has very little else of railway interest but both Doncaster and Peterborough are very busy so he could still enjoy some spotting between freight trains at those two locations.

 

[Gloster]

Are there still Avoiding Lines at Doncaster and York: (to the OP) these allow goods trains to pass the station without going through the lines serving the platforms? If so, are there any accessible places where you can stand and see both passenger trains serving the station and goods trains using the Avoiding Lines? (It is more than thirty years since I have been that far north in this country.) I think that at Peterborough everything is visible from the station platforms.

Are there still specific areas that spotters must either restrict themselves to or avoid. (Like being limited to the west end of Platform 5 at Reading in the far off days of my youth and Westerns.)

These questions are not for me, but to provide information for the OP.

 

[zwk500]

Are there still Avoiding Lines at Doncaster and York: (to the OP) these allow goods trains to pass the station without going through the lines serving the platforms? If so, are there any accessible places where you can stand and see both passenger trains serving the station and goods trains using the Avoiding Lines? (It is more than thirty years since I have been that far north in this country.) I think that at Peterborough everything is visible from the station platforms.

Avoiding lines at both stations yes - Doncaster is more problematic of the 2, as there are actually multiple avoiding lines and no spot to see all of them. However this is mitigated as the access do the Yards at Doncaster can require passage through the station, or close to it. Similar situation to Crewe in some ways, where there are independent lines avoiding the station yet a lot of freight still prefers the straighter track.
York has a shorter set of avoiding lines, the junction for which can be seen off the south end of the platform. It certainly used to be the case that southbound freights often used the station regardless as the additional conflicts required so much waiting time it was better to keep the freight rolling through the platforms, even if Northbound it is far less of an issue.

 

[Mike99]

Don't forget to take a flask of hot drink and home made sandwiches, you have to enjoy the whole experience in the traditional way.

 

[nanstallon]

Don't forget to take a flask of hot drink and home made sandwiches, you have to enjoy the whole experience in the traditional way.

Can you still buy Tizer?

 

[Darandio]

Can you still buy Tizer?

It's still about yeah.

 

[Mike99]

On Bus and train spotting days one of those fruit pies, was it made by Lyons?, an individual fruit pie for dessert although I often ate my first in the morning before my sandwiches later. I was from South London in the 60's and 70's which probably explains a lot.

 

[Mike99]

Hello everyone! My son is a massive train enthusiast and I have booked next Monday off work to take him out to feed his passion for trains. He absolutely loves freight trains and I was wondering if anyone could advise me of a place that has a lot of freight passing through? I live in between Sheffield and Nottingham near a town called Worksop. I had planned on taking the train to the destination for spotting. Thank you for your time and help!
Dave.

There is a fantastic website that you can join called Freightmaster.net, if you have some spare cash in these tough times, it would be a great investment for you and your son. I think the owner is a member on here, you get a book giving all the best freight locations including timetables of freight workings , also regular updates etc.

 

[30907]

On Bus and train spotting days one of those fruit pies, was it made by Lyons?, an individual fruit pie for dessert although I often ate my first in the morning before my sandwiches later. I was from South London in the 60's and 70's which probably explains a lot.

They cost 6d when I did my (LT) Green or Red Rovers.

 

[geoffk]

Is Barnetby still good? A bit further away from Worksop though.

 

[Intercity110]

Hello everyone! My son is a massive train enthusiast and I have booked next Monday off work to take him out to feed his passion for trains. He absolutely loves freight trains and I was wondering if anyone could advise me of a place that has a lot of freight passing through? I live in between Sheffield and Nottingham near a town called Worksop. I had planned on taking the train to the destination for spotting. Thank you for your time and help!
Dave.

worksop is a depot for HNrail which store new (and old) trains using class 37s, so check about your local station using realtime trains (https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/detailed/gb-nr:WRK?stp=WVS&show=all&order=wtt) on detailed mode to view freight