European Railroad Discussion > Flamin' June

June here in South Wales has been a varied month, both train and weather-wise. We enjoyed (endured) some heavy rain at the beginning and the end of the month with a mini-heatwave over the Summer Solstice. It's also been the month in which we've started to learn Welsh, despite very little Welsh being spoken in our neck of the woods.

1: the month got off to a good start on June 1st. As usual I checked the realtimetrain app on my phone first thing to see what I could expect through Abergavenny during the day and found that the 6V51, a tri weekly train of empty auto carriers which runs from Warrington in NW England to Portbury Docks near Bristol was about two and a half hours late and expected through Abergavenny between 08:15 and 08:30 instead of 06:00. Quick shower and down to trackside at Llanvihangel Crucorney. In the event 6V51 lost more time, only leaving Hereford, the next station to the north, after a crew change at 09:09 and passed me at 09:30 almost three and a half hours late.

2: later in the day I drove up to the coal washery at Cwmbargoed above Merthyr Tydfil, to shoot the daily loaded train carrying coal for the steelworks at Port Talbot. Departure is supposedly 17:45 but it invariably leaves early, the trick is knowing how early! I arrived at 15:00 but it was 17:00 before it finally left the holding siding and started the 1 in 40 (2.5%) descent to the mainline at Ystrad Mynach.

3: June 2nd was humid and damp. I shot the 6M86, the daily (M-F) loaded steel train which carries steel coil from the steelworks at Port Talbot and the rolling mill at Llanwern to the coating plant at Shotton in North Wales. The ruling gradient on the climb from Abergavenny to Llanvihangel is 1 in 82 (1.2%) which usually means a fully loaded 66 hauled train (24 steel carriers, 2000 tonnes) is down to walking pace by the summit. This shot is from an occupation crossing some half a mile beyond the summit.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/01/17 11:14 by 86235.

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4: Monday 5th June saw it rain for 26 hours continuously. Varied in intensity but still it rained. Wales wasn't alone in this unseasonable weather, most of Britain suffered. Here's Monday's 6M86 reaching the summit at Llanvihangel. Only 15 steel carriers which was probably just as well given the conditions

5: It stayed dull for much of the week, things only brightening up on Friday 9th. Which was just as well as Colas were operating an empty timber train from the Kronospan factory at Chirk in NE Wales to Baglan Bay, near Neath in South Wales. In theory there are two timber trains a week from Baglan Bay to Chirk, and corresponding empties, but in reality it's currently down to about one a fortnight, most of the timber Chirk receives coming from the Scottish borders at present. Never mind, the Colas 70 makes a change to the universal diet of DBC 66s. This was taken near the hamlet of Llantilio Pertholey on the descent from Llanvihangel to Abergavenny.

6: later that afternoon I climbed the slopes of Bryn Awr for a shot of the 1W96 Cardiff to Holyhead flyer (17:16 ex Cardiff and 18:00 off Abergavenny). Gives you a good idea of the landscape in Monmouthshire (Sir Fynwy in Welsh)

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7: Monday 12th, also taken at Llantilio Pertholey but with my 300mm lens, this is 6M86 on the climb to Llanvihangel with 23 loaded steel carriers. It was bright but humid that day, 66174 was working hard.

8: The following day it was sunny and warm so I absented myself after mowing the lawn and headed to Newport for a couple of pictures, firstly the DRS powered Daventry to Cardiff (Wentloog) Tesco Express behind 66421

9: And secondly the Colas operated 6C26 Westbury to Aberthaw empty cement tanks. The class 170 is on a cross country Nottingham to Cardiff service

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10: the following day, Wednesday 14th, Colas were operating one of their new but irregular flows of fine gritstone from Neath Abbey Wharf to Washwood Heath near Birmingham. So off I went to Miskin, west of Cardiff. 70813, one of the relatively new 70s was in charge, it's about to enter the loop at Miskin where it was due to stop for some 20 minutes.

11: and this is the stuff it is carrying, using former Freightliner coal hoppers

12: one of the trains that over took it whilst it was in the loop at Miskin was an extra from Margam to Newport Dock, which today had 60007 Spirit of Tom Kendall. I caught it passing Duffryn on the outskirts of Newport. 25kV electrification is imminent in this locality

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13: Another shot of the 6Z44 at Duffryn then back in the car and the drive homewards for a final shot at Llanvihangel. But first an Arriva Trains Wales class 175 DMU on the 09:10 Milford Haven to Manchester Piccadilly

14: And then the 6Z44

15: On June 16th Network Rail ran their Network Measurement Train down the Marches Line from Crewe to Newport and back again, here it is at Llanvihangel summit on the southbound run.

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16: later that afternoon I was down on the River Severn near Chepstow, this is the 6V92 Corby to Margam empty steel passing underneath the M48 highway bridge across the rivers Wye and Severn. That's the Wye in the background, the train is in Wales, England is across the river. the locomotive 66017 has only recently been released back into traffic after overhaul and repainting.

17: emerging from the four and a half mile Severn Tunnel is celebrity 66136, which is advertising the recent China to London intermodal train. It's on 4Z47 carrying empty stone hoppers from Acton Yard in London to Cardiff Docks.

18: and so began five days of 30C+ temperatures across Britain. On Monday 19th I headed over to the coal washery at Onllwyn to get some shots of the weekly Freightliner operated 6E11 carrying coal to the steelworks at Scunthorpe in Lincolnshire. 66512 was the train engine, the Onllwyn branch is all that remains of the former Neath and Brecon Railway, you can see the course of the line above the locomotive and first hopper car. Beyond Onllwyn it closed in 1962

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19: From Onllwyn I left 66512 spotting the final wagons for loading and headed down to Neath, N&B Junction where the former Neath & Brecon meets the Vale of Neath line to Hirwaun, currently OOS. The junction is controlled by semaphores. I had to wait just over an hour before 6E11 appeared, in the event it left Onllwyn only five minutes early

20: From Neath I drove back up the Heads of the Valleys Road to Cwmbargoed for the arrival of a rare mid afternoon working (booked arrival 16:12). The washery was built in the 1950s on part of the site of the former Fochriw colliery which closed in 1924. The line the train is on is the former Great Western & Rhymney Railway Joint, originally to Dowlais (Cae Harris) where there was a large steelworks until the mid 1930s. Today it terminates a few hundred yards behind me, the train will back in to the washery along the track in the foreground. But out of sight to my right was a loaded train, to Hope Cement in the English Peak District, some 250 miles north of Cwmbargoed. It will wait for the empties to clear the mainline before proceeding.

21: In the event it was 80 minutes before the 6M77 appeared, passing through the small ex-mining community of Bedlinog. The locomotives principal job on this stretch is to provide braking force, the aroma of hot brake blocks was very apparent as it passed. 90 years ago this was double track, there were sidings on the left and the trailing lead to Bedlinog Colliery joined the mainline approximately where that tree is on the right of the line. Mining ceased at Bedlinog in 1924 but the mine remained open for pumping other nearby workings until the mid 1950s.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/02/17 00:03 by 86235.

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22: on Mid Summers Day the 6M86 was 70 minutes late away from Llanwern, here it is at Ponthir at the bottom of the Marches Line, between Newport and Cwmbran
23: then back to the Cwmbargoed line and another shot of the 6C94 carrying coal to Port Talbot. On the left is the Parc Taff Bargoed which, until the early 1990s was the site of the Deep Navigation, Trelewis Drift and Taff Merthyr collieries. Now all of them are only a memory.
24: on Friday June 23rd Colas again ran an empty timber train, I had plans for the loaded train the previous evening but it ran 90+ minutes late!

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Final three

25: After the timber I drove up to Bedlinog for the late morning empties to Cwmbargoed. This would have been a wonderful line to have experienced when first the Rhymney and later the GWR hauled iron ore to the steelworks at Dowlais behind steam. It's still pretty good, the 2.5% grade tax the 66s.

26: Monday 26th, the Marches Line was in meltdown as a consequence of a cable theft overnight, this is a rare working of the overnight Margam to Dee Marsh steel train but was some four and a half hours late through Abergavenny. The headboard is to celebrate a driver's retirement

27: Friday 30th, 6M86 passing the signal box at Abergavenny at the start of the climb to Llanvihangel.

Here's the rest of June's pictures :https://nick86235.smugmug.com/Trains/2017/The-advent-of-Summer/i-4MLqvjf

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Good stuff all around

Thanks

Excellent group of photos. However. I especially like the Class 66 photos as well as the Class 60 photo.
ALLEN

very informative report! Thanks so much for sharing this series of photos.

Sublime!

Excellent shots. And of freight trains! Well done.

KG

kgmontreal Wrote:
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> Excellent shots. And of freight trains! Well
> done.
>
> KG
Thanks, as you can see overall we're blessed with both a decent volume and variety of freight traffic in South Wales, and with the real time apps available, both free and paid for, it's not too difficult to keep track of what's about. More difficult is finding unobstructed picture locations, there's far too much undergrowth.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/17 08:12 by 86235.

Nick - #2 is awesome!

Duncan

Posted from iPhone

Nick excellent series. Have you used the buses to go trainspotting in your new area yet? I tried it several years ago, a few places it didn't work but even the signaller at Moreton on Lugg knew the bus schedules!

Jim

Thanks for posting these.

One question about the gritstone.  I realize that crushed stone is more dense than coal, but those hopper cars look very much under-loaded.  Is there a simple explanation for that?

march_hare Wrote:
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> Thanks for posting these.
>
> One question about the gritstone.  I realize that
> crushed stone is more dense than coal, but those
> hopper cars look very much under-loaded.  Is
> there a simple explanation for that?


You've sort of answered it, they were intended to carry coal but this stuff, which comes from a local quarry, is that much denser. However, having said that, I also thought that the loading process didn't seem very consistent, some hoppers seemingly carrying more than others. According to an insider the contract is to carry at least two types of stone, one finer than the other, which may account for the varying loads.