31ST JULY 02: After a failed attempt yesterday by Freightliner to run their first train from Moorswater. They ran up tonight with 66536 at 19:10. Yesterdays train was delayed because a wagon was de railed at Moorswater. 43090 and 43091 followed at 19:15 on a Laira - Phillips Marsh stock move. The pair were back to back when they passed Taunton. 28TH AUG 02: 37197 the Black Five which will be used on the Dawlish Donkey trains this summer worked down at 12:10 with 4 coaches also in tow. The loco is due to return at 18:10 this evening with a tour with has worked down on the Yeovil line with the other Standard 4MT, which will also be used on the Donkeys! 47853 and 47839 worked down today at 12:44 on the Manchester - Plymouth service in top and tail formation, this was instead of the booked Voyager. 37197 returned slap bang on time tonight at 18:10, running through the up fast. It slowed in the station (Even though it was on greens!) and then all I can say it 'Tractor Thrash' followed!! A very nice departure, the loco is again due back down at 20:50 on the return 5Z38 Bristol - Exeter ECS move. Also of note at the station today was the Railtrack 'Great Western' Incident Van which was also sighted out at Norton Fitzwarren earlier in the day. Can anyone confirm the reasoning behind this? 1ST AUG 02: 66202 turned up this morning heading down at 08:10 with the nuclear flask and inspection saloons, heading for Plymouth. 47851 managed a turn on the 1V50 Glasgow - Penzance today and ran it to time all the way down to Penzance. 3rd AUG 02: 47851 made it's first ever visit to the South West on a Saturday since being in it's two tone green livery was first applied! It worked down on the overnight 1V26 Manchester - Paignton then back up as the 1S66 Paington - Edinburgh, and in the afternoon back down again on the 1V52 to Penzance! An incident occurred in the morning where a driver in the Wellington reported seeing a man on the track. Chaos ensued, with all trains bought to a halt while Police searched for the man, who was found and taken away. Today also saw Top and Tailed 47's instead of a Voyager (Surly Not!) 47818 and 47853 (XP64) worked the 1V43 to Paignton. 47793 also came down on the EDENEX Tour to Par and 47732 not to be out done worked to Minehead with a charter. 4th AUG 02: 47851 worked back up today on the Penzance - Manchester service at 13:20. I finally managed to get a shot of my last 'celb' 47! Today’s 1V84 Manchester - Penzance was cancelled at Bristol Temple Meads. This was due to Virgin not having a guard to work the train forward. 47848 worked the train as the 5V84 Bristol - Penzance ECS. It passed Taunton at 18:10. 12th AUG 02: Today's 6V70 Cliffe Vale - St Blazey turned up 60085!! (An old fav' of mine, as it was my second last 60!) However 66202 worked the up 6M72 St Blazey - Cliffe Vale. 66188 worked tonight's 6C62 Westbury Yd - Tavi Jn fuel. 13th AUG 02: 66250 worked to Taunton today to run round!! It was working the 6C21 Newport - Bridgwater, however problems with the points force the loco to run to Taunton to run round and gain access to the yard from the Up Main. This was also the last run for 6C21. 47805 worked 1V50 Glasgow - Plymouth tonight, and believe it or not, it was on time! Down through Taunton at 16:20! Who says we need Voyagers. 6M72 was worked by 60085 tonight. 14th AUG 02: 60085 worked down through Taunton at 16:20 on the 6V70 Cliffe Vale - St Blazey with 47734 dead in tow, this seems to be a replacement for the broken 47737 currently on St Blazey. Look out for another move up tomorrow night on 6M72! 19th AUG 02: The last ever 1M56 Penzance - Manchester loco hauled service worked up at 12:17 today with 47840 (Which had been re-numbered to 47077 for the event), and 47847 There was a huge crowd on the platform to give the pair a good send off, all getting their last pics. But never fear as we still have FGW to entertain us, and 1V45 this Saturday should still throw up a Virgin 47 to Paington! Sadly for Virgin, after a faultless run up to Birmingham with the Class 47’s The first ever 1V50 Glasgow – Penzance Virgin Voyager (which was already 12min late) failed on the way up Dainton bank, just past Newton Abbot. The Unit 221110 coasted to Totnes where the driver requested the 'Thunderbird' loco to assist. However after 45min of playing on the computers, the unit was able to continue and the Thunderbird was stood down. The unit made it as far as Mutely Tunnel just outside Plymouth Station where it failed again. Once inside the station the service was cancelled and all the passengers transferred to a FGW service onto Penzance. The disgraced Voyager was believed to be coupled to the Plymouth shunter which towed it out to Laira for repair! (Anyone get a shot of this?) 20th AUG 02: First to put in an appearance was 47816 SS Great Britain, at 19:30 some 20min late with the return 57601 diagram to Plymouth. 67008 went south shortly after with 1V33 Willesden - Plymouth vans. The first item of interest on and HST departing for Plymouth was a FGW service (43027 leading 43141 on rear) Coach D on the set seemed to be taped off with yellow and black tape, on all door handles and round seats inside the carriage as well, but am unsure why, can anyone expand on this? Broken window perhaps? 60004 and 47734 didn't turn up until gone 20:15 when the last bit of good light had all but gone, it was bought through on the up main but, slowed in the platform on an Amber light, and ran out to Obridge (More on this in a moment!) Shortly behind this was 66525 on the Moorswater cement. This was bought Platform side on the up and rattled through at quite a speed until he realised he to was on an orange light and slowed (Rather dramatically!) later stopping before running on out of the station. 67029 followed at 20:45 again platform side on the up with 1M65 Plymouth - Willesden mail. Back to 60004 is appears although the train was out of sight it, was held outside of the station for 66525 and 67029 both to pass, 6M72 then departed passing my house in Creech at 21:05 after I had left the station and got back home, giving me another sighting of my Pet Tug! Other oddities noted tonight, the station clocks all decided summer time was over and duly put themselves forward by an hour, thus confusing most passengers trying to catch trains. (Or was it FGW attempt at making Virgin performance figures look worse than they are) The problem was swiftly fixed (With the blunt end of a size 10 no doubt!) and things returned to normal, until the lights on the downside platform refused to come on. 47756 was also spotted in Platform 1 today, 0C99 (Q) Exeter - Taunton and return on a T&V run! 21st AUG 02: Virgins efforts to not run any 47's in the South West nearly ended after two days! 1V51 Newcastle - Plymouth HST only had one power car running and 47812 was looking good for a drag to Plymouth, however Virgin felt it much better to cancel the train at York and then restart the service at Birmingham with a Voyager still 80+ minutes late! However EWS must have had a sense on humour, they have got 47750 'Atlas' back, which has been on hire to Virgin and is also in Virgin colours! So EWS sent it out to work in the South West! It worked the up 1M65 Plymouth - Willesden Vans :) Sadly my 'PET TUG' 60004 didn't get to stay any longer on the Cliffe Vale turns, so today we had 60031! Which used to be the last Metals Liveried Class 60, before it's repaint into EWS. Rumour has it loco's should start assembling for the EWS St Blazey 'Family' Open day very soon. 37670 could turn up on 6V70 either Thursday or Friday of this week! D1015 may come down from Old Oak Common in a convoy with other loco's. 46035 (D172) 'Ixion' is thought to be leading the procession down. (MORE WHEN KNOWN!) 24th Aug 02: 47's on a Saturday are now very scarce indeed, with the Virgin Voyagers having now taken over most services. Even the overnight 1V26 Manchester - Paington has now gone over to a Voyager. The only remaining Virgin loco hauled diagram is the 1V45 Manchester - Paington on a Saturday, and 1M25 return. This train using a west coast Mk3 coaching stock set and 82xxx driving van trailer. 1V45 is booked to arrive at Taunton at 13:25 on the down run. Overnight engineers in the Liskeard area saw 66002 and 66084 work through Taunton at 20:10 on an engineers train. (Presume top and tailed). They later returned on Sunday at around 12:50 on separate trains about 20min apart. 26th AUG 02: 31459 and 31602 made a very rare appearance at Taunton this morning when they travelled from Westbury - Exeter for fuel. 602 was low and needed to be topped up before its days work. The pair returned up at around 10:30am on their way back to Westbury! 47703 Fragonset Liveried, was on loan to First Great Western today, and worked the 1C33 12:33 Paddington - Plymouth. Expect to see this loco out working this coming week, as 57601 has major power problems, with most of the cables linking the alternator to the traction motors being fried! (Looks like a visit to Loughborough is required to fix the problem. This should be tacked onto the end of the 57/3 program. As it requires a full engine lift in order to access the cables.) 17th Dec: 59001 worked the 05:20 7C27 Whatley (Only from Westbury, train was tripped from the quarry by another loco) - Exeter Riverside, and 7C28 11:14 Exeter Riverside - Whatley empties to top up the virtual quarry stockpile at Exeter. 66188 worked up through Taunton at 12:20 on the 6T34 Tavistock - Westbury engineers train, this had worked down earlier in the morning light engine, from Westbury to collect the train. It worked down light engine as the 0T34 Westbury - Tavistock Jn around 08:00. 47758 worked the 5C43 Bristol - Plymouth vans and later returned on 1E43 Plymouth - Low Fell mail. 47747 worked the 1C06 Plymouth - Bristol vans up through at 15:45. 47739 worked tonight's 1E41 Plymouth - Low Fell mail, it passed Taunton at 19:00. 47756 was also booked to run the 1V33 Willesden - Plymouth vans down through Taunton at 19:35 Hopes that 37670 would be staying in the West Country to work the 50 Charter back from Par to Newquay at the weekend were dashed when tonight the news filtered through that 37670 would be dead in tow on the 6M72 St Blazey - Cliffe Vale ENTERPRISE. With 66113 leading the train at 21:20! Although the 37 was never 'formally' announced it has been widely rumoured that it would be working the train this weekend, needless to say that's the last Class 37 now taken out of Cornwall. The Class 66 that works the ECS from Bounds Green - Paddington on Saturday morning is expected to stay on the rear of the train all day to work the tour back down from Newquay. The down run is due to pass Taunton at 09:05. Other things to note this evening, 43130+43027 are both now sporting a revised version of FGW 'Barbie' livery with the front end now predominantly painted blue and not white. It's looks very smart indeed, so keep your eyes peeled for other examples. 66106 worked the 6V62 Fawley - Tavistock Jn fuel down through Taunton at 18:00 this evening. 18th Dec: 60043 was booked to run the 7C27 and 7C28 Exeter stone today it passed Taunton on the return at 13:10. 43123+43098 worked an 0D51 Laira - Neville Hill today, passing Taunton at approx 11:45am. 66193 worked the 6S55 Burngullow - Irvine (Silver Bullets) today, of which all of them were silver, this passed Taunton at 13:45. 47756 worked the 1E41 Plymouth - Low Fell mail up through Taunton at 19:05. 19th Dec: 59103 today worked the 7C27 ad 7C28 stone trains to Exeter Riverside, it passed Taunton heading home at around 12:20 47815 managed another outing this evening working the 1C77 18:33 Paddington - Plymouth, it passed Taunton at 21:00. 6M72 St Blazey - Cliffe Vale ENTERPRISE was worked by 66020 + 66137 this evening, with the 6M37 having 66601 as it's haulage from Cornwall this passed Taunton at 20:40 20th Dec: 47815 had the pleasure of working the 1A34 07:35 Plymouth - Paddington this morning it passed Taunton at 09:15 67026 worked down at 10:40 on 5C43 Bristol - Plymouth Vans. A light engine Class 66 worked up through at 10:47 which could have been 66159 on the 6C05 BZ - Westbury. 66106 later came down on the 6C06 Westbury - St Blazey. In the afternoon 47813 was also let out to play for FGW and worked the 1C33 Paddington - Plymouth passing Taunton at 14:15 67019 worked an additional Christmas Post Train down at 14:59 on the 1V30 Willesden - Plymouth, this later returned as the 1M65 Plymouth – Willesden 47813 later returned at 18:50 on the 16:40 Plymouth - Paddington. 21st Dec: 50031+50049 worked down through Taunton at 08:55 this morning running early on the 1Z27 Ealing Broadway - Par charter. They passed Creech in the fog, sounding 'Superb' and ran early all the way to Plymouth where they were held for a right time departure. 66092 was attached on the rear of the train at Par for the run up to Newquay and back, before being removed allowing the 50's to run back solo. They passed Taunton at 20:25 on the return. 22nd Dec: 47832 worked an 5Z70 10:40 Laira - Old Oak Common today passing Taunton at 12:00 with 8 FGW Mk2's in tow (Thanks AD!). 23rd Dec: 67014 managed another outing today after a period of over a year at Cardiff Canton, it passed Taunton on the 5C43 Bristol - Plymouth vans at 10:15. Then returned on the 1E43 Plymouth - Low Fell mail. 28th Dec: 66092 worked up through Taunton at 13:40 on the 6M68 Burngullow - Crewe Basford Hall, silver bullets. 66137+66051 worked down through Taunton in Top and Tail formation at 17:50 on the 6W20 Westbury – Liskeard 66212 and 233 followed at 20:05 on the 6W25 Westbury - Liskeard. 30th Dec: 60081 (Green) finally got to work the 6V62 Fawley - Tavistock Jn fuel this evening passing Taunton at approx 18:00. 47744 worked the up 1M65 Plymouth - Willesden mail while 47787 worked the up 1V33 Willesden - Plymouth.