We would like to wish all our readers a Happy New Year for 2021.
Over the past two years, we have made great efforts to develop and increase the size and quality of our Taunton Trains Workings Database. We would like to thank all those who've helped over this period to backdate so much information. There are still huge amounts of data to be added, along with daily updates for current operations. The database has also had a recent overhaul in the background, and users should notice that access speeds and display information is now far quicker on screen.
As a review of the information collected in 2020, Adam Hiscock has very kindly provided this written review of the statistics for locomotives passing Taunton in 2020. Eleven Class 37s passed Taunton Station during 2020, and interestingly, we had at least 1 Class 37 through Taunton in every single month of the year. This is mainly due to them being employed on Test Trains for Network Rail, a practice which is soon to decline. Four Class 20s was a great effort from the veteran locomotive.
The most locos to appear in one month was 48 (September) and the least amount was 23 (May).
May was the only month of the year where a First Great Western Class 57 didn't appear at Taunton - this of course caused by the suspension of the sleeper service due to Covid. No. 57602 'Restormel Castle' was the most poorly class member this year and didn't appear at all in April, November, or December. No. 57605 'Totnes Castle' made no appearances in April or September, but No. 57603 'Tintagel Castle' & No. 57604 'Pendennis Castle' were present in every month except the May.
Colas had a good year with all of their 5 Class 66 locomotives appearing and 15 out of their 17 Class 70's. Only 70804 & No.70808 failed to make it to Taunton. From their operational fleet of Class 37 locos, only No.7057 & No. 37418 'An Comunn Gaidhealach' failed to make it to Taunton. The pair of Colas 67s also made more appearances than usual standing in for the Network Rail NMT Test Train in 5 separate months.
No Class 60 locomotives appeared in Taunton this year. The last locos to work through were in September 2019 with both No. 60039 'Dove Holes' & No. 60044 'Dowlow' working the Riverside Yd stone that month. With Freightliner now operating the Exeter Riverside stone traffic the chances of Class 60s being used in the South West are very much reliant on Colas.
With Freighliner now in charge of the Mendip Stone operations appearances by Class 59s were very low with 8 locos making just 20 appearances between them - all on the Riverside Stone. No. 59004 'Paul A Hammond', No. 59005 'Kenneth J Painter' & No. 59101 'Village of Whatley' all failed to appear in 2020 as well as 59203, 59205 & 59206. Oddly, the use of 59/2's took place every month from January to April but they never appeared again after that.
The Exeter Riverside aggregate traffic flow (6C27/7C27 and 6C28/7C28) ran a total of 102 times. 23 different locos worked this diagram with No.66621 being the loco with top appearances, it appeared on the turn 25 times giving an average of 1 in 4. Freightliner Class 66/6 No.66610 was second with 13 appearances and No.66605 was third with 11 appearances. The train was double-headed on 3 occasions.
The Bescot-St Blazey Clay train (6V99 and 6M60/6Z60) ran 50 times, but only 49 times through Taunton. The extra trip worked via the Southern route when the line was closed at Tiverton Parkway at the end of September/start of October. This means that 66158 was the only mainline loco all year to work in Devon & Cornwall but not pass through Taunton as it came down on 6V99 with No.66130 and worked back on 6M60, both via the Southern route. 32 locos worked 6V99 in total with No.66018 & No.66128 appearing the most (4 times each). The return trip ran as 6M60 for most of the year but as 6Z60 for that period in the Summer.
The Moorswater Cement train (6C35/6C36) ran a total of 30 times (but one week seeing a 70 working light engine to pick up a crippled wagon). Nine different Class 70 locomotives worked the train with the most appearances coming from No.70812 which worked it on 7 occasions. At one stage, it worked the train on 5 consecutive weeks. Interestingly, in the first 8 weeks, the train ran, 8 different locos were used. Of course, this train finished for good in November, which will reduce the number of locomotives we see in 2021.
The final stats are for Fairwater Yd. Looking at the Freightliner Class 66 which spent time in Fairwater Yd this year - this being the locos out based there to work the various HOBC diagrams for Network Rail, rather than locos that appeared to work the odd working or that used the yard to run around an engineer's train. The most common loco by a country mile was No.66953 which spent a total of 106 days based in the yard. Not just 106 days, but 106 consecutive days!! It arrived on 10th July and didn't depart until 23rd October 2020. The next most common loco after that was No. 66533 'Hanjin Express/ Senator Express' (61 days) and then orange No. 66415 'You Are Never Alone' (54 days).
