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Colas Rail Freight provided a second colourful freight train just minutes behind the Network Rail HOBC set. Class 66/8 No.66847 passes Creech St Michael with a mixture of MHA/ MTA loaded ballast wagons in tow. The 6C27 12:40 Westbury - Plymouth operated in connection with weekend engineering work in Cornwall which had already seen four Class 70's from Colas pass through Taunton during Saturday, along with a milestone working of a Freightliner Class 70 (No.70010) which operated between Cardiff and Exeter Riverside before returning light engine. This was the first recorded working of a Freightliner Class 70 west of Bristol since their their delivery to the UK. (Photo: Cameron Walker) |
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Standing in positively spring like conditions on the last day in November is not the sort of weather you expect to be photographing in. On the last day of the month Freightliner Heavy Haul's Class 66/9 No.66953 leads the 6Y07 10:40 Ashchurch - Fairwater Yard HOBC set through Creech St Michael in the balmy conditions. Class 66/9 No.66952 was on the tail end of the set having lead to Ashchurch on Saturday night. (Photo: Brian Garrett) |
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Colas Rail Freight Class 70's were in action again at Taunton on the 21st November. No.70804 is pictured arriving into Platform 4 at Taunton with the 6C29 13:20 Hackney Yard to Westbury Yard. The train conveyed the long welded rail train, and new railway sleepers. The locomotive was held at Taunton for the 15:31 First Great Western service to overtake, before containing it's own journey to Westbury. (Photo: Brian Garrett) |
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Some twenty four years after being withdrawn Network Southeast liveried Class 50 No.50026 'Indomitable' returned to Taunton (sadly not under it's own power) on the 19th November 2014.. The locomotive was hauled from Eastleigh Works to Taunton by DC Rail's Class 31/6 No.31601. The Class 50 will be used on the 2014 Dartmoor Railway 'Polar Express' trips this year. The working recessed in Taunton overnight on the 19th/20th November before continuing to The Dartmoor Railway. The Class 50 operated it's last mainline train in November 1990 so perhaps it's a little apt that twenty four years later it should revisit it's old stamping ground of the rails of the South West . (Photo: Brian Garrett) |
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DCRail's pair of Class 56's No.56303 & No.56103 returned from Cornwall with the Swedish Railvac in tow on the 17th November 2014. The colourful pair are pictured passing the former station site of Creech St. Michael Halt while working the 6Y85 Lostwithiel Clay Sidings to Chaddesden (Derby). (Photo: Stephen Ginn) |
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Saturday 15th November provided the 6th daylight appearance of Cornish Clay traffic for the year. EWS liveried Class 66 No.66037 operated the 6Z53 from Exeter Riverside to Newport ADJ. The lengthy train was formed of 25 wagons comprising 22 x loaded JIAs + 3 empty TTA fuel tanks. It also took a 50 minute recess at Taunton rather than Tiverton Loop. The train is pictured looming out of the fog at Norton Fitzwarren, where at last the tall trees adjacent to the public footpath (which had previously been untouched since the demise of the cider works) have finally been coppiced creating a totally different vista at this location. (Photo: Quentin Hawkes) |
| BRANCH LINE SOCITEY - HEATHFIELD BRANCH TRIPS (DEVON) |
| Sunday 21 December: With thanks to our friends at First Great Western there will be an hourly service of seven return, festively decorated 2-car Class 150 DMUs to Heathfield station (joining and alighting at Newton Abbot only, where there will be various stands * ) starting 09.45. The first 'public trains' since withdrawal of passenger service on 28 February 1959. Tickets for the first 6 Santa trains will be available (when bookings open) from Newton Abbot booking office cash only to maximise the donation . The 15.55 DEPARTURE ONLY will be a Branch Line Society, Locomotive and Carriage Institute and First Great Western YULETIDE TRACKER railtour traversing the HEATHFIELD LOOP LINE (not covered by the GW Tracker Railtours), HEATHFIELD PLATFORM ROAD and to the END OF LINE as well as N EWTON ABBOT BAY PLATFORM (9) formerly used by the Teign Valley Line, Moretonhampstead, and latterly Motorail services. As always these are subject to circumstances on the day. Return is about 17.15 All passengers: £6 adults, £4 children to include a mince pie and hot drink! DO NOT SEND ANY MONEY! For the 15.55 trip only, please send all Bookings (essential) and enquiries to Paul Stewart who is definitely not dressing up as Father Christmas! p.stewart1@ outlook.com ( Tel: 01684 562862 / 07790 652351) Pay on the day to FGW staff cash only but must be booked in advance please . * Expected are stands from the Branch Line Society, First Great Western, Network Rail, Devon Rail Partnership, the Teign Valley Railway, a Raffle, Hannah's and possibly the Great Western Society. Dame Hannah Roger's Trust is a Devon charity dedicated to empowering, advocating and enriching the lives of children, young people and adults with a range of disabilities: www. discoverhannahs.org/ . |
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In an act of remembrance on Sunday 9th November 2014, First Great Western embellished several of the HST sets of Poppy's on the powercar body side. Once such service was the 1A77 Exeter - London Paddington formed with powercar No.43016 leading. The set is seen passing Oath in beautiful Autumnal sunshine as it speeds towards the capital. The service sadly arrived into London Paddington just 30 minutes after the official remembrance science for the fallen hero's of past wars. (Photo: Adam Snow) |
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Another rare visitor to the area (for those up early enough on a Sunday morning) was Mendip Rail Class 59 No.59101 'Village of Whatley'. The locomotive operated an overnight engineering train for Network Rail/ DB Schenker on the Berks and Hants route before returning as the 08:40 Cogload Junction - Westbury via Taunton. The train is pictured passing Oath on the Somerset Levels. (Photo: Adam Snow) |
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EWS liveried, DB Schenker branded Class 66's No.66117 & No.66099 pass through Taunton with the 3J13 08:45 Westbury - St Blazey via Salisbury, Network Rail RHTT. The Rail Head Treatment Train is coming towards the end of it's annual operation keeping the rail heads clear of leaf mulch. The paid pass the newly installed 40 Steps Footbridge in a brief glimpse of light between the showers. (Photo: Brian Garrett) |
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On the 5th November Colas Rail Freight Class 70 No.70805 passes Silk Mills in a brief window of brightness hauling the 6C00 Westbury-Exeter Riverside ballast working. This short term planned flow of ballast from Westbury operated throughout the week in conjunction with forthcoming engineering works in Cornwall. (Photo: Adam Snow) |
As the dark nights of November draw in it's an ideal time to spend an evening in front of the PC. To the causal observer it may not seem that Taunton Trains is updated all the time, but we can assure you that there's at least two or three updates a week throughout the year, as well as more major projects (such as pictorials and infromation updates). We are pleased to announce several large updates to Taunton Trains, the most notable of which is the major overhaul and expansion of the 'Now and Then' Gallery. This new page is now hosted on our 83Bweebly website, and has taken well over four months of research and captioning to bring you triple views from each photographic location. Many new images have been added to this page giving is a new and fresh look. Other updates are to our Pictorial pages namely the Peaks and Westerns, we would like to thank Stephen Burdett and Russell Watkins for their contributions to these pages, without their superb images we wouldn't of been able to expand the galleries further. Our Archive Pages continue to be updated every few weeks with records of workings passing through Taunton on a weekly basis which are expertly collated by Mike Rowland, from internet 'gen' postings. |
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We are also pleased to announce another addition to our Archive 'LOGS' the 6C91 Newport ADJ - Bridgwater flow which operated between 2000 and 2004 has now been fully collated and uploaded to Taunton Trains. We would like to thank the dedicated band of Bridgwater Enthusiasts for their time and effort to write up their notes and find photographs of this popular working. The addition of this log has been a long standing project which we are pleased to now host online for future reference. |
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Photographs have been taken at Taunton for many years, however few people notice the change in photographic locations as the years pass by. It's not just the locomotives which appear different, trees and line side vegetation grow, Network Rail also (at times) cut it back. Features in the landscape may also change. Buildings are demolished and refurbished. It's not until you start to collate photos over the past 20 - 40 years that people begin to see some of the large changes which have taken place in Taunton's railway scene. This newly revamped section of the website is now hosted on our 83B Weebly website and aims to bring you some of the scenes regularly captured between Cogload Jn and Whiteball. Several months of work have gone into researching this new section of the website! |
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Our Western Gallery has been expanded with thanks to Stephen Burdett who had some superb images of Westerns operating in the Taunton area during the 1970's. Stephen also has an excellent Flickr site featuring hundreds of former British Rail images, which will keep you occupied for many hours. We would also like to thank Russell Watkins for his equally impressive additions to this page. We hope you will enjoy this expanded look at the Class 52 Westerns in the Taunton area. |
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We have recently received an influx of images from the 1970's, included within this were several images of Class 45 'Peaks' allowing us to further expand our Pictorial Gallery of the Class. Why not take a look at the Class 45 page to view operations of the Class in the Taunton area. Many thanks to Russell Watkins for allow us to use his images on this page. |
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Our Archive pages containing all the latest information on railway operations have been updated (and continue to be updated on a regular basis). Why not have a look through the wealth of information contained within our Taunton Trains Archive. |
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Oakwood Visuals have released the first of a five DVD series at the Taunton 'Railex' this weekend. Priced at £17.95 for a limited period. The DVD named 'My Generation' charts the return of D1015 to the mainline in BR Maroon, with exclusive behind the scenes footage. The DVD is presented by DTG Chairman 'Tom Sawyer' and culminates nearly 10 years worth of work by Oakwood Visuals since the original idea was discussed. The DVD also draws a parallel with music of time, with each release taking it's name from tracks which were in the charts at the time, and being produced in unique '8 track' DVD cases and printed DVD's to look like vinyl records. Copies are available at this weekends Railex event at Taunton School or direct from Oakwood Visuals. |
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| 2014 NEWS | |||||
Want to look at what happened in NEWS from 2009 - 2013 ? Have a look in our Archive Page |