Six Bells Junction

Loco(s)	Route
56063	Crewe - Stafford - Wolverhampton - Galton Jn - Birmingham New Street - Camp Hill - Barnt Green - Cheltenham Spa - Standish Jn - Stroud - Swindon - Swindon Cocklebury
66156	Swindon Cocklebury - Swindon - Chippenham - Trowbridge - Westbury Down Reception
58030	Westbury Down Reception - (via "link-line") - Fairwood Jn - (via Frome avoider) - Castle Cary - Yeovil Pen Mill - Yeovil Junction - Honiton - Exeter Central - Exeter St Davids - Taunton
67026 + 59203	Taunton - Bridgwater - (via Weston-super-Mare avoider) - Bristol Temple Meads - Filton Jn - Pilning - Severn Tunnel Junction - (via down relief line) - Newport
60062	Newport - (via up relief line & Bishton flyover) - Severn Tunnel Junction - Chepstow - Gloucester
56063	Gloucester - Cheltenham Spa - Barnt Green - Selly Oak - Birmingham New Street - Aston - Bescot - Bushbury Jn - Stafford - Crewe

Hard to believe but my last railtour was back on 1st September - almost two whole months ago!

This tour offered me quite a few different locos and also the required track between the two stations at Yeovil. Not too impressed however to arrive at Barnt Green to discover the free car park was now £2! Quite amusing watching other people turning up to discover the same though

56063 rolled up bang on time - winner no.1 for the day. Settled back in to coach A, disappointed that it was at the back, so a mostly thrashless day in prospect :-(

The grid took us to Swindon via Stroud. Two choices here - stay on for an hours fester in Cocklebury Yard, else bale for an hours fester in Swindon. What a decision... For someone the decision appeared too much and they decided to bale after we started moving, resulting in a full brake application and a couple of minutes delay before we set off again. Think they got a severe ranting at too - and quite right!

As we pulled into the yard (I chose to stay on board, time for a visit to the bar and catch up with some others who had also stayed on) we passed 66156, our next loco. 56063 dropped off and the shed was stuck onto our end. After the booked fester we headed back to Swindon station to pick up those who had baled. 66156 continued to Westbury where we passed through the station to stop in the "down reception" line. Time to lose the shed in favour of bone 030 - my first "dud" haulage of the day. For the track bashers there was the rarity of traversing the "link line" away from the down reception line to Fairwood Junction.

The track treat for me for the day however was the required line from Yeovil Pen Mill to Yeovil Junction, which was travelled over as booked. 58030 continued via Exeter (long booked festering on the approaches, but still we were running early!) then on to Taunton.

An hour or so break here - time enough to watch 58030 come off the train and hand over to the unusual combination of 67026 (dud for me!) and 59203 "Vale of Pickering". Some discussions about the ability for these two different classes to "multi" but the required cable was soon produced and hooked up between the two.

Just before leaving Taunton 47815 appeared on a fGW service to Paddington. We departed Taunton bang on time. Any doubts about whether both locos were working were soon dispelled as the acceleration on load 13 was rather fast.

By Bristol we were again early, the non-stop run through Temple Meads being quite fast and accompanied by some front coach bellowing at the rather bemused looking passengers on the station.

At Severn Tunnel Junction we were turned on to the relief lines for a slow stagger to Newport - despite that we still arrived some 20 minutes early. 45 minutes then to lose the GM pairing and get 60062 on the other end, a job achieved with oodles of time to spare.

Our route out of Newport was again on the relief line, including the Bishton flyover. At Severn Tunnel Junction we took the line to Chepstow and Gloucester. At the latter it was time for our last booked loco change of the day, 60062 giving up the train back to our first loco, 56063.

The timekeeping remained on-spec as far as Stoke Works Junction where we were halted for a red - destroying the drivers chance for a fast run at the Lickey - not that those of us on board were so bothered. Like quite a few others I'd moved up to the front of the train after the Cheltenham stop so as to enjoy the thrash from Bromsgrove. After the driver phoned the signalman we got a green and then proceeded to stagger along - as we approached Bromsgrove station the reason became clear, the local police helicopter was out and there were police on the track searching for someone.

Once we passed them it was thrash all the ay to the summit - on load 13 the grid did very well considering we hit the bottom at about 30mph and we were only just a fraction slower by the summit three miles later. Well impressive in fact.

Baled at Barnt Green after a good day out, the sound of 56063 departing being heard for quite a distance.

M.C	Location	Booked	Actual
39.68	Wolverhampton	08/04	?
45.28	Dudley Port	08/14	?
48.73	Galton Jn	08/18	?
50.51	Soho South Jn	08/20	?
52.52	Birmingham New Street	08.25a ~ 08.33d	?
54.23	St Andrews Jn	08/38	?
59.64	King's Norton	08/53	?
63.25	Barnt Green	09.01a ~ 09.03d	09.02 ~ 09.04
66.68	Bromsgrove	09/08	09/08
69.01	Stoke Works Jn	09/11	09/10
81.69	Abbotswood Jn	09/20	09/17
92.56	Ashchurch	09/29	09/26
99.67	Cheltenham Spa	9.38a ~ 09.42d	09.33 ~ 09.42
106.17	Gloucester Yard Jn	09/52	09/51
112.27	Standish Jn	10/09	09/58
117.08	Stroud	10/15	10/13
128.22	Kemble	10/30	10/31
141.77	Swindon	10.45a ~ 10.47d	10.45 ~ 10.51
142.17 0.00	Swindon Cocklebury	10L51a ~ 11L49d	10.57 ~ 11.54
0.20	Swindon	11.53a ~ 11.55d	11.57 ~ 12.00
6.04	Wotton Bassett Jn	12/02	12/08
16.73	Chippenham	12/12	12/17
19.07	Thingley Jn	12/18	12/30
27.37	Bradford Jn	12/31	12/47
32.61 0.00	Westbury (down reception)	12L40a ~ 13L16d	12.56 ~ 13.17
1.34	Fairwood Jn	13/20	13/22
4.56	Clink Road Jn	13/24	13/26
6.58	Blatchbridge Jn	13/26	13/28
19.47	Castle Cary	13/37	13/39
31.23	Yeovil Pen Mill	13t52a ~ 13t54d	13.52 ~ 13.53
33.02	Yeovil Junction	13/59	13/59
49.66	Chard Jn S.B.	14.15a ~ 14.19d	14.18 ~ 14.19
65.14	Honiton	14/38	14/39
80.55	Exmouth Jn	1456a ~ 1518d	14.54 ~ 15.01
81.64	Exeter Central	15/28	15/17
82.46	Exeter St Davids	15c31a ~ 15c33d	15.20 ~ 15.22
99.12	Tiverton Parkway	15/49	15/38
113.26 0.00	Taunton	16L04a ~ 17L10d	15.50 ~ 17.10
5.03	Cogload Jn	17/16	17/15
11.45	Bridgwater	17/21	17/21
25.08	Uphill Jn	17/33	17/32
28.01	Worle Jn	17/35	17/34
44.66	Bristol Temple Meads	17/56	17/53
49.29	Filton Jn	18/03	18/01
50.63	Patchway	18/05	18/03
54.29	Pilning	18/08	18/08
61.25	Severn Tunnel Junction	18/22	18/15
63.66	Magor	18/24	18/20
71.14 0.00	Newport	18L53a ~ 19L15d	18.33 ~ 19.15
9.69	Severn Tunnel Junction	19/33	19/34
17.17	Chepstow	19/42	19/42
25.13	Lydney	19/52	19/51
44.46 0.00	Gloucester	20.17a ~ 20.42d	20.14 ~ 20.40
0.77	Barnwood Jn	20/45	20/43
6.40	Cheltenham Spa	2.53a ~ 20.55d	20.51 ~ 20.54
13.51	Ashchurch	21/04	21/01
24.38	Abbotswood Jn	21/13	21/08
35.55	Stoke Works Jn	21/22	(21.22a) ~ 21.25d
37.68	Bromsgrove	21/25	21/31
41.31	Barnt Green	21.30a ~ 21.32d	21.38 ~ 21.41
46.39	King's Norton	21/41	?
48.53	Selly Oak	21/48	?
52.04	Birmingham New Street	21.55a ~ 21.58d	?
54.60	Aston	22/04	?
57.02	Perry Barr North Jn	22/16	?
61.39	Bescot Stadium	22/21	?
65.56	Portobello Jn	22/28	?

Locos Used	56063, 58030, 59203, 60062, 66156 & 67026
Stock Used	4902+5029+4963+5040+4927+5009+1863+21272+3098+3140+3112+3122+6310

M.C	Location	Booked	Actual	Booked	Actual	M.C
0.00	Crewe	07.01d	?	23.22a	?	106.38
8.06	Madeley	07/17	?	23/11	?	98.32
19.08	Norton Bridge	07/27	?	22/58	?	87.30
24.37	Stafford	07.35a ~ 07.45d	?	22.49a ~ 22.52d	?	82.01
38.14	Bushbury Jn	07/59	?	22/33	?	68.24