eastwestdivide

Have you found these visits? https://naturegirlblogdotcom.wordpress.com/tag/hoo-ness-island/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUntik8Mis0

? https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/lowpoly-birds-42866166bff446fb9e089137cc340355 Like the look of the penguin at the back - it can get bitterly cold on the estuary in February. Edit: There's a reasonably-recognisable cormorant/s.h.a.g, which might be more likely. Edit 2: Nice heron at : https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/heron-8342a85a2ce5402591fe111310875313

The half-buried barge that's become part of the shoreline is well observed, typical of the area. Have you given any thought to some birdlife? Lots of waterfowl and similar around there: brent geese, shelduck, redshank, although the white egrets that you see a fair bit nowadays are a fairly recent arrival to the UK. Maybe one solitary heron about to pounce?

Transfesa blue rather than Interfrigo white, but yes, one of the “onion vans”.

Nicely timed and positioned.

The blue whiskers have an orangey-red keyline against the yellow. Odd. I think it makes the front end look 'busy'. Playing around with someone else's photo, if you remove the whiskers, it gives a cleaner look without being completely bare or featureless.

Just for inspiration, here's part of Hoo Ness in June 2020, taken from Hoo Marina on the N side of the estuary, looking across to the island at nearly high tide. The island is the low bank of green in front of the distant buildings in Gillingham/Chatham (St Mary's Island). The channel between the photographer and the island is mostly mud at low tide and isn't navigable to much more than a rowing boat even at high tide - any shipping goes between the island and the Gillingham/Chatham side. Also map screenshotted from Bing maps, showing with a red arrow the approx view in the phot

For those that don’t know, hoppers for the Mountfield (Sussex, on the narrow Hastings line) to Northfleet APCM/BlueCircle flow of gypsum for cement making. That flow invariably hauled by a 33/2. Think they escaped elsewhere at one point. Photo of the train here (scroll a bit): And here:

Wow! Thanks for that "now and then" comparison

Meanwhile in South Yorkshire: (camera poked through the hole in the gate at Booths scrapyard, Rotherham for a bit of ex-1938 stock)

Quick Tinsley update from this morning. 66590 ready for departure on the 1053 Tinsley Intermodal Terminal to Doncaster (normally to Felixstowe, but I think Sats only just to Doncaster): Closer look at progress on the 2nd half of the loading pad: Some work going on the other side of Wood Lane road bridge. I understood this area was to be for lorry parking, but the bright newly-laid part is very close to track level and clearly different to the rest. Maybe some sidings on the bright bit and lorry parking on the grey? Watch this space: A

Anyone ID the bogie wagons under the Pacer bodies?

It might be accentuated by a long lens, but that's quite a dog-leg on the 25mph curve!

Perhaps it's battleship grey, a nod to the warship names they carried! ...waiting for someone to correct me on the exact shade of RN grey

Snippet of info in the RCTS photo index: CUL3642 being the photo ref no, and the last date the date of that photo. Unfortunately not findable on the RCT photo archive database at https://www.rcts.org.uk/features/archive/search.htm?