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Eccles Road 13/06/2023 (Tuesday) 66610 on 6L01, 23:13, Tunstead Sdgs - Trowse Yard Redland Siding (06:42) - loaded stone (16 MWA) 66610 on 6Z45, 14:34, Trowse Yard Redland Siding - Tunstead Sdgs (20:43) - empty stone (16 MWA)

Thought I'd return to this thread as Norwich (Trowse and Goods Yard) has been receiving a few thousand tons of stone per week for the last few, about 60% being Freightliner workings. Eccles Road 01/06/2023 (Thursday) 66543 on 6L81, 00:53, Tunstead Sdgs - Trowse Yard Redland Siding (07:49) - loaded stone (19 MWA) 66543 on 4Z45, 15:09, Trowse Yard Redland Siding - Tunstead Sdgs (21:41) - empty stone (19 MWA)

Another run this week. Eccles Road 18/07/2023 (Tuesday) 66181 on 6L92, 02:12, Toton Up Sidings - Eccles Rd Johnston's Sdg (07:14) - loaded stone (16 MMA) into Eccles Road Exchange Sidings Compare this with the shot in the previous post and you can see (hopefully) that the wagons are being propelled into the road nearest the running line, rather than the outside road - this makes it a lot tighter on the running round after the train has been unloaded, not impossible of course, but a lot harder. The usual guy was sunning himself in Spain so one of the other guys covered the job. 66181 takes the first 8 MMA off 6L92, 02:12, Toton Up Sidings - Eccles Rd Johnston's Sdg (07:14) - loaded stone (16 MMA) for unloading as 755409 on 1K59, 06:33, Norwich - Cambridge (07:53) draws to a stop. 66181 on 6M88, 11:56, Eccles Rd Johnston's Sdg - Toton North Yard (17:07) - empty stone (16 MMA) waiting to propel out of the Exchange Sidings Demonstrating the rural nature of the sidings (at Eccles Road) And once again, we're off to Toton with the empties

I've edited the topic title to remove the one-off reference as it's run again. Eccles Road 04/07/2023 (Tuesday) 66080 on 6Z39, 22:28, Angerstein Wharf (Tarmac) - Trowse Yard Redland Siding (07:36) - loaded stone (19 JNA) The return was a bit more interesting than the previous working 66170 on 6Z43, 14:09, Trowse Yard Redland Siding - Hither Green Down RECP. (20:43) - empty stone (18 JNA), only approx. 3 wagons unloaded, rest still full For reasons unknown most of the train was not unloaded - as can be seen by the stone visible in the wagons.

That shot made me laugh, the lad riding a donkey looking at the 4F - English eccentricity Thanks - as ever - for sharing David

The box at Whittlesford looks in very poor condition and incredibly survived for another 5 years or so.

Somethings going on, Norwich has received many thousands of tons over the last few weeks, just wish the loaded trains weren't so early ! It's probably partially for the A11 and partially for new roads in association with new housing estates, there's also a new harbour crossing at Lowestoft and all that entails - either way it means around 7 stone trains per week at the moment to Trowse and Norwich alone

Tuesday 04/07/2023 saw an unusual working to Trowse (Norwich) - DBC workings to Trowse have dropped to very, very, very few since a change of ownership of the unloading point meant Mountsorrel was no longer a favoured source for the stone, Tunstead becoming the favourite and Freightliner work most trains out of Tunstead but I digress - the stone was from Angerstein Wharf (near the Blackwall Tunnel in London) and it was routed via Clapham Jcn, Acton Wells, Dudding Hill then up the MML to Leicester (via Corby) where the train reversed and retraced it's steps to Manton Jcn but this time taking the Peterborough line, it continued on a more conventional route via Ely to Trowse. Eccles Road 04/07/2023 (Tuesday) 66080 on 6Z39, 22:28, Angerstein Wharf (Tarmac) - Trowse Yard Redland Siding (07:36) - loaded stone (19 JNA) The return once again followed the conventional route to Leicester (via Peterborough) where it then headed South down the MML to Dudding Hill , off to Acton Wells and Clapham Jcn and eventually terminated at Hither Green 66080 on 6Z43, 14:09, Trowse Yard Redland Siding - Hither Green Down RECP. (20:44) - empty stone (19 JNA)

Independence Day saw another working to Eccles Eccles Road 04/07/2023 (Tuesday) 66035, Resourceful, on 6L92, 02:11, Toton Up Sidings - Eccles Rd Johnston's Sdg (07:14) - loaded stone (16 MMA) Ready to propel into the Exchange Sidings And propelling 66035 takes the first 8 MMA for unloading (via a grab) 66035, Resourceful, on 4M88, 11:56, Eccles Rd Johnston's Sdg - Toton North Yard (17:07) - empty stone (16 MMA) waiting to propel out of the Exchange Sidings And off to Toton

Been a while but perhaps it's time to start posting again .. Traffic has continued to Eccles Road, sometimes weekly, very rarely twice weekly and more often a few weekly trains then a gap of a month or 3. Since my last post I have bought myself a Canon R6 Mk II and a couple of lenses to go with it, additionally I bought an adapter to allow me to use my older lenses and the great news is my 100-400mm zoom on which I often use a 2x converter (making it 200-800) is now fully functional, on my previous EOS 5d it was manual focus only. Also since my last post the incoming loaded train has been recoded from 6Z59 to 6L92 Here's the latest load. Eccles Road 27/06/2023 (Tuesday) 66133 on 6L92, 02:11, Toton Up Sidings - Eccles Rd Johnston's Sdg (07:14) - loaded stone (16 MMA) The first 8 MMA are taken for unloading. 66133 on 4M88, 11:56, Eccles Rd Johnston's Sdg - Toton North Yard (17:07) - empty stone (16 MMA), waiting to propel from the Exchange Sidings The train propelling out onto the down main, this is about 600m away from me, demonstrating the 800mm zoom in action. And away to Toton we go

The "offending" pylon from Mill Lane, even the eartworks look the same - I'm pretty convinced it's Mill Lane now.

The semaphores went from Haughley Jcn in May 1971 when the mechanical box was replaced by a panel in the station building so if there are any visible the date is before then.

Mill Lane Baylham has been suggested https://goo.gl/maps/dwpNTReFHvTRznYH7

Not sure, I'm guessing it's on the down ?, certainly the pole route North of Diss - where I can see it - is on the down. There are bits of poles left (sticking out of the ground) around Whitehouse Crossing, North of Gissing and Tivetshall. I've posted on a local Facebook Group to see if anyone can provide any info. I'm currently looking at a 25" OS map for 1900 for inspiration.

Not Gissing Russ, the crossing keepers house was on the down and on the approach to the crossing, there are still some bits of debris in the trees. I suspect somewhere South of Mellis and North of Needham Market given the context of the other photos.

Looking for photos I found one of Westerfield (not the photo location of course) which has a very similar building which would seem to confirm the general area. If you want and with your permission I can post it on a local* railway Facebook group where it might be recognised ? * I live about 20 miles from Haughley

There are no signal boxes in the shot 😕 If it is on the mainline then it's very likely the area would have changed massively during the 1980s electrification, the road may be long closed, it doesn't look to be very wide, and the building would almost certainly have been demolished

Could be condensate tanks between North Walsham and Harwich ? - not sure how long they've been running, but that would put it on the main line between Norwich and Manningtree - do the Haughley Jcn shots show it coming off the Bury line or ?

Crewe

Not snow - the agricultural sh*t mud thrown up by lots of tractors, all the crossings are in rural areas with lots of farm traffic, NR hadn't banked on the volume of cr@p which would be deposited on the LIDARs

The LIDAR does indeed sweep the crossing and will report "clear" if no obstacle is detected, the yellowy reflector is silvered but the light at the time of photo makes it look yellow. When the box was in use, the gates were still used, so no "Crossing Clear" button, just the mechanical version, gate locks (ER1) and wickets (ER6). The boxes were doomed anyway, LIDAR made it into a modular scheme ( = cheap, = not great) scheme. When first installed the LIDARS were continually failing (NR had 2 teams who drove from crossing to crossing cleaning the lens to mitigate against this). Eventually they installed screens which open with the barriers and then close when "clear", wiping the lens as they go and they are very reliable now.

I didn't take any when I visited 😠 - what a plonker, although I did have a little go at signalling a train.

I remember the 50s working Bidston Dock - Fiddlers Ferry via Rock Ferry coal trains, 50012 is one which springs to mind. (aside from 021 which I saw at Rock Ferry)