WCML Freight at Wigan 20th June 2012

Todays Traction Action comes from Wigan North Western, a fairly busy station on the West Coast Main Line located in between Warrington and Preston. It was a mammoth session in which I spent a total of 13 hours baking in the fairly glorious weather, I would have stayed an extra 3 hours had the sun already not taken it's toll on me though.

As expected there were a few no-shows, including the Class 92 hauled China Clay "silver bullets" but we got a few bonus light engines and a suprise ECS movement to balance things out. This video also marks the first time I have managed to catch the northbound nuclear flask movment, with which we open and then close on their return.

The following movments were captured,

37229 & 37682 6C53 Crewe - Sellafield
66433 4M34 Coatbridge - Daventry
70005 6C16 Crewe - Carlisle Yard
92030 4S43 Daventry - Mossend
31190 Northbound Light Engine
66598 4S41 Fiddlers Ferry - Hunterston
66422 4M44 Mossend - Daventry
31190 Southbound Light Engine
66431 4S44 Daventry - Mossend
47760 5Z47 Southall - Carnforth
70005 0K27 Carlisle - Crewe Basford Hall
66025 6K05 Carlisle Yard - Crewe Basford Hall
66305 Southbound Light Engine
66848 6J37 Carlisle Yard - Chirk
37682 & 37229 6K73 Sellafield - Crewe

The following named locomotives were captured today

37229 - Jonty Jarvis
92030 - Ashford
70005 - Mt Vesouvious - only joking :)

As you can see it was a fairly busy day despite the set back of a few no-shows. 47760 put in an appearance hauling some coaching stock to Carnforth, judging by the look of these they have been stored for some considerable time and have been acquired by West Coast so will be overhauled soon. 31190 appears (twice) on route learning duties and there are a couple of light engines thrown in. 66421 did run light engine but I didn't manage to film it. Finally, yes there are two blokes in the rear cab of 37682 when it passes south, presumably the security services - I figured I'd mention it as if watching in 1080 (hint hint) you'd see them plain as day.

Apologies for the shakes in the early shots, unlike Acton Bridge there is no opportunity for warm up shots. When 66433 came flying through I was filming the other direction expecting a 92 but with some lightning fast reactions managed to recover the shot. There is the very occasional background chatter too, short of not showering for a few days prior to shooting I cant think of any solution to this :)

A quick thanks to a few friendly drivers for some tones, a few Pendolino drivers for having a chat whilst stopped and also to the staff at Wigan North Western for letting me loiter for 13 hours...

Best enjoyed in 1080 HD with the sound up.