On duty today was the Robinson O4 no 63601 being driven by Richard Todd assisted by ?. It is seen commencing the run around to enable it to reverse onto the ecs in platform 2 forming the 10.15am to Leicester

30777 Sir Lamiel looks stunning but was still having its coupling cleaned.

69523 is beginning to look fantastic courtesy of the patience of Alex Pakes from the Pakes Painting company. In chatting with her she said she'd be struggling to finish it in 8 days after which she heads away on holiday... She was cursing the person who decided on this very intricate livery scheme.

Inside Loughborough shed. 73156 & 6990 Witherslack Hall

69523 & 42085

78019

42085 & 69523

30777 Sir Lamiel is now ready to go into service

30777 Sir Lamiel

The injectors were being serviced by ? on 69523

The injectors were being serviced on 69523

The frames of Stanier black 5 no 45305 await the return of the boiler from Tyseley....

...and two weeks ago I caught a shot of the boiler of 45305 in the yard at Tyseley

A shot of 63601 seen through the bridge.

63601 departs Loughborough with the 10.15am to Leicester. With the silver birch trees here having been chopped down I tried a new location for the departure shot through Beeches Road bridge. For an alternative angle checkout Mike Bonser's website via the links

63601 heads away from Loughborough

The 4-BIG unit lay in the west siding south of Loughborough

Network Rail are using the GCR for testing these track/point carriers. If they prove to be succesful then their use could save millions in future track laying operations on the big railway.

A new class08 diesel has arrived on the GCR.

D5185 lay over in the east siding at Loughborough

The morning DMU service from Leicester arrives back at Loughborough

30777 Sir Lamiel commences the run around in glorious sunshine...

... and reverses back onto the carriages in the station

The DMU set moves out of the platform to be put back in the sidings

30777 Sir lamiel is prepared ready to haul the 11.15 from Loughborough

30777 heads through Woodthorpe with the 11.15 service.

At Rothley 63601 has arrived on a driver experience run

One of the 3 wagons destined for use on the Mountsorrel Branchline is receiving attention. Theres clearly a lot of work and wood needed here!

63601 departs Rothley on its way towards Leicester light engine

63601 runs past the Rothley golfcourse on its way back to Loughborough

The driver of the 12.15 diesel hauled service with the NRM owned Class 33 no D6535 put on a brilliant display for us on the climb away from Rothley. In fact this was the best exhaust we saw all afternoon!

A study in concentration...

Inside the C & W works at Rothley

D6535 hurries back from Leicester with the 1pm and is seen having passed Rabbit bridge.

There was an almost clear blue sky as 30777 Sir Lamiel rounded the corner at Kinchley Lane with the 1.15pm dining train. But you can see the shadow of the ONLY cloud in the sky immediately in front of the loco. Sods Law rules again.

With Mike driving again we were able to race around to Swithland in order to catch another shot of the dining train after its stop on the viaduct. I managed to avoid the inclusion of the blue plastic fencing (WHY is it BLUE?) in this shot. (See my last trip here on 9th May)

My favorite spot on the line when I travel on the trains is this - running across the Swithland viaduct. It was so hot that there isn't a trace of exhaust from 63601 as it pulls the 2.15pm service to Leicester.

Sir Lamiel south of Woodthorpe bridge with the 3.15pm from Loughborough

At Quorn the engine was running on 37255 but it didn't appear to be going anywhere.

A question? WHY is there such a big gap in the regular afternoon timetable? The trains run at hourly intervals until 3.15 then the next is 4.45. However this service was running late which meant that I waited at the trackside for almost the whole of the FA Cup final.