I found myself with an hour to spare in Newport, and with a number of loco hauled trains due, I headed over to the River Usk to capture them.
First up is Transport for Wales’ 67008 departing from its station stop at Newport, whilst working 1W96 Cardiff Central to Holyhead.
Freightliner’s 66589 ‘Top n Tail’ with 66506 heads east with 24 loaded MWA boxes, whilst working 6B44 Machen Quarry to Uskmouth Power Station. This train is another load of aggregate forming part of a short term campaign, serving a location which hasn’t seen railfreight for a number of years since the power station closure around 7 years ago.
Machen quarry has seen a real resurgence of traffic in recent years after a period mothballed, as seen here where, shortly after 6B44, Freightliner’s 66503 heads west with a long train of empty JNA boxes. The train is 6C55 East Usk to Machen Quarry, and is seen running up to its usual standard ‘jumbo’ loading of 42 wagons. The rake arrives into East Usk as two halves – the first portion arrives from Oxford Banbury Road as 6C53, and the second shortly afterwards from West Drayton as 6C52. Once loaded, the wagons return back to East Usk for onward transport east to restart the cycle.
After a couple of GWR IETs and Turbos, the final train of interest that I recorded is a second Transport for Wales loco hauled service. This time it’s 67015, propelling it’s train of MK4 coaches into Newport whilst working 1V46 Manchester Piccadilly to Cardiff Central