A Westbury Afternoon

43041 with 43142 powers an up working, 1A88 0845 Penzance to Paddington, approaching Fairwood Junction and will take the Westbury avoiding line.

I had noticed a few people about on other bridges but no one was at Fairwood when I arrived, but I was soon joined by two others who told me about this working. Former Southern Railway Battle of Britain class light pacific 34067 Tangmere comes round the avoider with 1Z94 0925 London Victoria to Minehead railtour. Then the battery in my camera dies......poop!!

A fresh battery and I carry on. Class 180 Adelante 180114 passes over Fairwood Junction and heads for Westbury station with 1A89 1207 Exeter to Paddington.

As 180114 heads for the station, a few miles away, the driver of 43071 gets his warning tone acknowledged by one of the three p-way men standing in the cess. The HST is working 1C82 1105 Paddington to Plymouth with powercar 43037 on the rear.

Freight action now and 66612 slowly approaches the junction with the heavy 6A75 1300 Westbury Virtual Quarry to Taunton engineers working. This is the High Output Ballast Cleaner train.

The heavy p-way train slowly gathers speed as the end of the train clatters over the pointwork. The track is level here for about half a mile before it starts to climb at 1 in 187. Taunton is 48 miles away and the train is likely to be put inside numerous times to allow faster passenger trains to overtake.

Approaching from the west is Foster Yeoman 59004 with 19 loaded JHA stone hoppers on the drawbar. This is 7B12 MWThO 1359 off Merehead Quarry to Wootton Bassett. These immensely powerful and reliable type 5 locos regularly haul stone trains in excess of 4,000 tonnes.

The train bears left at Fairwood Junction to pass through the station and it will keep left heading for Swindon via Hawkeridge Junction and then a right turn at Bradford Junction to join the GW main line at Thingley Junction.

Another freight rumbles in from the west only 7 minutes behind the previous one. EWS 66084 works 7C28 Exeter Riverside to Westbury Yard empty bogie boxes consisting of 13 empty JNA wagons and a solitary MHA wagon.

With the previous freight working just clearing the shot, 180108 accelerates away from Westbury station bound for Plymouth as 1C84 1218 from Paddington.

A pair of South West Trains class 159 units, 159021 and 159011, departs Westbury and heads west with an unknown working.

A down fGW HST powers off the avoiding line with the driver on board lead powercar 43017 notches up to accelerate his train, with the help of 43139 at the rear, to the 100mph line speed. The train is 1C85 1305 Paddington to Plymouth.

An up express working passes over the pointwork of Fairwood Junction bypassing the station with 1A90 1001 off Penzance to Paddington. The lead powercar is 43026 but the rear one is not known.

The incongruous look of a Trans Pennine liveried class 158 unit so far away from its liveried part of the world. First Group now has the TP franchise and 158778 and others have been displaced by new class 185 units. The out of place unit is employed on 2V78 1251 Weymouth to Cardiff Centrall.

Another fast approaching stone train has 59102 at the head of a very heavy class 7 working to Acton Yard, 1324 off Whatley Quarry, 7A21. This train weighs in at several thousand tonnes and a fine white trail of stone dust follows the 32 well loaded JHA hoppers.

The doyen of the privately owned locomotives, 59001 carries a bell above the cab at its No1 end. Here is wheels round the avoider with possibly 7C77 1240 Acton to Merehead empty jumbo stone boxes. OR it could be 6C74 1315 TX Theale to Whatley empty boxes which is routed this way with 7C77 goes via the station.

Service 1A91 is the 1255 off Plymouth to Paddington and HST powercars 43125 and 43036 provide the motive power. The set have taken the station route and will call at Westbury.

66084 reappears working 6C35 1524 FX Westbury Yard to Whatley Quarry empty bogie boxes. The driver has brought his train to a stand at the signal protecting the junction, something will be due off the avoider.

Sure enough, 43150 rips round the curve off the avoiding line leading 1C86 1405 Paddington to Penzance.

With the HST well clear and the road set, the driver of 66084 gets the signal and he opens up his charge to restart his train. Whilst in the yard 66084 ran round its train and removed the single MHA wagon.

66094 comes off the station line with the late running 6V07 1120 MX Chichester to Merehead empty bogie boxes. With 12 empty JNA boxes on the drawbar, the train is about 30 minutes late.

158771 is another unit cascaded away from its former area following the introduction of class 185 units on the Trans Pennine routes. Here the sprinter is employed on 2O90 1400 Cardiff Central to Weymouth.

Named trains are a rarety these days and FGW is one of the few TOC's which regularly puts a name on a service. A pair of unknown powercars takes The Torbay Express, 1A92 1415 Paignton to Paddington, onto the avoiding line with the famous white horse prominent on the hill in the background.

An Army Air Corps Westland Lynx flies overhead. This aircraft will be based at the Middle Wallop airbase.

This class 180 unit has been seen before on its way west. Now after a station dwell 180108 is returning to the the capital with 1A93 1510 Exeter to Paddington.

59002 comes away from the station and yard towards the junction with a rake of empty bogie boxes. I was given a headcode of 6V67, which means it has come from out of the Western Region, but I could not find a 6V67 to identify it.

This liveried sprinter is more common to this part of the world, 150263 heads for the station at Westbury. From there it will go left at Hawkeridge and run via Bath and Bristol and the Severn Tunnel to its destination of Cardiff Central. The service is 2V83 off Weymouth. EDIT PHOTO DETAILS

43009 is the rear powercar with 43028 up front, and the HST gains the down main at Fairwood Junction. The working is 1C87 1505 Paddington to Penzance.