DG060917 - Battlefield Diesel Gala

17th September 2006

The Sunday of my long weekend in Derby took advantage of the nearby A444 for a trip to the Battlefield Line - not one I've been to before despite it being on my to-do list for years.

I'm glad the effort was finally made because the place really is terrific. It was fairly quiet in terms of attendance and it's easy to see why due to the lines rural location. The simple out-and-back one train operation coupled with glorious weather and yet another Griddle Car lunch made for a very relaxing (!) day.

Locomotives in operation were 31101, 31130 "Calder Hall Power Station", 33019 "Griffon", 47640 and 73114. 31101 was masquerading as classmate 31135 (scrapped in January 2000 fact fans), complete with yellow window surrounds. There was also a "hybrid" DMU set made up of Class 116 DMBS M51131 and Class 118 DMS W51321 - hybrid in every sense as it even had different liveries on each side! - and a Waggon und Maschinenbau railbus E79960 on loan from the North Norfolk Railway.

060917_01_BAT_Shackerstone_31101+31130.jpg	060917_02_BAT_Shackerstone_33019.jpg	060917_08_BAT_Market_Bosworth.jpg	060917_09_BAT_Shenton_73114+M51131+W51321.jpg
060917_10_BAT_Shenton_M51131+W51321.jpg	060917_12_BAT_Shackerstone_museum.jpg	060917_14_BAT_Shenton_33019.jpg	060917_15_BAT_Shenton_73114+33019.jpg
060917_16_BAT_Shackerstone_31101.jpg	060917_18_BAT_Shackerstone_47640.jpg	060917_19_BAT_Shenton_31101.jpg	060917_24_BAT_Shackerstone_31130.jpg
060917_27_BAT_Shackerstone_E79960.jpg