British Rail[ways]

The afternoon coal train from Immingham docks to Ratcliffe power station was hauled past Rolleston racecourse yesterday by Class 66 No. 66789 British Rail 1948 – 1997. Call me a pedantic old trainspotter, but the term British Rail was actually introduced in 1965, when British Railways became British Rail. Surely, it should be British Rail 1965-1997 or British Railways 1948-1965. I’m just saying.

Real Time Trains had not only informed me that the freight was on time, however, but that it was being hauled by the aforementioned No. 66789. Although this was one that I’ve seen before, I was also able to check up retrospectively on one I had observed from quite a distance a few days earlier, which turned out to be a cop. This is a very handy addition to the already very useful RTT website. Where that information is now added, I could check out the locomotive from the comfort of my own computer chair and then nip down there if required, assuming, of course, that that was something I could fit in to my otherwise demanding schedule.