Shed Bash

We didn’t refer to it like that in the old days, though it has become spotters’ common parlance since those times. I don’t think we did, anyway. Mists of time, etc. The forecast was for light cloud, which actually turned out to be thoroughly overcast, dark and dismal all day. Additionally, that was an all-day in which whatever daylight could be mustered for photos ended shortly after four. Undetered, I set out on my intended circular tour.

Realtime Trains suggested a light engine movement to Worksop that I could photograph in the station, so I timed my departure accordingly. As I was in good time, I chose instead to go straight to Tesco’s car park where, round the back of the superstore, you get the best view of whatever is being parked outside the Swietelsky maintenance depot. Currently, it is playing host to the first ten Class 93 Stadler-built tri-mode locomotives [electric, diesel and battery] manufactured in and shipped from Spain, whilst they undergo tests on the national network.

The whole concept of bunking round the sheds like we once did is consigned to the dim and distant past. Motive power depots today are guarded fortresses, surrounded by unsightly and off-putting palisade fencing. Spotters are left with two alternatives – lurking near the main gates in the hope of a glimpse of something, or locating a nearby spot where you can get a partial view of the facility. In Worksop, this means round the back of Tesco’s.

I’m immediately joined by a bloke in his car who draws up next to mine. It turns out he is a former employee at the depot and has even been invited to witness a naming ceremony for two diesel shunters this very afternoon. I’m encouraged to see that there are 5 Class 93s present and just visible through the barrier of trees, which as the gentleman points out, are rather more of a problem in summer.

The Class 37 from Derby is now set for an early arrival so I stay put to take my photo of No. 37607 from the same place, as it does a zig-zag approach on the up line, reverses onto the down line at the station and then reverses again to access Worksop Down Yard and the entrance to the sheds, where a high-vis clad operative is waiting to switch the points by hand. We are joined in time to see the action by another two like-minded blokes who are on more of a marathon day trip taking in Leeds Midland Road, which they have already been to, then on to Toton, which is where I’m heading next, before taking in Derby and Burton, at least, before the light fades on them completely.

There they are again on the bank at Toton. The bank is made of boulder clay and it has been raining a lot recently. The paths are all a sticky quagmire and my shoes and the legs of my tri-pod are already decorated with the red mud. My old telescope has a loose eyepiece and I have difficulty focussing it at all, but it’s still useful when it decides to play ball, because Toton depot is some way away over the intervening tracks and sidings. My companions are relying on binoculars and I’m able to help them with a trio of otherwise indecipherable, stored Class 60s.

I complete my round trip after a meal deal at the nearby Morrisons supermarket with a nose into Colwick’s depot on the other side of Nottingham. The light engine movement I’d hoped to intercept on the way at Netherfield had gone past by the time I’d extricated myself from a snarl-up on Main Street. I’d noticed by then that there was no suitable parking space available anywhere near the station, anyway, so that would have been a tricky one to reach in the first place. The depot entrance at Colwick is in an unwelcoming and unsurfaced off-road car park with plenty of large pot holes and puddles, where I stayed long enough to note the two long-term stored locos that were visible, Class 56 No. 56087 and Class 60 No. 60057. Then I went home to sponge the clay off my footwear with a bucket full of warm water.