16th July 2020

Running 10 minutes early to the schedule for this train, at 18.30 DB Cargo Class 66 no. 66160, wearing the remnants of the EWS livery, passes with the 6Z60 11.51 Parkandillack to Bescot Down Side. The 11 Imerys china clay hoppers represent roughly half the usual payload for this train, which would usually run in two halves between Cornwall and Exeter, before combining into one train and run up to the Midlands overnight. But since the Covid 19 pandemic production in Cornwall seems to be at an all-time low. Let's hope it recovers.

This shot was not planned here! I was hoping to catch the last of a series of HOBC trains to Totnes that had been running for 3 weeks Monday to Thursday, and which was due out of Fairwater around 17.50. However, with great sadness, there was was a fatality on the line earlier in the day, near Creech, causing disruption to the timetable. So it seemed that the HOBC would just leave later in the evening and I could not stay to see it unfortunately. In the end, however, it was cancelled.