18th Mar 2001

It's late in the afternoon (16.00) on this bright but fresh March day, and "on shed" I find the sleeper locomotive 37427 resting alongside one of the Scottish Class 66s fitted with RETB signalling equipment, no. 66111. I was making an unofficial visit, but to be fair, I did check in at the office to ask if I could look around, but it was deserted! So I just carried on taking various shots, waiting for someone to ask me to leave, but that never happened. I found the low late winter sun particularly satisfying for this view,


At the time the Class 37 used on the previous night's sleeper train would rest during the day at the depot, but also be used for any trips required during the day, to the Wiggins Teape paper mill at Corpach, or the aluminium works in Fort William. The 66 would be the loco used on the daily freight from Mossend to Fort William, which arrived earlier in the day, and would return south in the early evening with empty alumina tanks and any traffic from the paper mill, all as required. At this time there was local speculation about the viability of the paper mill, and indeed of the EWS depot here. The paper mill would eventually close and be dismantled, but the depot survives and the alumina still gets delivered by rail once or twice a week, the last regular freight at this north western outpost.