27th Oct 2001

Class 58 no. 58030 is heading Pathfinder Railtour's "Tone Bone" railtour, 1Z46 07.01 Crewe to Taunton, via Yeovil, Exeter and Taunton. To my knowledge this was the one and only time a Class 58 operated on the ex-LSWR mainline. The Class 58s, remarkably, were due for withdrawal, a fleet of 50 locos that were new in the early 80s. Mind you, many of them went on to work on the mainland, in France and Spain, 58030 still languishing in the latter location, no doubt fading-away under the hot Spanish sun!

I took this image from the wall adjacent to the A35 overpass, and love the coordinating autumn colours in the trees in the background, complementary with the EWS red livery of the loco. The tail of the train is passing between the retaining walls that once supported the girder bridge that carried the Lyme Regis branch over the main line. This is actually one of my favourite shots at Axminster.