Matt Clarke Railway Photogrpahs

37411 'The Scottish Railway Preservation Society ' accelerating towards Ystrad Mynach signal box with the 2F38 15:15 Rhymney - Cardiff service. 2nd April 2005.

37042 arrives at Didcot with a rake of ex Yeoman box wagons, the working was not one that I had been expecting and took me somewhat by surprise. The photo was taken during May 2004. 37042 was stored just a few weeks later in June '04, although later reinstated for a short period for engineering duties in January 2005.

(35mm Scan)

37405 passes through Bridge of Orchy with the 1Y11 Euston - Fort William sleeper on 31st May 2006 just over a week before the end of booked class 37 haulage on the West Highland line.

37423 heads over the River Avon at Evesham Marina hauling saloon 'Caroline' as 2Z02 08:51 Paddington - Bristol. 01/07/08.

On Sunday 19th March 2006 37670 - still carrying its 'St Blazey T&RS Depot' nameplates and 37669 hauled a Craven Arms - Newport empty ballast which ran as 6W32. Both loco's were only taken out of store just days earlier in the of case of 669 only the day before. The loco's were paired up for their first outing since reinstatement for the outward journey and the return is seen here at Hereford running later than expected in a lucky spot of sunshine.

37416 passes Lea Marston with the 6G42 Birch Coppice - Bescot Enterprise feeder. The service conveyed car parts from the distribution centre at Birch Coppice. Class 37's were once a regular performer on this working until early 2005 when haulage went over to class 67's. However on 27th October 37416 was allocated to the working, the weather was perfect so a quick call to work explaining that I was tucked up in bed with some imaginary illness was made and a mad dash to Lea Marston followed.

On 29th April 2006 Kingfisher Tours ran the 'Whitby Jet' railtour from Rugby to Whitby using 37419 and 37425. The shot carried extra significance as 37419 had been pre-assigned for storage the following Tuesday. After numerous 'full dull' shots of the outbound leg taken on the Esk Valley Line the return from Whitby is photographed here at Battersby in the afternoon sunshine.

Another shot of the 'Whitby Jet' taken 15 minutes later as 37425 heads the tour out of Battersby with 37419 tailing.

37417 hauls the 6Z79 Northampton - Bescot scrap into Bescot, 66089 which had failed at Northampton was attached to the rear. I had originally gone to Cathiron for this working, however it ran nearly an hour earlier than planned which meant the sun hadn't quite come round enough so a dash to Bescot was made to grab this. 1st July 2006.

37425 hauls the 6W54 Bescot - Dovey Junction through Glanhafren on 21st February 2006. The consist included 66038 tucked behind 425. By the time the train reached Glanhafren it was running over 160 minutes down passing at 17.03 just 20 minutes before dark.

37401 passes Blakedown with 5Z37 Crewe - Kidderminster SVR with 6201 'Princess Elizabeth' and support coach in tow on 9th June 2008.

37405 passes through Hatton on 25th July 2006 with the late running 7V26 Bescot - Hinksey Yard spoil working, conveying around 30 loaded wagons. The train was running over an hour late at this stage which worked in my favour as the M40 was a little more busy than usual. The locomotive had been spruced up with silver buffers for railtour duties the previous weekend.

During early summer in 2006 DRS hired two of its class 66's out to Freigtliner who were experiencing a motive power shortage. As a result of this DRS' 4L46 Ditton - Purfleet intermodal working was taken over by class 37's. The service is pictured here at Heamies Farm, Staffordshire on 9th June 2006. The train was running late at this stage and 37608 & 37218 where hammering along the fast line at speed to make up time. Class 37 haulage continued for some weeks on this turn until DRS cancelled the service due to poor loadings, evident in this illustration with only two containers in the consist.

37602 & 20317 take a break on the 6M67 Bridgewater - Crewe flasks. The consist was stopped at Worcester Shrub Hill for a number of hours as the yard had a back log of three freights to dispatch. 29th June 2006.

37069 & 37608 pass over the river Avon at Eckington 25/01/07 with 6M56 Berkley - Crewe flasks... or flask in this case.

DRS' 37608 is seen here again, this time at Retford on the East Coast Mainline hauling a Network Rail Stoneblower on 5th April 2006. The 37 had traveled light loco to Marshgate to collect the short consist and returned as 6ZO5 Marshgate - Broxbourne.

37406 passes through Water Orton on 2nd November 2006 with the 6G36 Bescot - Birch Coppice trip working. The train train was running well behind time when it appeared at 10:33. Some high level cloud had just started to bubble up when the sound of 406 became audible, unfortunately it just took the edge off the light.

The returning trip 6G42 Birch Coppice - Bescot is pictured here at Whitacre Junction at 11:44. The light here was perfect, but for some shadows which would have been less pronounced had the trees lost their leaves.

37417 heads through Lea Marston on 17th Oct 2007 with 6G42 Birch Coppice - Bescot.

37698 pauses for a crew change at Hereford during May 2004. The train is the 6M75 ADJ - Warrington and was worked by 698 twice during this week. Class 37's were regular performers on this working during 2004 and as a result a crowd of photographers could usually be seen at Hereford station where the train would recess for anything up to 45 minutes.

(35mm Scan)

37069 & 37607 top & tail 15:49 Derby - Bristol Barton Hill (4Z10) through Spetchley on 24th July 2007. The working was well down by this point passing at 18:40 some 50 minutes later than booked.

37406 'The Saltire Society' stands at Edinburgh on 22nd May 2006 awaiting departure with the 1B01 Edinburgh - Fort William sleeper. The picture was taken at 04:18Hrs after a long run up from Crewe behind 90020.

The following morning 37406 is pictured again at Edinburgh with the return at 00:55Hrs. The shot was taken shortly after 406 had shunted the Fort William portion of the Caledonian Sleeper onto the Inverness section on 23rd May 2006.

Another station shot of the 'beds' this time with 37405 basking in the sunshine at Fort William on 30th May 2006.

37602 & 37069 1Z44 06:49 Crewe - Weymouth 'Wessexman'. Banbury. 23/05/09.

37408 'Loch Rannoch' accelerates away from Ystrad Mynach station with the 2F34 14:15 Rhymney - Cardiff service on April 2nd 2005. The only full sun shot I have of 408 before its demise and for some reason the shots got some major colour cast problems.

The 10th December 2005 was the day that Arriva had advertised as being the last day of loco haulage on the Rhymney circuit and apart from a few night shots this was the full sun shot of the day - 37411 'Caerphilly Castle' with the 2F26 12:15 Rhymney - Cardiff at Pontlottyn.

37324 passes Hailes on the Gloucestershire & Warwickshire Railway with a Toddington - Cheltenham Racecourse working during the spring diesel gala on 1st April 2006.

37401 passes through Lower Moor near Pershore with 6Z80 09:37 Bescot - Long Marston on 19th March 2008. The working was conveying brand new Lafarge cement wagons which were going to store until a new flow commenced. This shot is local to me and had become overgrown some years ago. I set about removing some of the overgrowth in spring 2007 and it took nearly a year for something rateable to run at the right time to take advantage!

Shortly after heavy rain had moved south 37417 & 37401 pass through Defford with Compass Tours' 'Heart of Wales Explorer' on the return leg running as 1Z71 16:05 Cardiff - Blackburn. 12/04/08.

37422 in poor light at Norton Junction with 6M17 Long Marston - Bescot on 25th July 2008.

Pristine looking 37676 and not so pristine looking 37248 approach Bescot Stadium with 5Z47 08:00 Carnforth - Poole ECS for the following days Spitfire tour on 28/11/08.

37612 & 37604 at Eckington with 6Z67 Bridgewater - Crewe flasks. 06/01/09.

37606 & 37605 pass through Croome on 21st October 2007 with a Derby RTC - Bristol test train.

37608 & 37611 on 1Z94 15:00 Swansea - Derby NMT replacement Abbotswood 08/09/06.

37401 & 37670 with Pathfinder's 'The West Highlander' tour 1Z17 10:15 Fort William - Oban at Spean Bridge. 12/04/09.

37401 & 37670 with Pathfinder's 'The West Highlander' tour 1Z17 10:15 Fort William - Oban at Achallader. 12/04/09.

37670 & 37401 1Z18 Oban - Fort William at Loch Awe. 12/04/09.

37670 heads 6K66 09:10 Fort William - Mallaig ballast at Kinloid. The train was dropping ballast when the shot was taken. 13/04/09.

Looking the other way for the return, 37670 6K66 13:40 Mallaig - Fort William - Kinloid. 13/04/09.

37670 6K66 13:40 Mallaig - Fort William - Arisaig. 13/04/09.

37423 - 2Z44 10:58 Derby RTC - Southampton. Clay Mills. 22/04/09.

37087 & 37688 6K41 14:58 Valley - Crewe. Valley. 23/06/09.

37609 tnt with 37059 1Q14 09:36 Derby RTC - Derby RTC at Wetmore Farm. 10/09/09.

37603 & 37601 6M67 13:41 Berkeley - Crewe flask. Ryecroft Junction. 22/07/09.

37602 - 37218 1Z12 09:33 Bristol Temple Meads - Derby RTC. Defford. 21/08/09.