Weston-super-Mare - Birmingham Snow Hill express at Haresfield
View southward, towards Standish Junction, then Swindon etc. on the ex-GWR and Bristol etc. on the ex-Midland main line from Birmingham etc., shared with ex-GW trains as far as Yate. The 14.05 from Weston-super-Mare, being a WR train which will avoid Gloucester to go via Cheltenham Malvern Road and Stratford-on-Avon to Birmingham Snow Hill (due 17.36), it is running here on the ex-GW lines. The locomotive is Collett-design 4-6-0 No. 6904 'Charfield Hall' (built 7/40, withdrawn 1/65).
Peter Kerslake says "The signalman down the line at Standish Junction has put 6904 Charfield Hall which may possibly still be allocated to Tyseley across from the London Midland Region line from Bristol Temple Meads on to the Western Region line from Swindon and Sapperton at his Standish Junction as this working is going to bypass both Gloucester's Eastgate and Central stations and run northwards via the Gloucester loop and avoiding line from Tuffley Junction, a couple of miles ahead. The LMR lines are in the foreground, this stretch being something of a "race track" between Gloucester and Standish Junction with footplate crews of WR and LMR locomotives often seeking to outpace each other on what was a fast and level section of line."