BR class 26 No 5308 on a freight leaving the Forth Bridge in c1970.

David J Hayes says "A very nice study of what is no doubt a local trip freight, which may have originated from Cameron Bridge, as it includes what appear to be four carbon dioxide tankers. Such traffic was later moved for the most part in later years by using the Speedlink wagonload network, which was launched by BR in September 1977.

Following Speedlinks demise in July 1991, movements of carbon dioxide went over to block train operation where possible for a few years, conveying traffic sourced from Cameron Bridge, Haverton Hill and Mossend. These consignments were later moved using the Enterprise wagonload network launched by Transrail in September 1994.

The traffic survived into the EWS era before finishing in 1998, by which time the only regular destinations for carbon dioxide appear to have been Coleshill and Willesden, the latter having replaced Bow as the London terminal in the early 1990s."

Photo: T.G. Hepburn / Rail Archive Stephenson