Search results for ""author kevin redwood""

From coal trains in South Wales to clay trains in Cornwall, there were still large numbers of unfitted and vacuum-braked wagons of various types in use across the Western Region at the start of the 1980s. However changes were taking place, and by 1984 the traditional wagon-load freight network had disappeared, and with it many yards were closed or rationalised. The replacement Speedlink Network conveyed modern air-braked wagons, many of them privately owned. Company block trains also connected freight customers across the Region, hauled by a variety of loco classes. Between 1980 and 1986 Kevin Redwood was working in the Area Freight Centre at Bristol with a particular interest in freight traffic. On his days off he frequently travelled across the region to photograph the changing scene. His journeys took him to busy mainline locations like Didcot, as well as more obscure locations in South Wales and the West Country.

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The West of England Division stretched from Penzance in the west to Blackwell Summit at the top of the Lickey Incline to the north of Bromsgrove. Geographically it was the largest of the three operating divisions of the Western Region, and in many ways the most varied. Bristol was the headquarters, and the hub of the division, with a complex network of local lines and a major locomotive depot at Bath Road. There were InterCity services to London Paddington and on the Cross Country route to the West Country. By contrast, some of the DMU-worked branch lines in Devon and Cornwall were much more rural in nature. Summer Saturdays saw a large number of extra trains head west along the sea wall at Dawlish. Freight traffic, though generally in decline, included china clay from the west and stone from the Mendips, as well as the new Speedlink services. This book contains a selection of images from across this part of the country.

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