Since the arrival of four General Motors Class 59s at Foster Yeoman in 1986 and the subsequent order of a further four by ARC, the stone trains from the two medip quarries, Merehead & Whatley, have produced some of the heaviest trains on Britains rail network.
On 26 May 1991 class member 59 005 set the European haulage record for a single locomotive, with a stone train weighing 11,982 tonnes on a stretch of closed line.
The current operator, Freightliner, successfully hauled a train weighing 4,624 tonnes in the early hours of 17th July 2019, making it the heaviest "jumbo" train to run on the national network.
This video features the many workings from Marehead & Whatley Quarries between 2017 and 2021, filmed at Berkley (outskirts of Frome), Masters Crossing, Fairwood Junction, Westbury Station, Hungerford Common and diversions at Shrivenham.
16 окт 2024
