37223 Compton Beauchamp 30 August 1991

The very last rays of the setting sun give a golden glow to 37223 as it growls along the Great Western Mainline at Compton Beauchamp with a well loaded 6A01 15:23 East Usk Junction to West Drayton domestic coal train on 30 August 1991. The coal had originated from Coedbach earlier in the day. This was one of the last flows of non industrial coal that managed to hang on after the demise of Speedlink, primarily due to its normally healthy loading, as can be seen here. Despite the fact that the sun had disappeared off the track, it was luckily just still high enough to light most of the train, although I was glad that it ran when it did as the sun was dropping very rapidly. The rather grainy image is the result of using Kodachrome 200 - very necessary so late in the evening!