47344 arrives at the Rover car plant at Swindon on 13 June 1996 with the 6V09 04:20 Longbridge to Swindon car panel empties, comprising a complete rake of the then brand new cube wagons. The train is pictured diverging from the Great Western Mainline at Highworth Junction. The Rover works (formerly British Leyland and latterly BMW) shared this remaining stub of the Highworth Branch with a Shell oil depot (the line just visible in the immediate foreground) and Cooper's scrapyard. Unfortunately all this traffic is now lost to rail. Even 47344 is now no more, having being withdrawn in 1999 and cut up by the Harry Needle Railroad Company at Kingsbury in 2002. |