66544 Kingham 17 June 2015

A very unusual working on the southern section of the Cotswold Line on 17 June 2015. In a surprising, and very brief patch of sunshine, 66544 passes through Kingham station with the late running 6L31 Long Marston to Ipswich, conveying 18 green liveried four wheel TTA fuel oil tanks. The loco had travelled up from Southampton light engine, but initially there was some confusion as to what the return load would be, as Realtime Trains insisted the return working was starting from Honeybourne Sidings, which did seem rather unlikely. Due to the late departure from Long Marston, there were further doubts whether it would run via the Cotswold Line as booked, or if it might run into pathing problems south of Charlbury and go via the Cheltenham and Swindon line instead. Luckily for me it stuck to the original plan, although it was by now over an hour late. Note the GWR style running in board on the right.