Ughh night shift! Surprisingly I don’t do nights all that often. There is a misconception that all freight drivers do is work nights and weekends but that is not the case where I work.
I am currently sat at London Waterloo East on 6X69, a class 66 with a high speed rail milling machine in tow. X in the head code indicates that the train is an exceptional load and is subject to certain route restrictions due to limited clearance. The machine is self powered but has to be loco hauled top and tailed to site. After getting the machine to site a T3 possessions is taken around my train. I then split the locomotives off the machine and get my head down for a couple of hours. Once the machine has finished milling the rails the train is put back together, break tested, and then it’s back to Tonbridge for around 6AM.
Tonight’s drive was of particular interest as we had to go via London Charing Cross to change ends. It’s not often a 66 goes to Charing Cross so I had to get a couple of pictures. There is a restriction on Hungerford Bridge that says when a loco is crossing the bridge all other lines must be blocked to traffic and maximum speed of 15mph applies. I did think about brining my arm bands in case we ended up in the Thames but alas everything went well.
