30065 waits at Wittersham Road with an up freight

An interesting day on the KESR today on the third day of the Southern Steam Sunset gala. An intensive passenger service was augmented by three round trips of a demonstration freight train.

Here the first departure from Wittersham waits in the loop ready for the off, with the reflection of the platform fencing and the fireman showing in the shiny tank sides.

With the freight starting and finishing at Wittersham it made for a challenging and enjoyable day for me in the signalbox. Each time the train returned to Wittersham it had to be shunted to move the brakevan from one end of the trucks to another which involved lots of movements up and down the loop and through lines to marshall the train in the correct order all within the time constraints allowed between passenger trains. All worked reasonably smoothly, no disasters and I felt I learned a huge amount about working the signalbox.

When shunting the crossing gate has to be opened and closed several times and as there was also an intensive passenger service this meant the gates must have been worked over 30 times, much to the annoyance of a tractor driver who was carting manure from one place to another and was stopped almost every time he crossed the railway. His face said it all.

Mind you, it didn't affect the family of blue tits nesting in the hollow metal crossing gate post. They made their entrance in the slot where the gate bolt went in. When the gate was closed to traffic they just bided their time on a nearby branch and waited until it was all over. As I locked the gates at the end of the day I could hear the cheeping coming from the nest deep and snug inside the post.