NORTON COLLIERY
I thought the Norton Colliery Branch article in TRACTION 268 made for an interesting feature. Mention was made of all coal output going to Meaford Power Station, which was probably true by the time the colliery closed in 1977, but there was also coal traffic to Ironbridge Power Station using the MGR concept prior to Norton’s closure. Table One accompanying Part One of my Ironbridge Coal article in TRACTION 263 shows, for October 1975, an MGR departure from Ford Green (coal ex-Norton) running as 6G42, the 07:13 SO/09:10 SSuX to Ironbridge formed of 25 HAA hoppers. However, by October 1976, the Saturday train had ceased and, in March of 1977, the weekday departure was amended to start from Trentham Junction (dep. 10:27 SSuX), now laden with coal from Florence/Hem Heath. An interesting selection of images from the North Staffordshire region, including the Ford Green/Norton Colliery area, can be found on David Hancox’s Flickr stream.
DAVID J. HAYES, WEDNESBURY
6X73 AND AUTOMOTIVE TRAFFIC
Driver Jason Hickling’s article in TRACTION 266 was an interesting account of his time spent working freights between Birmingham and Crewe. I have often been intrigued as to why this train, and various other automotive trains that ran during the post-BR privatisation era, often ran with the letter ‘X’ in the headcode? The normal headcode for workings operating within the LMR to Merseyside back in BR days would have been to run with the letter ‘F’, as the use of an ‘X’ back then implied an exceptional load, which I believe could also include something ‘out-of-gauge’. Could Jason, or perhaps someone else, please enlighten us as to why certain automotive trains in the privatised era warranted the use of the letter ‘X’ in the headcode? Two other trains that spring to mind were the 6O12 Carlisle to Eastleigh and 6S77 Wembley to Mossend services, both of which were Enterprise freights that often ran as 6X12 or 6X77 because of the inclusion of automotive traffic in their consists. Jason’s working of 6X73 through Walsall at this time also coincided with my regular visits to Ryecroft Junction to photograph the then still interesting freight scene to be seen at this location. Although I didn’t get a picture of 6X73 on any of the days Jason was in the driving seat, I did manage to capture it on the evening of Wedn
