In stark contrast to the busy sight of endless commuter trains at Clapham Junction, we move to the West Coast Mainline near the town of Rugeley, and to Trent Valley Station. Located on the southern stretches of the mainline, this station is still considerably busy, with half hourly services to Birmingham New Street run by London Midland Class 170s, as well as the hourly train from Crewe to London Euston run by Class 350 Desiro Units.

Tonight was still very busy, with high speed Pendolino's at fully tilt racing up and down the line every five to six minutes. Although this section of the line is renowned for its frequent fright services, there was not that much going about, with only three freight trains seen in the hour and a half spent at the station.

The first freight was a set of flatcars run by former Rail Express Systems Class 90, 90019 (ex-Pennyblack), now painted in the dark purple refinements of the now fading First Scotrail livery.

Not long afterwards was a trio of Class 325 units led by 325002 on thier way from the Willesden Railnet terminal to Shieldmuir in Glasgow.

Shortly afterwards, London Midland Desiro 350124 arrived at the quiet station with the last train of the day to London Euston, this would later be followed by the 19:33 service to Northampton.

Following the Class 325s, 390057, the newest member of the Class 390 fleet, made an unprecidented emergency stop, coming to a halt about 2 miles beyond the station.

The final freight of the day was Freightliner owned Class 66, 66543 running a southbound intermodal service.

Overall, a pleasant hour spent at an interesting station, and perhaps worth another visit on a day of more freights, but to that end, more research will need to be done.

Enjoy!

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