Rail travel south or west out of Retford involves climbing inclines. Westwards, the Lincoln to Sheffield line climbs after passing underneath the East Coast Main Line, and southwards, the East Coast Main Line climbs Gamston Bank.
The first two trains in this video are filmed on the incline from Retford low level platforms towards Worksop, and the rest are on Gamston bank.
I have been waiting weeks to film a loaded freight train traveling westwards. The first train in this clip was the 1027 Cottam Power Station to Hoo Junction Up Yard, and was the first train to visit Cottam power station since the Network Rail Loram Rail Grinder visited a week ago. Notice all the dust from the fly ash, I wonder how much will be left by the time the train gets to its destination! I'm just glad that I decided to film from this side of the track.
I nearly missed this opportunity to film it as it was 2 hours late leaving Cottam.
Next we see the 1203 Sheffield to Cleethorpes, one of only 3 trains a week in each direction on this route, all on a Saturday.
Then, it was off to Gamston Bank to video the 1212 Scunthorpe Redbourne Sdg to Dollands Moor Sdgs as it struggled up the bank after being held in platform 1 at Retford to allow an express to pass. I was also hoping to video the 0914 Dollands Moor Sdgs to Scunthorpe Redbourne Sdg but it was running 37 minutes early and passed as I arrived to start my video session.
Also shown are a few of the expresses on the bank at that time.