Back to last summer and I was out on the bike for a ride. I was doing a climb over a hill in Bighton and, once I came over the summer, I descended along a road that crosses the Watercress Line. I stopped to have a drink while sitting on the bridge and heard a diesel approaching. It turned out that it was the weekend of their diesel gala and I had timed my arrival well.

A couple of guys were in the process of taking a loco out of the sidings while a train was heading back towards Alresford. I am not a specialist when it comes to diesels but even I can read the number on the side. This was apparently a Class 46 pulling a train of customers. It was entering the station at Ropley and this is one of the passing places on the line so I figured there was a chance another train would be coming the other way.

This proved to be the case. I think the loco coming the other way is a Western but might be mistaken so be gentle in the comments if this is wrong. As it pulled out of Ropley, the air above it was black with sooty smoke. These older locos are definitely not clean burning! Since it was accelerating uphill, it was working hard – hence the serious darkening of the sky! With it on its way, I had taken enough rest, and it was time to continue on my ride.