File:66770 Cathiron Birch Coppice - London Gateway Intermodal.jpg

English: A quick visit to Cathiron this morning, on my way to the NEC, produced an interesting situation. RailNet Class 325001 was stuck on the Up Fast at Newbold Junction outside Rugby because a Class 4 freight was either suffering a signal failure or a loco problem outside Rugby station. Meanwhile, Colas track machine DR 73948 had crawled past Cathiron to a stop at High Oaks Junction, one block behind the mail train. The eventual solution after holding them both for 25 minutes to allow Class 1 express services to pass, was to route the 4L09 Birch Coppice to London Gateway freightliner with 66 770 in command from the Up Slow to the Down Slow at High Oaks and through Rugby on Platform 2 and then back to the Down Slow at Hillmorton Junction. Then the track machine moved from the Up Slow to the Up Fast, overtaking the Class 325. The poor sod in the 325 then had to back up very slowly on the Up Slow until he passed High Oaks junction Inner Home Signal at which point (after waiting for a couple of passing Pendolinos) he was able to switch from Up Slow to Up Fast - after walking the full length of the 8-car sets twice! All good fun and fascinating to watch on the real-time maps provided by Freightmaster.