31248 is seen near Bentley heading east on the A454 (Black Country Route). The scrap loco had left Bescot around 11:50
on Wednesday 15th March 2000, and is seen here at 12:15 not far short of the M6 at Junction 10. At this time the route
for main-line locos leaving Bescot by road involved turning left out of Woden Road East onto the A461, heading away from
the M6 at junction 9. The route continued through Wednesbury town centre and Moxley, before taking the A454 to junction
10. I presume this arrangement was intended to avoid the elevated sections of the M6, although in later years the direct
route to junction 9 was used for all locos. Note the police escort, something else that was routine at the time, but was
abandoned fairly quickly, with hauliers providing their own escort vehicle instead. There were two police motorcycles,
the other one is likely to be ahead of the lorry, and out of shot bottom right. The loco was en-route to Thompson's in
Stockton I believe.
