99004 restarts 4L68 Birch Coppice - London Gateway away from its booked stop in Bescot Up Loop. It's seen here winding its
way across Newton Jct and through Tame Bridge station at 15:31 on Tuesday 11th August 2026. A lighting pole or two has
dematerialised in the post-processing of this shot. Even by mid-August the shadows are beginning to intrude on the linear
forest that passes for a railway these days. 99s on the Birch Coppice and East Mids Gateway modals have now been running
long enough to establish that they use their diesel engines on the electrified Grand Jct and Walsall branch. They're booked
to raise the pan at Stechford in the up direction and lower it at Aston in the down. My earlier phot of 99002 on the first run
of 4L72 with its pan up at Bescot seems to have been something of an aberration. No-one locally has clocked one with its pan up
around Walsall or Bescot since that first day.
