The DMU ready to depart from Shackerstone
On 31st December 2009, I was the driver when the Battlefield Line ran three round trips from Shackerstone to Shenton with the 2-car diesel railcar. The weather was very cold but bright. I allowed plenty of time for preparation because the weather had been very frosty but Ritchie had charged the batteries a couple of days earlier and made sure that the heaters were serviceable so there were no difficulties. One engine was a bit reluctant to start but once running gave no problems, leaving time to do a Line Inspection trip (and drop off some materials for the new restaurant being installed in the Ticket Office building at Market Bosworth) before starting the service.
These passengers have 'bagged' seats giving a panoramic view of the Leicestershire countryside
There were a surprising number of passengers for the first train and although the remaining two trips were not heavily-loaded, I think everybody enjoyed the journey and the warm mince pies. A pleasant and not too strenuous end to the year! The DMU railcars are operated by the Shackerstone DMU Group. For an earlier post (with a link to more photographs) click here.
