Caption:

An old-school British Railways freight yard still in full use

in the early 1970s as a visit to Toton between Christmas and New Year in the early 1970s revealed. Just imagine that to reach the Traction Maintenance Depot we had to cross this yard first. Authorities would have a fit nowadays and that’s supposing you could gain initial access anyway! Meanwhile on this day the common combination of multiple Class 20s tick over waiting for their next colliery or steel works trip working and, no doubt, providing warmth and protection from the bitter cold for their crew. At this time no less than 109 of these locos were allocated to the East Midlands depot.