Train Graveyard - Alsager

I had this place pinned for a while, seemingly for the derelict garden centre next door which I failed to ever visit. With a few local newspapers getting wind of some abandoned trains in the area by a curious drone pilot, we decided to head down whilst we still could.

Dan popped by a week before and managed to wake up the unsuspecting security guard who was doom scrolling away on his phone all whilst sticking to the public right of way and claiming he was out on a walk.

We both headed back the next week and decided to approach the site from a different angle. Soon enough we had the loco's in sight and were inside after a brief fight against some overgrowth. The site is an active quarry with people working all around and we did spot people from the front but by the time we got in the place seemed dead, presumably it had closed early due to bank holiday hours.

I don't know how the precise number of abandoned things there is needed to justify a 'graveyard' but i felt 12 loco's was over playing it slightly. The front cabins seemed to be relatively intact on most of the trains and the engines all seem to have been left alone. The lack of space in the engine housings was awkward and the use of a tripod would have been impossible, I can't help but imagine the labor that would have gone into keeping these things going.

We spent an hour walking around but seeing as though they were all the same it felt like once you'd seen one you'd really seen all 12.

History

"Twelve Class 60 diesel locomotives, once part of the DB Cargo fleet and built between 1989 and 1993, now lie abandoned in a Cheshire Quarry. The Brush Class 60 is a heavy freight diesel-electric locomotive that was built in Britain between 1989 and 1993. It was designed to be reliable and powerful, capable of hauling heavy freight trains across the UK. Initially, 100 Class 60s were constructed, numbered 60001-60100. Originally transported from Toton in Nottinghamshire to the quarry by the company Land Recovery in 2024, the locomotives were intended to be stored ahead of potential restoration. However, they now sit tightly packed together in a state of disrepair, with several showing signs of neglect such as broken windows and extensive rust. Surrounded by discarded railway sleepers and overgrown vegetation it seems these former freight trains are yet to be repurposed or restored".