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Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal
All photographs of this location in date order.
![Colas Rail 66843 exits Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal towards Rugby mid afternoon on 4 Aug 2010 with 66954 visible to the left and 66412 further along the sidings.<br><br>[David Pesterfield 04/08/2010]](/images/31000/31172.jpg "Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal")
![Temporary exhibit: this rail-under-road bridge (see new tracks in background, for imminent expansion of DIRFT) was due to be jacked under the A5 over the weekend of 4th-7th March. In the meantime, it is nicely obscuring the site of the former Kilsby station.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 04/03/2011]](/images/33000/33066.jpg "Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal")
![Looking in the opposite direction to the previous view [see image 33773] is not easy, due to cramped access and large holes in the pavement. But a levelled and ballasted trackbed is now visible between 'old DIRFT' and 'new DIRFT'. Notice the Freightliner and DRS class 66 locomotives lurking in the sidings in the background.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 13/04/2011]](/images/33000/33772.jpg "Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal")
![Progress at DIRFT since 4th March. This picture is taken slightly to the right (North) of the previous view, standing over the box which was prominent in that picture [see image 33066]. The concrete apron in the right background looks like the start of a warehouse with multiple sidings running through it. And could that be an alternative main line access point taking shape on the left?<br><br>[Ken Strachan 13/04/2011]](/images/33000/33773.jpg "Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal")
![Significant progress on the expansion at DIRFT since my last visit here [see image 33773]. View is towards Rugby on 20 May 2011, with rails shown in place here on the north west side of the A5. The wagon in the middle distance looks like it is being used in loading tests.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 20/05/2011]](/images/34000/34184.jpg "Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal")
![Progress at DIRFT looking south east towards the main depot and yard on 20 May [see image 33772] with rails now passing under the A5. The class 66 lurking in the undergrowth on the right is no 708.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 20/05/2011]](/images/34000/34187.jpg "Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal")
![I went looking for the terminal shunter, 37194; which I had previously seen on the North side of the A5 [see image 42686], but on this occasion found it feeling rather shy, and burying its nose in the vegetation. So I just had to settle for a picture of 66305 heading North with containers. [see image 43151 for a similar train, much further North]<br><br>[Ken Strachan 03/04/2013]](/images/42000/42707.jpg "Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal")
![At last! Ever since they extended DIRFT across the A5, I've been trying to photograph a main line engine in daylight [see image 36944]. This is 37194, apparently on the naughty step on 9th April. The sting in the tail is that it is currently not a main line engine, as it is employed as the North terminal shunter.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 09/04/2013]](/images/42000/42686.jpg "Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal")
![After two and a half years [see image 33772], I finally photograph a train passing under the A5. The train headed South out of the yard about ten minutes after this shot was taken on 27 September 2013.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 27/09/2013]](/images/44000/44802.jpg "Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal")
![And then there were two [see image 42686]. DRS 37069 and 37714 relax at DIRFT between duties just before Christmas 2013.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 20/12/2013]](/images/46000/46262.jpg "Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal")
![When a new railway is being built, a sign notifying a forthcoming road closure is usually a promising sign. Since my last visit on 25th June [see image 47777], two long side girders have been lifted into place across the A428, and a number of lateral girders have been bolted into place between these two. This should look very impressive when trains eventually pass across it.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 17/07/2014]](/images/48000/48046.jpg "Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal")
![To paraphrase the famous soft drink advert, <I>made in Daventry - from girders</I>. You can't beat playing with a full deck [see image 48046 for a similar view a few days earlier]. The embankment behind the North pier is also taking shape.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 22/07/2014]](/images/48000/48110.jpg "Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal")
![Some progress since my last visit seven months ago [see image 48046]. The retaining wall and fence on the right are finished; as is the embankment on the left, complete with acoustic fence to protect residents of the new housing estate to be built beyond. The warehouse in the background belongs to Sainsbury's, and faces a longer established Tesco warehouse. There is also a new warehouse going up behind the camera.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 30/01/2015]](/images/50000/50226.jpg "Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal")
![The line of trees that previously stood in the background [see image 35428] seems to have been sacrificed to build DIRFT 3. View north west on 18 February 2015 with Rugby station just off the end of the 'Northampton loop' in the left background.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 18/02/2015]](/images/50000/50466.jpg "Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal")
![The northern rail limit at this ever expanding terminal has increased by about half a mile since last photographed [see image 35439] - note the orange buffer stop on the right. The acoustic fence is to reduce noise for a new housing estate. The warehouse on the left is part of DIRFT 2 and belongs to Sainsbury's.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 27/02/2015]](/images/50000/50523.jpg "Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal")
![Amazing what a couple of days with an excavator and several large packets of grass seed can do [see image 50226]. All ready for the next extension across the A5 on 20 August 2015?<br><br>[Ken Strachan 20/08/2015]](/images/52000/52348.jpg "Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal")
![Latest DIRFT developments north of the bridge over the A428 in early September 2015. [see image 52348]. The Sainsbury's warehouse is visible on the left. Notice the stack of containers and the new container crane left of centre. A 'super shunter' like 37714 (centre) can be seen here most weekday afternoons. To the right, the embankment has been extended towards the proposed crossing of the A5.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 04/09/2015]](/images/52000/52516.jpg "Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal")
![A rare view of the DIRFT 'super shunter' on 25 September 2015 [see image 52516] with a load in tow. That pile of containers on the left seems to be getting taller by the day.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 25/09/2015]](/images/52000/52864.jpg "Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal")
![A 'just-in-time' picture. On the last Friday before the clocks went back, 66424 is leading the 18.39 departure from Daventry to Coatbridge FLT into the DIRFT yard on 23rd October 2015. This image was captured at 1734, giving the locomotive ample time to run around [see image 52864]. The train has just crossed the recently built bridge over the A428.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 23/10/2015]](/images/53000/53055.jpg "Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal")
![Only eight months ago [see image 50466], this Eddie Stobart warehouse was just a steel frame. Now it is in use, ready to exchange freight with the line of Cargowaggons on the siding. The 350 is heading for London via Northampton.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 23/10/2015]](/images/53000/53111.jpg "Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal")
![Here's one I prepared earlier [see image 53055]. The DRS service for Sainsbury's is about 12 hours away from its scheduled arrival at Coatbridge FLT. The foreground is surprisingly pleasant as the environs of warehouses go; a small gap in the vegetation makes it hard to avoid getting a lamppost in front of the locomotive. This view will, however, be impossible in a few years' time, when those trees have grown up a bit.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 23/10/2015]](/images/53000/53139.jpg "Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal")
![Come along now, don't be shy. 66424 is lurking in the Sainsbury's sidings at DIRFT on 23 October [see image 53055]. View north across the A428 road bridge.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 23/10/2015]](/images/53000/53230.jpg "Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal")
![I may be losing count, but I think this hoarding, adjacent to the A5 Southbound, foreshadows DIRFT terminal 4. This will need an overbridge across the A5 similar to that over the A428, and an extension of the existing embankment past DIRFT 3 [see image 52516].<br><br>[Ken Strachan 04/12/2015]](/images/53000/53590.jpg "Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal")
![It's a lonely life a-shunting. Malcolm group locomotive 08823 returns to the main yard at DIRFT on 18 December 2015 after depositing a rake of Cargowaggons by the Eddie Stobart warehouse [see image 53111]. The Northampton loop off the WCML is out of view to the right of the concrete fence.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 18/12/2015]](/images/53000/53690.jpg "Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal")
![70.014 is the first 70 I have seen at DIRFT. It is about to draw its train out of the Sainsburys sidings, in fading light and with flurries of snow. [see image 53055]<br><br>[Ken Strachan 10/02/2017]](/images/58000/58134.jpg "Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal")
![This line under the A5 looks quite normal during the day [see image 35455], but as darkness falls and reference points disappear into the gloom, it looks rather steep. 70.014 is pulling a Sainsburys train into the main yard on 10th February.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 10/02/2017]](/images/58000/58141.jpg "Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal")
![Spotters welcome? This is the railway section of the information boards at the DIRFT viewing point off the A5. [See image 46262] for the view of the yard.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 10/02/2017]](/images/58000/58147.jpg "Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal")
![The board which welcomes rail enthusiasts to the viewing platform at DIRFT [see image 58147]. There is another board for naturalists and archaeologists.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 10/02/2017]](/images/58000/58293.jpg "Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal")
![Looking North East from the A5 on 16 March 2017. This is the railway embankment which will meet up with the new bridge over the A5 when they build it [see image 52516]. Notice the rail-over-road bridge already built below the left-most wind turbine. The M1 passes behind the wind turbines.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 16/03/2017]](/images/58000/58783.jpg "Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal")
![DRIFTs at DIRFT: DRS loco' 66.434 loads its train at the Tesco sidings. 68.003 can be seen in the background.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 12/12/2017]](/images/62000/62140.jpg "Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal")
![Looking the other way from image 62140, a couple of Class 90s can be seen in the headshunt at DIRFT, with a down 350 passing on the Northampton loop.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 12/12/2017]](/images/63000/63240.jpg "Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal")
