Much to the annoyance of everybody else, trains still have an attraction when I am on holiday! This summer's trip to Canada was no exception with photo oppertunities in Toronto and Halifax (Nova Scotia). Also featured is the journey between the two using ViaRail services. Look out for some coaches which could look a little familiar as well!

An enjoyable afternoon on the west coast mainline, followed by a journey south to see the first ever use of class 57's on the Dungeness flask train, together with hired in traction on the Colas steel flow.

It always rains when I'm on a trip to Weymouth. Even on 1st August.
Even so this was an enjoyable day out with some Class 73's and a circuitous route around the Southern.

A few snippets from the summer in the city.
Featuring 'retro-look' 31106, 73107, the EWS managers train and a class 395 'Javelin' delivery.

A week away in Yorkshire presented a number of railway opertunities. Featured is an afternoon at the National Railway Museum, some photographs of the Scarbrough Spa Express and a brief visit to Scarbrough itself.

The day began with an unusual Harry Potter themed steam charter at Paddington, and continued to include the sights of Great Yarmouth and Cromer- with some suprises on the way!

A variety of trains in London from those on regular workings to steam specials, including 60019 'Bittern' at home on the ECML and an excursion by 'thumper' 1001.

The 29th June saw the early launch of South Easterns High Speed service to London using new class 395 'Javelin' units. Also featured is a variety of sightings from across London, including a move featuring the two NR loadbank class 86's.

Photographs from an excursion to the Mangapps Farm Railway in Essex organised by DEMU (Diesel Electric Modelers United).
A suprise feature was 47793 in action hauling trains.

Good weather would not be an appropriate way to describe the first day of the 2009 Lond Marsdon Open Day. As I boarded the UK Railtours excursion at Euston the rain had already begun- however this did not detract from a well run railtour and an interesting day out.

A sunny day heralded a visit out to Worting Junction and locations on the Great Western Mainline. A variety of traction including a selection of freights is included from this enjoyable day photographing.

A varied month featuring a class 73 hauled test train on the Southen Region, A morning on the Brighton Main Line and a visit by new built steam locomotive 60163 'Tornado'.

The Mid Hants (Watercress) line made a welcome return to the diesel gala scene following the troubles at it's previous gala in 2005.
A very enjoyable day was in store- largely due to the fantastic weather. The railway however coudl improve it's act for future events- poor timekeeping, poor communication from staff and the early finish time could all be improved upon!

A selection of photograhs from the Monday of the Eastleigh 100 event.
Do be sure to also look at the pictures from the night shoot and from outside of the works.

A selection of photographs from the Eastleigh 100 weekend which have been taken from outside of the event. This includes Eastleigh Station and 'The Wessexman' railtour.

I attended the night shoot session at the Eastleigh 100 open day on 23rd May. Here are some of the results!

The Rickmansworth Canal Festival this year included special heritage train runs between Harrow-on-the-Hill, Rickmansworth and Amersham using Sarah Siddons and class 20's. Also featured are some engineers trains at Victoria.

A train from Bristol to Aberystwyth organised to raise money for The Railway Children Charity on behalf of a group of Network Rail Employees who would be undertaking the three peaks challenge. Traction featured 50044, 37676 and 97301.

May begins with a one off Advenza working from Stockton to Sheerness with 47237.

This collection starts with a nocturnal visit to Wimbledon to see Network Rails recently overhauled 31465. Also featured is DB Shenker liveried 66152 on a railtour to Swanage, all three Colas Rail 47's, pairs of class 20's and 37's working flasks from Dungeness, Class 442's in service with Gatwick Express and Southern, a Mainline blue class 60 at Colnbrook, a very colourful loco convoy to Eastleigh and even a brief visit to the Isle of Wight!
Quite a month!

A selection of photographs from March featuring the new Colas freight flow with 47's, London Midland 350's on DC duties, the return of the 442's, a trip to Heathrow and a selection of engineering trains at Waterloo.

A university field trip gave me the chance to grab a few photos in and around Birmingham.

While in the area I made a visit to Barrow Hill Roundhouse and was rewarded with an extensive collection of interesting rolling stock.

The environment at C.F. Booth Scrapyard in Rotherham is quite unlike any other accesible on the railway. This collection features a selection of photos from a very busy day at this locomotive graveyard.
Thanks must go to C.F. Booth for continuing to allow enthusiast visits. Please note that the site is ONLY open for visits at specific times and nobody should attempt to visit otherwise.

The continuing prescence of snow and a multitude of DRS class 37's feature in this gallery representing a most interesting month!

The following days heavy snowfall was still very evident... and the sun came out! What more excuse did I need to get out with my camera and see what London had to offer.
This gallery features a collection of snowy pics from the South West, West Coast and Great Western Main Lines. With a few suprises!

Snow decided to hit Southern England in a big way crippling services across the area with up to 2ft blocking lines in places. South West Trains put up a brave effort in running services where South Eastern and Southern gave up on all routes from London to the coast. Here are a few photographs from Surbiton.

The new year has started well in terms of trains. This collection features Network Rail 73's on an engineers train together with what I'm sure will be considered one of the workings of the year 37087 on an intermodal... and it was only on day five!
Further into the month is an appearence by the Orient Express and some photographs taken from the giddy heights of the London Eye.

Spitfire Railtours 'Christmas Cracker' tour to Manchester and Blackpool never really broke from a fog that covered much of the country all day. The train was hauled by a pair of West Coast Rail 37's. Also features Christmas at the East Lancashire Railway.

Despite rather gloomy weather my day out in the Anglia region was not dissapointing. With a variety of heritage traction in the area there was never a slow moment to be had. Features include stock for a NENTA excursion and the seasons first use of a class 20 on rail head treatment trains from Stowmarket.

I have long wanted to take a photographic trip to the beautiful North Wales Coast line, and with the imminent cesation of hauled pendolino units working for Virgin trains, now seemed the time to do it.

As winter draws in and the days get darker... and darker... and darker... there seems to be less time spent out with the camera. This collection shows what these months do still have on offer.
Also on 31st December may I wish all regular visitors a happy new year, and may we rejoice in the fact that after a year- this website is finally up to date!

I took a trip up to the Gloucester Warwickshire railway for their last diesel gala of the year, and a last chance to sample 47701 before it returned to Long Marston.

Some railway photos from across Europe taken during an Inter-Rail Holiday. The journey begins in Frankfurt and progresses through Germany, Switzerland, down through Italy, back up Italy to finally end up in Marseilles, France. Europe has pleanty of interesting trains to offer, even to folk such as me to whome most are totally new.
A big thanks must go to my travelling companion for putting up with me and looking after the bags while I just go to take a picture of that interesting train...

With university taking my time and days getting shorter there is always less time to get out and enjoy the hobby at this time of year- it does however give me a chance to try and catch up with updates to this site!

With Summer drawing slowly to a close and a with a day of glorious weather, I headed to London to sample the action. The day started off rather slow with anticipated action on the Metropolitan line comming to nothing, however by afternoon things had certainly picked up.

Following a fun day out the previous year I again chose to travel on the afternoon 'mini-tour' of the 'Hop Pickers Special' organised annually by Shepard Neam brewery as part of their festivities in Faversham. As usual the steam locomotive for the train was 34067 'Tangmere' with a spirited 37712 hauling the diesel leg.

On the return trip from Cornwall I made a quick diversion to Meldon Quarry to see what stock remained at the Dartmoor Railway. At the time the railway had closed due to financial difficulties at it's owners Ealing Community Transport. The line has recently been purchased by Iowa Pacific Holdings- we shall have to wait to see what future they have in store for it.

I tried to cram as much railway action as possible into this years family holiday to Cornwall. However the atmosphere also tried to cram as much rain into it as it possibly could!

This was undoubtedly one of the best days out I had on the railways all year. I usually plan to enjoy the specials for the Lowestoft air show, and usually don't make it for some reason or another. This year, for the first time, I acutally made it to Anglia for the trains. Approaching the day it was realised that Advenza Freight's 'no heat' 47375 was at Norwich... surely it wouldn't work the additionals... though Cotswold had used 'no heat' locos in the past. In the event it did- and the weather could not have been better either!

A good day out in London, with reasonable weather and a nice variety of things to see. The highlight of the day had to be a SWT staff outing using one of the Lymington 3CIG units with class 73's!

My local collection for July includes pleanty of noteable workings. Firstly 'Sir Nigel Greasley', one of the most anticipated steam locomotives to return to the main line makes an appearance on the Southern, along with the final appearance of the Stobart Pullman and some Mk1 'slammers' heading off to a new, and hopefully favourable home!

For the sake of trying to get through my uploads a bit quicker I have combined the efforts of three of my days out in London during June into this gallery.
I hope you will fine something in here that interests you!

Only a small selection of 'local' photos for June featuring a visit of 'Duchess of Sutherland' to the SWML, and the long-awaited return of 'Hastings' unit 1001.

To ease capacity during the summer East Midlands Trains looked into hiring in a loco hauled set from West Coast Rail to work a diagram to Skegness. Central trains had looked at loco haulage unsucsesfully on this route before, so it was pleasing to see that this trial run did lead to a summer of saturday loco haulage to skegness.

A selection of photographs from Past-Time Rail's 'Settle and Carlisle Flyer' railtour, taking class 37's over the S&C and featuring no less than three railtours at Carlisle.

Having set such a high standard the previous year, it was always going to be difficult for the Swanage Railway to live up to the high expectations. However they once again pulled out all the stops and put on a fantastic show which lived up to those high expectations and provided a fantastic day out.

Photographs from my local area during the month of May, featuring some new locations and the usual dose of class 37 hauled test trains. Also featuring a double headed Pullman and an engineers train on the Kingston loop.

I do not usually travel as far as this to visit a Diesel gala, however with a free weekend, promising weather and a good line up, I ventured down to the South Devon Railway for their gala. Despite attempting to loose my bag (which was no fault of the railway!) and appauling timekeeping (which was the fault of the railway!) I did have a very enjoyable day on this beautiful railway.

April was not the most fruitful of months for trains- and for my few outings the weather did not help proceedings. Here are some photos from an evening in London featuring a flask train and pictures from Spitfire's 'Wey-Farer' railtour. Where it rained- a lot.

For a number of years I had been meaning to make the short trip over to Ireland to explore it's railways. My brief trip a few years ago to travel on the 'Portrush Thumper' railtour only fueling this further. With all the stories building up that 'if you don't go now it will be too late' I finally made the journey at Easter. The railway system of Ireland is truely a wonderful thing, loco haulage dominates with a variety of coaching stock and locomotives covering old infastructure and sparce routes- but things are changing rapidly with the introduction of a huge modernisation plan and a large number of DMU's. Truely, if you have not done Ireland yet the days really are numbered.
Northern Ireland too is a real home from home, with the familiar sounding english electric 'thumper' units still in service there is much this minimal rail system also has to offer.
This is by no means a small photo gallery- but please take the time to follow through this rewarding journey into a not so distant land.
Thanks must go to Jon Wright for accompanying me on this trip (I think he enjoyed it too!) and to Martin Baumann for his invaluable help planning my day in Northern Ireland.

For some time I had wanted to travel on one of the famous 'spin and win' railtours, but with the increasing numbers of 66's around the tours seem to have become more a question of 'which livery will my shed be' than 'what traction will I get', however this tour promoted by Pathfinder seemed to offer what I wanted from a 'spinner'. These are the results of what was a rather good railtour!

A selection of photographs from March, starting, and finishing, with a Serco test train. Also featured is one of Pathfinders 'Buffer Puffer' trips, a class 442 move, a 47 hauled salon and many more usual and unusual workings.

It seems a long time ago now, I just don't seem to have had the time to update this site this year! Anyway- here are a few snippits, mostly of Serco action from the month of February.

For a Southern Electric enthusiast a tour with class 73's at the helm is never something to be missed. With UK Railtours back as an operator and with some glorious weather this tour proved to be another excellent day at the hands of some GBRf 73's- with a suprise or two along the way.

A selection of photographs from January 2008. As usual the month was fairly quiet for me, however highlights did include LUL battery locos, the last passenger appearance of 37401 in Royal Scotsman livery and some local engineering trains.

Some photos of wagons which have caught my attention.

A repeat of last years glorious weather for the Lincoln Christmas Market was clearly not on the cards. With dull skys and torrential rain and wind, the day proved to be rather glum, despite a selection of class 60's and the passenger 47's hired in from WCR.
Maybe next year the sun will be back?

A selection of my photographs from December. Included is a very yellow train with Network Rail's class 73's and GLV's. Also featured is the new National Express livery, some chilly photos from the West Coast Mainline and finally Loadhaul 60007 at Colnbrook.

A sunny morning in the Egham area featuring both steam and diesel charters provided a good mornings entertainment.

A few photographs from November, highlighting the beautiful autumn shades of this time of year.

The Great Eastern Mainline is proably one of the best places for freight action on a Saturday in the South-East. A variety of traction was seen, including a certain pair of grey 37's I thought I had seen for the last time on my previous outing!

Pathfinder tours ran trip which was to be a farewell to the EPS class 37's visiting Southern Region lines including those to Folkestone Harbour and Dungeness. Despite some very late running, the trip was a fitting farewell to the Eurostar diesel fleet.

London did not produce a huge amount this time. Some 60's on the Great Western, as well as a derailed 59 providing the mainstay of the entertainment.

Although the weather could have been better, the day provided a nice variety of interesting traction around London.

A day out to enjoy the traction at the Mid Norfolk Railways diesel gala. Featuring haulage with class 20 D8069, and 47596 from the home fleet and visitors 37688 and 57011 from DRS.
The plan was also to enjoy 47703 on the last 'drag' of the year to Great Yarmouth. This however did not quite go to plan.
Credit must go to both the Mid Norfolk Railway and DRS for providing a fantastic gala.

A most unusual charter was emerging from Clapham Junction, with two Virgin class 57's making a rare appearance on the Southern Region with the Queen of Scots luxury train. The day also featured some steam, freight and even some tubes.

A selection of photgraphs from September, including 47843 on the Hertfordshire Pullman, DRS 37's on a test train, Bullied Pacific 'Tangmere' on the South West Mainline, a Cotswold 47 at Waterloo, Some GBRf 66's on engineering trains and finally a pair of 31's on a charter!

With 37605 and 37606 in charge of the train, and a day of beautiful weather in store, I set off to caputer the 1Q14 Serco test train traversing some of the Bridges of Southwest London. A helpful schedual also allowed a large number of passings.

At the last minute I decided it would be a good idea to take a trip down to Faversham for the Shepard Neame hop festifal, featuring the 'Spitfire' railtour, in the hands of 34067 'Tangmere' and 37248 'Lock Arkaig'.

Yes, I do realise it has taken me about 2 months to upload anything to this site! I blame University!!!
Anyway, I present in this collection the remainder of my photos from my trip to Devon and Somerset this summer. Dawlish was on the adgenda again- and it didn't even rain!

While staying down in Devon, I made a trip to Britains longest preserved railway- the West Somerset Railway, and also enjoyed the class 31 hauled trip to Bristol on the 'Butlins Express'. A good day out, if a bit on the pricey side.

As the Summer is now comming to an end, and my free time to photograph trains is diminishing, this gallery should contain most of the 'odds and ends' from the later part of 2007. Check back regularly for updates.
To start off, on 25th August, a quartet of GBRf ED's on an Engeneers train.

Despite the weather I ventured up to London and had rather a good day out! All in all six class 47's were seen, which is not at all bad for this day and age.

This years family holiday to Namibia did not come with any expectation of seeing trains. Nor did it produce many! However I did manage to capture a few, and present here images of a truely foreign railway.
The operations of TransNamib were also an eye opener to me, who had previously not seen a fully functional main line 'narrow gauge' railway.

With two test trains in London, using 'Mentor' for the overhead lines in the east, and with the Serco train also about, this proved to be a very 'testing' day- with perfect weather as well!

The Spa Valley Railway held a sucsessful diesel gala in 2007 featuring their home fleet and visiting class 25 D7612. The weather was helpful as well!

Yet again my anual summer visit to the Isle of Wight brought the chance to photograph the unique ex-London Tansport 1938 stock operating on the islands electric railway. The entertainment on this day was provided by class 483 units 008 and 009.

With a pair of DRS 47's due into London on a fine day... how could I resist? The day also produced a nice variety of freight workings across the capital.

To celebrate 50 years of dieselisation, and the class 20 locomotive, this years Barrow Hill diesel weekend featured the largest ever gathering of class 20's in preservation. The excellent event also featured the oppertunity to travel right into the LaFarge cement works at Hope- hauled by class 20's of course.
This gallery is not a comprehensive record of every class 20 and item or rolling stock from the day- but I hope it showcases some of the best images from the gala. Unlike many photographers, I put a lot of time into some of these photos, waiting for clear shots without people dithering in the way! I hope you will agree that it was worth the effort.

Those of you who know me will know that one of my biggest regrets in this hobby is that I missed the end of the class 58's in the UK. When Mercia Charters offered their 'That Which Survives' tour to Holland, which would include travel behind a class 58- I could not resist. The result was an excellent weekend of trains in Eurpe, traveling out by Eurostar and on Thalys, and also visiting the Dutch railway museum in Utrecht. A big thanks must go to Jonathan Hall for putting up with me all weekend!

A selection of my photographs from July including some 37/0 action on Serco test trains, a 50 back on almost home territory, and a few other heritage suprises, including all 4 freight operating companies.

A very early start beckoned as we prepared to brace the weather for a trip to the Welsh seaside town of Aberystwyth, hauled by a pair of Class 37's on a comfortable and pleasant excursion from Kingfisher Railtours.

A class 47 turn to Great Yarmouth once again materialised for 2007, again becomming the only regular booked passenger work for the class. 47818 was performing on 23rd June, the collection also features 90027 on it's loan to 'one' and 87022 on a charter at Kings Cross.

In a gap between my A level exams I headed off to london for a day out featuring some iteresting appearances.

If somebody had told me a few months ago that London Undergrounds 'Sarah Siddons' woud be making a return to the Met this year- I would not have believed them. However, the railway never ceases to suprise and here are the results of LUL's first charter for some years with No 12 'Sarah Siddons' and 20227. Also a few other bits from my first Sunday outing for some time, and it wasn't bad!

This outing to North London was primarily a practise excersice with my new Nikon D80 camera, which I had picked up that afternoon. Camden Road did not dissapoint with freight services from all four of the big FOC's. The camera, even with little practise facilitated some shots my previous one would not have managed thanks to it's improved sensitivity.

Another collection of 'bits and pieces' from the month of June. The first selection is from 5th June when 37606 and 37607 made some trips down the Shepperton branch.

With Virgin Trains using their class 90 hauled set on a run up to Preston, I took the oppertunity to have a day out in the midlands while only having to endure a pendolino one way! (and even that was admitedly quite comfortable for a change!).

A jolly jaunt around Kent with 'UK Railtours' third excursion, visiting the branches to Grain, Folkestone Harbour and Dungeness. The tour ran exactly as it was planned, and I have to say I found it much more pleasing that the efforts made by Pathfinder (who left me a tad dissapointed after the Ouse-Humberman).

I made a trip down to the Swanage Railway for their excellent diesel gala/beer festival. The three day event featured four visiting locomotives and SWT's blue VEP 3417 which has been in warm store at Bournemouth. On the way down I also stopped off in Southampton. Luckily the Saturday prooved to have the best weather of the three days of the gala, despite some grim weather forcasts!

Photographs from Pathfinder's 'Ouse - Humberman' railtour, with 47805 in charge from Basingstoke to Didcot before a pair of EPS 37's took over for the run to York then an excursion towards Hull.

Bits and pieces from the month of May. So far, not a lot- 73201 on a slam door move through Hersham. Also a look at the new customer information screens being erected at Waterloo.

What better way to start the new month than an evening visit onto the West Coast Mainline for some interesting freight flows and some suprises from DRS.

Photographs from my local area in April. Featuring 31190 on a night time test train, Mainline blue 60044 on the Woking stone, an appearance of the SWT bubble car and a couple of 66's. A little further afield are a couple of photographs taken while on a skiing holiday in the Aosta valley, Italy. Also one of the most interesting trains on the network- the Structure Gauging train paying a visit to Waterloo, and finally a visit of LMS 'Duchess of Sutherland' to the SR.

A trip up to London, fortunatly with fantastic weather, predominanty to chase Pathfinders 'Buffer Puffer 4.1' railtour- a re-run of the same itinery from January. Also a visit to GW lines which did not dissapoint- despite another 'First Farce'.

Quite an epic excursion- having already found some suprise guests at Euston, we boarded the 19:46 service to Carlisle. A very cold night later and it was onto the Ynys Mon Express, operated by Compass tours in association with Victa Westlink. With a gleaming 86101 on it's debut run in preservation we headed to Crewe, where a pair of green 47's took over to sunny Holyhead. Well worth the effort!

Snippets from March which are not themselves significant enough for their own gallery. First to feature is a fruitful hour at Addlestone Junction including some freight and Clan Line on a VSOE special. The collection continues with a rare outing for the Queen of Scots set with GBRf class 73's two days later.

Having already been blessed with one snowfall this winter I was rather suprised when two weeks later the white stuff had descended again. This time it somehow managed to close my school (how a few cm of snow warrented that I'll never know), either way- I did'nt complain and enjoyed an impromptu day out in London!

A fantastic day out, and a very large gallery of photos! It started with a serious surprise at Paddington with 60095 performing the ECS duties from the sleeper. Later in the day attention turned to the class 442's on their last day in traffic, including a staff mini tour in the afternoon, and the final departure from Waterloo.