Returning from a holiday in Cornwall, I decided to visit the West Somerset Railway. I'd never been before, nor did I know it was their 'gala' weekend so I took a chance with this fine location and... (more)

A simple profile of 'Mayflower' in her quite magnificent and gorgeous livery. Anyone disagree?

The highlight of today's 'Hadrian' was the exciting chase along the beautiful valley of the river Tyne made possible because the road and railway run in parallel for many miles. Sometimes they are... (more)

This gloriously inauthentic combination pairs 1908 built Caledonian Railway 0-4-4-Tank in Caledonian blue livery as No.419. She is piloting former North British Railway 0-6-0 of 1891 in British Ra... (more)

The men of steel that built the railway across Rannoch Moor, Britain's most remote and desolate moorland terrain were men indeed! Quite how this line survived the savage pruning of the network in ... (more)

One of the regrettable aspects of running a preserved railway is the constant threat of ever-encroaching modernity. Seen here, an adjacent plot of land shows signs that the footings are already du... (more)

And now for something completely different. Many types of specialised freight were part of Britain's everyday railway scene since Victorian times. Some freight vans were specifically designed for... (more)

Away from the stations, the Churnet Valley Railway is notoriously difficult to photograph. Bounded on one side by swampy marshland alongside the River Churnet and on the other by privately owned w... (more)

A total of 192 NER '1001' class locomotives were built to Thomas Bouch's design from 1852 by both private manufacturers and the NER's own works at Darlington and Shildon. The last ten NER 1001's e... (more)

One of Britain's most friendly railways is the gorgeous Lakeside & Haverthwaite in the beautiful English Lake District. They own both surviving examples of these LMS designed (but British Railways... (more)

The splendid sight of 'mixed' freight trains are sadly long gone from the railways of Britain. Fortunately both locomotives and rolling stock still exist to make authentic and wonderful recreation... (more)

After going through an involuntary steam-free zone recently, today's charter at the Worth Valley finally broke the spell that bewitched me. And how!

Some locations on my 'wish list' seem persistently evasive to produce the desired effect. Either an errant cloud appears out of nowhere or the planned locomotive fails to appear. Even when the por... (more)

Because I'm still using film (gasp!), this image has been sitting in my camera for two months waiting for me to finish the roll. I was sitting on the very (very!) end of the platform at Pontefract... (more)

This evening somebody must have still been looking down kindly upon me! There's always time for one last photograph, even though I'm not a diesel enthusiast, who could resist an image like this? S... (more)