It wouldn't be a proper visit to the coast of Scotland without some rain. I got thoroughly drenched the last full day we were in the West Highlands standing on a few different hillsides waiting f... (more)

A chilly autumn morning made for a spectacular show as "Black 5" No. 45407 charged across Glenfinnan Viaduct with the daily Jacobite steam train from Fort William to Mallaig. Deep in Glen ... (more)

Like a scene from a storybook: "Black 5" No. 45407, named The Lancashire Fusilier, briefly pops out into daylight between the short Leachabhuidh Tunnels on a typically dreary day in ... (more)

The train goes about its everyday business, quite undisturbed by a passing flock of sheep. I'm not sure exactly how many there are 57... 58 ..., it's getting late and I'm getting very sleepy. G'ni... (more)

This must have been the perfect evening to bid farewell to the last train of this season's Scarborough Spa Expresses. 45305 heads eastward out of Leeds, catching the dying rays of the evening sun.... (more)

Today was the most miserable, cold, grey, wet August day I can remember so I should have stayed at home but I didn't. The perfect clear blue sky shouldn't have arrived just before the train but it... (more)

LMS 44932 coasts down the gradient just North of Kirkby Stephen Station with the 1Z70 'Waverley' 0913 York - Carlisle

In the 60s there was a very famous (and now disgraced) record producer who was a great advocate of simpler technology. He wore a 'back to mono' badge in his lapel. Taking a leaf from his book here... (more)

There is little I can say about this image. It may look unreal but this vision is exactly as it appeared in my viewfinder. Ten seconds later the sun had gone. To say I returned home happy is somet... (more)

Regrettably, the Roman town of Castleford has precious little historical, architectural or pictorial merit and it is only on leaving the urban and industrial development that more pleasing rural l... (more)

Even at 1900 hours the temperature was still hovering around 28 degrees. Lady Fortune must have looked kindly upon me this evening as she blessed me not only with the 'rods down' but (much against... (more)

A welcome few autumnal colours are beginning to show along the track side on one of the few long, straight sections on the Settle & Carlisle route. 'Black 5' No. 44932 manfully strides along the s... (more)

It had been a glorious day in Yorkshire and as a finale, the setting sun imparts every shade of golden yellow to the 'Scarborough Spa Express' on its return to York. 44932 has just completed the '... (more)

In wonderful evening light, the soubriquet 'Black 5' has never looked more appropriate! 44932 is getting under way again after her brief stop at Normanton to set down passengers returning from the... (more)

Like a silent sentinel, the girder bridge spanning the River Calder stands alongside the original 1847 stone one. It bears witness to the fact that within my lifetime there were once four tracks h... (more)