More than just Railways
From Sunday 11th to Sunday 18th of February the Ffestiniog Railway were exhibiting quarry Hunslet locomotives Hugh Napier and Velinheli in the ticket hall at Kings Cross station. I went along on Wednesday 14th to see them and very nice they both looked, I took several photographs of each loco, which was a bit of …
For me the Mid-Hants Pre-Spring Steam Gala marks the start of the steam railway gala season. This year’s Gala was not without its problems. One of the originally intended guest locomotives was unable to take part because it was needed on its home railway, and a replacement was found in the form of GWR 0-6-0 …
Photographing trains on heritage railways is in many ways a lot easier than photographing on the main line, to start with the locomotives are not going anywhere near as fast and you usually get more than one opportunity to photograph each loco, especially during a gala. Indeed, during a gala there could be anything between …
Photographing trains on the mainline has its own special problems. When you consider that a train on the mainline is probably approaching you at 60+ miles per hour you’ve probably got just 30 or 40 seconds to get your photo before train is past and gone. If you’re at a station and you stand on …
Over the past few months Didcot Railway Centre, home of the Great Western Society and all things Great Western, has been invaded by visitors from the London North Eastern Railway. In August the centre was host to the famous A3 class no.60103 Flying Scotsman and A4 class no.60009 Union of South Africa, then towards the …
Hot on the heels, or should that be hot on the wheels, of the Flying Scotsman’s visit to Didcot Railway Centre I found out that LNER A4 no.60009 Union of South Africa would be in steam on the 30th August, the loco had arrived at the railway centre on the Sunday during the Flying Scotsman’s …
During the August Bank Holiday what is generally referred to as the World’s Most Famous Locomotive, LNER A3 no.60103 Flying Scotsman, visited Didcot Railway Centre, then two weeks later the locomotive visited the West Somerset Railway for a few days and the railway organised a programme of special trains.
The Docklands Light Railway was opened in 1987 to serve the old London docklands area that was being redeveloped. Originally the DLR had two routes, Tower Gateway station on the edge of the City of London to Stratford and Island Gardens. With the continued development of docklands as one of London’s major financial centres the …
Shillingstone station lies between Blandford and Sturminster Newton stations on the line from Evercreech junction to Wimborne. The station was opened 1863 by the Somerset and Dorset Railway although the station was built by the Dorset Central Railway. It is the last surviving Dorset Central Railway station and as such is important from both architectural …
Cleeve Abbey is a medieval monastery near the village of Washford in Somerset and was founded in 1191 as a house for monks of the austere Cistercian order. The abbey was not among the more distinguished abbeys of the Cistercian order and suffered from poor governance and financial troubles. Although towards the end of its …