A short stay at Stratford to meet a mate.

A birthday outing...

Popped up to Cambridge for 67029 working the return "The Great Eastern Express" with 67028.

This trip was suppose to be a line siding session at Trimley, but we decided to stay at Ipswich after all Felixstowe trains where being replaced by buses due to a signal failure between Derby Road and Trimley.

Photos from the Sunday

Photos from the Saturday

Yet more units

Popped to Stratford to see 66412...

Units, units and more units...

A trip up to Ipswich for the 57s on the RHTT, I had hoped for the 37s but came expecting 57s.

Popped up to Enfield Lock for 1Q14 but it failed to show, so I got a few units and that's it...

Having spend the night locally to Birmingham after our trip to Water Orton, I decided to have another trip the follow day, so I invited Dan to join me at Bescot, where we then headed to Tamworth in the afternoon, although not everything went to plan...

I was invited up to Water Orton by Dan Adkins, so I decided to take up the offer, unfortunately we didn't get much freight, and so it was a case of "Mega Nothing!"

As a rather late 18th birthday present I was given the chance to drive a 37 at the GWR, and I was greeted by the wonderful sight of 37324 when I arrived for the course. I had been hoping for 37324 because she was incidentally the first 37 I bashed.

Taking a random day to visit Eastleigh turned out to be rather useful as we managed to capture the first appearance of 47739 outside of the works.

Popped up to the Nene Valley Railway for a few photos of 37518. A big thank you to one of the volunteers who said it was fine to get a few snaps. A donation was made before leaving.

A trip that was originally suppose to be Water Orton, but with risk of rain we make a last minute change and headed for Newport instead.

Just a few odd snaps.

A trip on my own to see 40145 on "The East Anglian" up to Lowestoft.

These photographs (except the first 3) were taken with kind permission from a member of Advenza Freight staff. He stayed in the yard while we took the photographs, but told us that he had just arrested someone for stealing parts from the locos in the yard.

Another Diesel Gala at the GWR, the place where my diesel gala obsession started.

As we were checked on the internet for any railtours from London Paddington we noticed that D1015 was on a railtour to Penance so we got up earlier than we were going to so we could see it as we were passing through on the way to the GWR Diesel Gala.

With a day free near the beginning of April we planned to have a local trip into London, but didn't know where to go. In the end we found out that "Clan Line" was hauling the VSOE so we headed over to Victoria to photo it.

With the hope of getting some haulage behind 4771 before it becomes a static NRM exhibit, we headed up to the NYMR to see it, however all did not go to plan and we discovered the loco was not in use. We almost went home disappointed until D6700 growled into Grosmont with out train back to Pickering due to the approaching Snow Blizzard!!

With more 37/4 action around London I had my camera out for this historic event.

Back for some more beastliness at the NVR, as they always have rake in a special and intresting visitor or two. I spendid day even if it was spoilt by the failure of 03179...

With a few days free in February, I went into London for a few photos of the closed Finsbury Park to Alexander Palace line, then onto Acton Mainline for some freight 2 days later. The collection got it's title from the weather we encountered.

Amongst National Express' rebranding exercise for 'one', they also have planned to rename the c2c franchise, however as of the 17th Jan 2008, they have not yet decided the new name.

This trip was mainly to capture the 357 units in this livery incase the rebranding of c2c happens a bit faster than I'm expecting.

Hearing that 31162 was about to have her boiler ticket expire, I decided to take a trip up to the North Norfolk to get some haulage. The thrash was immense, and so was the cold!

A trip out to see the King's Cross Thameslink before it's closure, as well as the new St Pancras International station, plus a quick stop at London King's Cross.

Just a few shots taken at the NEC in Birmingham

A trip to Ipswich went a bit different when we spotted 47813 at Colchester...

Trimley, Felixstowe, Ispwich and a quick trip to Harwich Town...

One week later, and other opportunity to photo some 37/4 action, as well as 50049. A rather simular day to the 3rd of November's trip...

This line closed on the 22nd December 2007 to allow London Overground developments to take place.

Yet another beautiful oppertunaty to capture some 37/4 action, on this trip we went around London to get shots of the tour at Stratford, Gospel Oak, and Kensington Olympia. This tour marked the end of the Silverlink franchise, followed by another tour which ran on the 10th November 2007.

Wonderful and truely dreadful (basher speaking of course) day! D5401 I felt was the star of the show, and she performed the best. 31289 was a beast aswell. Both 45118 and 47205 I felt were pathetic, and weren't tharshed enough. 56098 just made a smoke screen most of the time, and infact on the last service of the day (which was quadruple headed) it created a mushroom cloud as it thrashed its way to the end of the line! The only thing I would have liked to seen and of course I wouldn't want to miss the oppertunaty of haulage from 37679.

Hellfire day, although half the day had already gone by the time we arrived. D7612, 33063, 33065 and E6047 made up this simple, but hellfire gala...

Waited two hours at Tonbridge for this tour, rather than one. The tour was 48 minutes late, and when you didn't want nor expect a shed to turn up, and one did  

Perhaps the greatest diesel gala I've been to, with the exception of the Continental stock spoiling my bashing enjoyment once again... Well at least it didn't rain this time. D9504, D9516, D9520, D9523, D8007, D8137, 31271, 33063, 37518, 47270, 56003, DL83, 10202, and the Class 117 DMU made up this fantastic event. 37518 I think was the star of the show.

Bloody brilliant day was had at Tamworth, managed to capture 56302, 47810, 86638 and 86621.

Two pictures taken from a level crossing while on a walk from Leigh-on-sea to Benfleet via Hadleigh Castle. The rest where taken two days later, on the day I came home...

This visit was planned just to see and get some haulage from 37321 (37037), totally hellfire. Even the "Rare Breeds Farm" at Totnes was intresting...

This trip was just a last minute decision, but proved to be an intresting and of course hellfire visit! I just wish we'd had a bit more time there, and also a bash behind 40145 would have been great if she had been running that day!

This trip was changed tremendously, Clapham Junction was supposed to be included in the trip, but we ended up not having enough time...

Trip up to Ribblehead to climb Whernside, allowed us to get a few lineside shots near Blea Moor signal box...

Don't remember a thing about this railway either! It was the only Narrow-Guage Railway in Britian designed for steam from the very start, and it also claims the record for being the first ever Preserved Railway!

One of the few "Little Trains of Wales" Railways that I haven't been on before. A terribly short line though; however the railway does host three Romanian narrow guage diesels(apprantley the biggest in the UK) and also the UK's only Narrow-guage and Mainline diamond crossing (where Narrow-Guage Track crosses the Mainline).

Perhaps the most known Narrow Guage railway in Wales, the Ffestiniog Railway has to be the best also. I managed to capture a few double-headers in this collection, these must of been specials due to the railway holding it's 175th Anniversary this year.

Ok, so not really a Railway, more of a cliff lift, but still runs on rail so I've included it...

Very hard to believe this line used to belong to British Rail. Once again, it's been a decade since I last came here! I was 7, but I don't remember a thing.

Once again this collection is a group of photos taken on different days, but put together for ease of searching. This collection pretty much sums up way I wanted to have a holiday in Barmouth; 'Pocket Rocket' 76079 is one of my favourite kettles aswell.

T'was 1997 the last time I was here! How unlucky I was to end up going during their "Friendly Fairbourne Engines" event, meaning that all the locos were wearing silly little faces...

All images in this collection were taken on different day, but for ease of searching, all pictures of Class 158's and Station on the Cambrian have been put in here.

Just 6 images taken on the way to Barmouth for our holiday...

37410 performing like a proper 37/4 for this tour! Unfortunate that there wasn't much oppertunately for photo shoots, infact most of staff ignored the large crowd of enthusiasts waiting to take a photo at Eastbourne, and it wasn't until one of asked for the staff to kindly move out of the way, before they did anything!

I've been here a few times, but not with my new camera, so I took this opportunity to photo 60009 'Union of South Africa' at Blea Moor. Luck struck when Network Rail's HST, 'The Flying Banana', turned up beforehand!

Wonderful line, just far too many trees have not been cut back, making it very dangerous to stick your head out.

At first I thought this line would be stunning, but I found it to be less enjoyable than other railways; the line was terribally short, and there wasn't any scenery to be seen until you got to Lakeside.

This line is like a 'Northern' version of the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway, except the scenery is completely different! Having not been here before, I was amazed by how simular both railways are. 'River Mite' is now one of my favourite narrow gauge locos.  

A quick visit to Settle while we where in the area. I have been here before, but not with my new camera! Most of the photos in this collection show the station architecture, and were uploaded to aid the "Railway stations - architecture and layo" community...

'N.C.B. Monckton. No1.' was in steam for this visit.

3F Jinty, no. 47279 was in steam for this visit. I was hoping to visit the museum at Ingrow West, but we didn't have time. I also wanted a shot of the Class 108 DMU to replace a bad shot I took on my first digital camera, but we missed the first train of the day, which it would of been booked for; Nevertheless, I still got a shot of it, not exactly what I wan't though...

We had booked to go on this on the 11th August, but Kingfisher Railtours changed the dates to the day after (12th August), so we changed our booking to ride on the railtour on the 5th August (orginally the tour on the 4th August). The amazing part of this was that I actually met Mr. Roger Hardingham while on holiday, turns out he's a 'regular' at the Guest House we stayed at.

Just three shots from Ribblehead, in the pouring rain, DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME!

This trip was originally planned as Ribblehead to see the D1015, but due to this railtour being cancelled because of severe flooding in the Oxford area, we decided to go on our backup trip to the West Somerset Railway to capture the special Class 31 hauled "Bultins Express" service from Minehead to Bristol.

I had planned to go to Norwich to get some haulage from the Norwich to Lowestoft 47 diagram for the Airshow this day, but due to some 'retard' who obviously wanted to be killed on the railway line between Ispwich and Manigtree that day, my whole day got ****ed up! I spent the whole day at Norwich photograhing practically just plastic stuff...

After 2 attempts to get to this railway, we finally got the chance to, and I must say 47596 is the best duff in preservation; she clags like there's no tommorrow when she's pushed to her limit. 31438 and D8069 made this event's line up complete. Other locos such as 50019 and 31235 both didn't take part in the event due to 31235 needing a new crankshaft, and 50019 needing it's radiators fixing.

This trip also offered the oppertunatey to see 47818 once again; she has got to be the best mainline duff on the network.

The Epping Ongar Railway is my local preserved railway, but even so it's harder to get to than places like the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway! It's been 4 years since I last went to the railway. Unfortunately the line hardly makes any money, as hardly anyone visits it. If there's anything I can say about the railway it would be that the Class 117 DMU is a good little clagger!  

Popped down to Enfield Lock, my nearest local station, to see a DRS Serco. Ta to DelticMatt for the gen!

20020, 20031, 25059, D5310, 26024, 37175 and 47237 made up another hellfire Diesel Gala, 37175 put on a display that made you want to shout "MY FOOOOKING LORDZZZZ".

It was dicided in the end to go to the North Norfolk Railway's Diesel Gala, even though I had already been to the line a week or so ago. The line up was 25057, 31207, 31162, 47367, 101681, and the DRB. 37032 couldn't take part in the gala unfortunately, due to being in the process of a major overhaul. The gala saw the unveiling of 25057 in it's new coat of BR Blue; the first runs of 47367 in preservation; and the last runs of 31162 until after it has had it's overhaul. Overall a truely thrashtastic display was had! 31207 & 31162 double-heading, and 25057 gave the best displays. I had a laugh when I watched the Diesel Rail Bus produce more clag and thrash than the 47 had done previously.

We were actually heading to the Mid-Norfolk Railway, but on hearing an annoncement onboard the 10:00 service from London Liverpool Street. We realised that it was going to go on to Great Yarmouth, and then we realised the only way this is possible would be to stick a Diesel on the front, namely 47818. So on arrival at Norwich we saw 47818 in the siding, ready to couple up to the 10:00 service, with 90002 and 82133. We then desided to cancel the trip to the Mid-Norfolk Railway, and get some 47818 haulage instead.

I went many years ago to the North Norfolk Railway, and I felt it time to visit again, especially as I couldn't remember anything about it. It turned out to be a wonderful day out.

This trip was originally planned to be the Mid-Norfolk Railway, but on hearing the weather forecast, we changed our mind at went Barnetby again.

Trip was planned as Barnetby, then Scunthorpe & Barnetby, but ended up as Crowle & Barnetby. Overall Crowle was a waste of an hour as nothing came through the station other than two 185s. Barnetby however turned into a mad rush, freight was coming from all directions and so frequently that if you put your camera down you would miss something.

This event was suppose to be one of the most spectacular festivals in celebration of LNER locos, three Class A4s were planned to come for the event, only one came. Due to lack of steam locomotives it ended up a ECML festival, and on the Afternoon of Saturday the 5th May, it turned into a disaster...

...on arrival at Levisham, 69621 was taking off it's local Pickering - Gromont service and coupled to the back of 60007's train, this service then run top & tailed to Pickering. On arrival at Pickering it was apparent that neither 60007 nor 62005 could run round their trains, as both platforms were taken. 62005 appeared to have broken down at Pickering, causing it's booked service to be cancelled. 69621 was filled with water and went to fetch two extra coaches, and coupled them back to the coaches with 60007 on the rear. 69621 then hauled it's very packed train out of Pickering, with 60007 on the rear. Meanwhile 62005 still remained at Pickering station. At this point we had to leave, so we don't know what happened after this. Apprantly there hadn't been a train towards Gromont for three hours!

Back again for more diesel packed action at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway Diesel Gala, D5054, D5061, 31108, D6700, 40145, D9009 and 55019. However, 50027 and D200 did not see any workings during the time I was there on Saturday. A DREADFUL! day was had even so, with 55019 putting on the best display, my lordzzz as they say! Much better gala than last year...

Many times I visited the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway in my childhood, but I never took photos at all of it. The line has had a place in my heart for many years. I just had to see the engines that made me feel big when I was small again. 'Typhoon' was always my favourite for haulage and her number (lucky 7), 'Hurricane' was my favourite for her name, and 'Samson' was my favourite for his livery.

Unfortunately No. 5 'Hercules' was involved in the crash which claimed the live of driver Kevin Crouch on the 3rd August 2003. Later No. 8 'Hurricane' was involved in the crash which claimed the live of driver Suzanne Martin on the 10 July 2005. It appears that 'Hurricane' has not been repaired since the incident.

Trip 3 out of a 3 day inclusive Easter break. They say "save the best for last", and that's exactly what we ended up doing. A brilliant day was had at Barnetby, these must be the first time I've seen more freight trains than passengers ever! ...and to top it all off, 60007 made a hellfire appearance!

Trip 2 out of a 3 day inclusive Easter break. This trip was to Dawlish, to see the HSTs along the coast, unfortunately the weather was against us, and it was overcast all day.

Trip 1 out of a 3 day inclusive Easter break. The trip was originally meant to be Acton Bridge, but due to Virgin having problems with the overheads in the Northampton area, we missed our connection. Causing us to get off a Runcorn and catch a train back to Hartford, where we then had to wait for another service to Acton Bridge. Overall meaning we lost 2 hours of spotting at Acton Bridge, and ended up passing through the station TWICE before we even got there! To pass the hour or so at Hartford we took a few pics.

A day out, not to be forgotten!! 37410 + 37401 on "The Buffer Puffer 4.1" run by Pathfinder Tours, best pic I got was at Lee station, and considering that Lee is my forename I'm quite pleased. We chased the Buffer Puffer around London for almost the whole day, photoing it and filming it at: London Paddington, Acton Mainline, London Victoria, Blackfriars, Lee and London Bridge! Bonuses included the NENTA Class 47 Tour to Minehead passing Acton Mainline, and 66092 on a freight, wish even for a shed I have to admit it sounded like 60 when it thundered past.

31119, 20189, 08773 and D2203 made a trashtastic display at the Embsay & Bolton Abbey Railway Diesel Gala. Unfortunately D1524 failed for the gala, but spend the whole day being thrashed in the yard at Embsay, clagging every few minutes!

Went to see "The Twenty/Twenty Vision" at Westerfield, both outbound and return. To pass the time between the workings I photo'ed the Freightliner services to and from Felixstowe, and then went to Ipswich to get some other pics.

Possibly one of the worse diesel galas I've been to, but it was still great. The locos were hellfire, but the weather was crap. The foreign coaches were freezing onboard, and were no good for getting photos as there where no windows, honestly a major piss take if you ask me.

My first trip of the year 2007; the Bluebell Railway's Branchline Weekend. The event was great, and my camera worked fantasticaly! This trip will not be forgotten in a hurry.

My final trip of the year, and another chance to test my new camera. The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway's "Christmas Cracker" Steam Gala has got to be the most crowded gathering I've been to all year! Hardly anywhere to stand nevermind sit. It was worth it to see City of Truro for the first time ever! I was disappointed when it rained, and then I was annoyed to find out some of my shots got spoilt due to low light  

On the 9th of December 2006 the Railtour company called "Steam Dreams" ran "The Cathedrals Express Carol Concert Special" from London Victoria to Ely, via Stratford and Tottenham Hale. My main aim of this trip was to photo the train as it flew through Waltham Cross station, this idea also gave me the opportunity to test my new Fuji FinePix S9500 camera, and I was overwhelmed by the results.

At first I had planned to go to the East Lancashire Railway's Diesel Gala, but after finding out that by the time I would of got there it wouldn't of been worth it; especially seeing that the weather was bad up there for that day. Instead I disided that seeing the 37s and 50s on the Rugby Specials would be far easier to get to (in terms of time), and more exciting. I had heard that the 37s had been caped due to 37406 having a wheel flat, but over a short think I decided to still go. Some time after I arrived 37406 made an appearance and from that point on I relised that I had made the right decision to go even though I thought I would only see the 50s. Overall it was a fantasic day out, with plenty of thrash.

On the way home from my trip to North Woolwich & Silvertown we stopped at Gospel Oak to see if we could catch a few shots of some freight. Unfortunately only one freight train came through, in the shape of 66708.

When I first heard the news about the North London Line closure between Custom House and North Woolwich, I wasn't really bothered. But somehow I managed to find the time to go and see the line before it's closure, and as an overview I can say I was not impressed. I can see why it will be closed; only about 7 people go as far as North Woolwich; the line is in a terrible state (trees are forever scrapping along the side of the train); the state of the buildings around the stations are appalling, and suggest a high crime rate; trains are nearly always late; and the trains are in a terrible condition (upholstery and seats are falling apart). So, really, it's a place I would never like to go to again!

I've been visiting Southend for many years now, and I was shocked to find out that they had painted the pier train into a new livery without an early warning to give me a chance to photograph & film the train in the prior 'Red & Cream' livery.

I did the next best thing after I found out, and that was to film the trains, then come back another day to photograph the trains in a new 'Blue & White' livery. So here they are (or rather here is one of the trains) in the new 'Blue & Cream' livery...

Yet another Diesel Gala! 37255, D8048+D8098, D5830, D5185, D6535, D123 and D1705 made up one noisy diesel gala on the last day of the Great Central Railway's September Diesel Gala.

In August I went on holiday to Llududno. While there I spent two days climbing the Great Orme to photo & film the Tramway on the way up and down. Here are the photos I took on the way.

The Dean Forest Railway's Diesel Day featured D7633, D9555 and 27066. All I saw was clag, D7633 put on a clagtastic feast on when departing from Whitecroft Level Crossing, clag went up about 5 metres up into the sky, I was lucky enough to catch it on my camcorder, but not on camera. The Dean Forest Diesel Association put on a great show!

Time for a change from Diesel to Steam with the exeption of a few photos of the Swanage Railway's Diesels. 80104 and 6695 worked the services on this day. The Swanage Railway is truly a wonderful line and Corfe Castle dominates the surrounding scenery.

Back again to the Churnet Valley Railway for the second time this year, but this time for their Diesel Gala! D3991, 33102, 47192, 56003 and E6016 made a good show. Athough, E6016 failed in the morning, and was later returned back into service. The most confusing thing was the Churnet Valley Railway said that these locos were supposed to be at the event at first: 56003, E6010, D3991, 33102, D8154, 47192. D8154 (a Class 20) was not at the event, and also E6016 was present, not E6010. It was one hot day though!

A lovely perfomance from all the locos that took part; D5054, D5061, 40145, 45135, 47402. Overall it was a great day out, but some things did anoy me. Like the fact that D6700, D842, 55019 & 55022 weren't going to be there, 50027 failing the day before, and also that because of timings for getting back home we had to be pulled by 45135 twice!

37425 + 37419 made up a luxurious railtour. Originally starting from St. Albans Central at 5:47am the locos and their carriages arrived at Bedford, (the train's first pick up point), 15 minutes late, at 6:45am. But I didn't care because later 37425 + 37419 caught up with it's schedule and continued to clag North-West to Machynlleth. At Machynlleth 37419 was detatched from the train, 37425 worked the train alone from Machynlleth to Porthmadog, crossing the spectacular Barmouth Bridge along the way. With the most beautiful scenery in Wales before my eyes, this now just has to be my best ever trip!

As an additional note, I would like to say that going on this Railtour was mainly to celebrate 20 years since the naming of 37427 on the 13th April 1986!  

Another wonderful Diesel Gala! This time at the Midland Railway Centre with 45041, 47401, 50007, 20227, 20001 and D7671. I was hoping to see 37190 (now re-numbered 37314), but unfortunately it wasn't available. It also rained quite alot, so I didn't get as many photos as I would of liked to.

Now this is what life is all about: D8137 (20137), 24081, 37324, 56003, 47105, 47376, and 73129 made a superb day at the wonderful Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway's April Diesel Gala! Unfortunatly 37215, 26043, 45149 weren't running as they were undergoing repair/restoration. Also all the services were running about 15 minutes later than scheduled.

Due to more recent trips, most of the pictures in older collections had similar images to that of the new collections, and so I dicided to delete similar images to those I've recently taken... This has lead to a decrease in photos in the older collections I had for silmilars trip. I therefore did not see the point of having separate collection just for a few images, so all these collections have been merged into this collection.

ALL IMAGES IN THIS COLLECTION ARE SUBJECT TO DELETION IF I GET A BETTER PHOTO OF THE PARTICULAR LOCO/UNIT IN THE FUTURE... Therefore this collection should get smaller and smaller each month!

Once again my site is getting overcrowded, this time with photos of numbers and nampelates on locomotives. I have decided to create this collection to make it easier for me to work out what locos I already have photos of the number and nameplate, so I don't end up with duplicates. It will also mean that people that don't want to see these pics won't have to see them in other collections.

Now that I've so many photos of station signs, I'm finding it hard to find them all, so I have decided to merge them all into this collection.

Currently this collection is the largest collection of station signs on fotopic, but I'll admit some stations have more than one sign in this collection, but these are due to the difference in each sign at the station.

This collection contains anything really, if it's just one odd image not taken with my Fuji FinePix S9500, then it should be in here. Most of the stuff in here is pics that were taken with my mobile or screenshots from one of the DVD's I recorded with my camcorder.

Well I bet you never thought that as I'm a teenager, I would have archive shots... Did you? Here are shots that I have taken from the age of about 5 on my old 35mm Cameras, none date to before 1995, but most were taken between 1997 and 2004

What? You think this site created itself????!!!! Someone set up this site, and that was me! So here I am!

This collection is password protected, if you wish to see the photos inside this collection you first must know my MSN address.