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 Llandudno. 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.