Month: December 2025

Images of 2025

East Anglia became the first region in England without any semaphore signals when the quartet at Manea were replaced in November, including M23 on a bracket and down section signal M3, as seen here on 12 May 2025 as 755410 departs with 2E76 from Ipswich (11.56) to Peterborough

Change is a constant feature of our railway network and 2025 was no exception, when there were more notable losses of mechanical signalling, in East Anglia and in South Wales, and when 49 years of HST-powered passenger services across England came to an end with retirement of the shortened GWR Castle sets, with their final workings in Cornwall and Devon on 13 December.

Closer to home was completion of a much-delayed re signalling of the Portsmouth Direct Line and with it loss of three surviving signal boxes, at Farncombe, Haslemere and Petersfield, with the one at Farncombe immediately demolished, Petersfield remaining with Network Rail, but Haslemere set to become a working museum sometime in 2026.

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Farewell to the GWR Castle HSTs

43093/198 (GW09) accelerate away from St. Erth with 2C20 from Exeter SD. (11.28) to Penzance

They were only created as a temporary fix to cover for a shortage of rolling stock and have out-lived their expected withdrawal date by at least two years, but now time is finally up for the popular GWR Castle 2+4 HSTs, which will make their last journeys between Exeter, Plymouth and Penzance on Saturday, 13 December 2025.

Keen to pay my respects, I took a rather lengthy trip to Cornwall on their final weekday of working (Friday, 12 December) with the aim of capturing a trio of these iconic units as they passed the equally iconic semaphore signals at St. Erth, before taking a last ever ride aboard 43004/186 (GW08) from there back to Plymouth.

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