Category: Articles

Like Velingrad in Bulgaria, which I returned to in October 2026, another place that I never tire of re-visiting is the Isle of Anglesey, where there is the irresistible combination of some fine scenery, semaphore signalling and seasonally cheap hotel accommodation in rather down-at-heel Holyhead!

Having been lucky enough last year (feature: November 2025) to make official visits to the four signal and gate boxes that retain mechanical signalling, my quest this time (4-7 November 2026) was to return to the two most remote locations at Ty Croes and Gaerwen and once again try to get some decent shots of rail traffic passing the island’s fine collection of semaphore signals.

Continue reading “Another look at the Anglesey semaphores”

Another piece of our precious railway heritage is about to be swept away in the name of progress, with the imminent (November 2026) replacement of the handful of semaphore signals controlled by Dalwhinnie Signal Box on the Highland Main Line.

An £8 million project, due to be commissioned after closures of the route for the first two weekends in November will see renewal of around 400 yards of track and installation of a new south crossover, enabling northbound trains to use up platform 1 for step-free access, along with installation of new colour light signals.

Continue reading “Last days of the Dalwhinnie semaphores”

Three years on from my last visit to one of the network’s most neglected Cinderella routes (“Parliamentary train to Brigg: September 2023”) – and a day trip (on Friday, 25 September 2026) this time to sample the charms of Gainsborough, a Lincolnshire market town of around 25,000 inhabitants boasting two railway stations, one busy but inconvenient for the town and one well-located, but with a near-useless rail service.

Gainsborough Central once boasted grand station buildings, but these were swept away in 1975 to leave only bus shelters and a footbridge at a station that has not enjoyed a proper train service for more than three decades (since October 1993), barring a brief eight-month period from May 2019 when hourly services to Sheffield were launched, only to fall victim to COVID and never be reinstated. 

Continue reading “Ghostly Gainsborough Central”

Five years after the loss of a fine collection of semaphore signals controlled by the magnificent Bridlington South Signal Box (in October 2021) plans are now being drawn up for elimination of the final mechanical signalling along the Hull-Scarborough Yorkshire Coast Line, with the planned automation of Gristhorpe and Lebberston Road Level Crossings, near Filey.

Gristhorpe Crossing is one of Britain’s oldest surviving signal boxes, being a North Eastern Railway (NER) design from 1874 that stands just south of the village of Gristhorpe, a short distance west of Filey. Here you will find hand-operated level crossing gates and a well-preserved former station (closed February 1959). 

Continue reading “Gristhorpe is on borrowed time”

There are some places that I never tire of returning to for the chance to capture trains passing mechanical signalling, and one such place is Liskeard, the first of just two remaining outposts of semaphore signalling which anyone taking the 305-mile trip from London Paddington to Penzance will encounter.

Three months on from my Mazey Day visit, when there were two diesel-hauled specials to witness (27 June 2026), the star attraction on Tuesday, 22 September 2026 was steam haulage in the shape of 71000 Duke of Gloucester, powering the Taunton-Penzance leg of a luxury four-day Steam Dreams special (1Z72) from Paddington.   

Continue reading “Steam and semaphores at Liskeard”

As a way of travelling from an international airport, there is nothing in the world to match the five-minute walk that takes you from the Isle of Man Airport to Ronaldsway Halt, where arriving air passengers like me can then flag down one of the 3ft-gauge steam services that will take them on towards the capital Douglas or south towards Castletown and Port Erin.

Barely three hours after arriving at the ever-busy Gatwick Airport railway station, and I am the only person off my easyjet flight choosing to complete their Isle of Man journey from the only international airport station in the world to be served exclusively by steam-hauled trains. 

Continue reading “More Manx Magic”

Revival and re-opening of rail services has a long history in the West Midlands region, dating back to creation of the Cross-City Line between Lichfield and Redditch in 1978, and since then seeing development of other cross-city services via Snow Hill, the Chase Line, Midlands Metro and, most recently, opening of the Camp Hill Line for local trains. 

So it is very pleasing to see the latest initiative by what is now known as the West Midlands Rail Executive (WMRE) and the start of trial commuter rail services along the southernmost 3½-mile section of the Severn Valley Railway (SVR) between Bewdley and Kidderminster which, if successful, could herald direct Bewdley-Birmingham trains.

Continue reading “Commuter trains return to Bewdley”

Four decades after taking this circular trip from Birmingham New Street at a cost then of just £5.00, a two-night stay in Shrewsbury made the perfect excuse to spend a full day travelling around North and Mid-Wales using a Ffestiniog Round Robin ticket (now £30.80 with railcard from Shrewsbury), which remains a real bargain when you realise that a single ticket on the famous 13½ mile-long narrow gauge railway costs £24.90.

For those unfamiliar with this ticket, the Round Robin offers a circular journey in either direction from a range of starting points as far afield as Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool (railcard fare £34.70), that encompasses a single narrow-gauge journey between Porthmadog and Blaenau Ffestiniog, along with trips on the scenic Cambrian Coast and Conwy Valley Lines and then travel to or from Llandudno Junction on the North Wales Main Line

Continue reading “A bargain 12-hour rail trip around North Wales”