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Ghostly Gainsborough Central

150142 arrives at a deserted Gainsborough Central with 2H00 from Cleethorpes (13.20) to Sheffield

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.

Gristhorpe is on borrowed time

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).

Steam and semaphores at Liskeard

71000 Duke of Gloucester approaches signal LD34 with 1Z72 from London Paddington to Penzance

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.

More Manx Magic

No. 11 Maitland approaches Ronaldsway Halt on 11 September with the 11.50 service from Douglas

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.

Commuter trains return to Bewdley

The 07.10 service from Kidderminster (2K01) approaches Bewdley on 1 September 2026

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.

A bargain 12-hour rail trip around North Wales

197010 waits to depart with train 2D15 to Llandudno at 11.38 as “Linda” prepares to depart with the Ffestiniog Railway’s *Quarryman* service (11.40) to Porthmadog Harbour

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

Views from the castle: Shrewsbury and its semaphores

A view of the network’s last working lower quadrant distant signal as 67015 propels set HD05 past signals SBJ24/SUB59 with 1V42 from Manchester Piccadilly (12.30) to Cardiff Central

Three years on from my last visit (August 2023) and time for an overdue return to Shrewsbury, home to the finest collection of semaphore signals anywhere in Britain, with the aim of capturing some interesting workings from a fabulous vantage point in the castle and at Sutton Bridge Junction, a mile or so south of the station.

Starting on the station platforms (18 August 2026) my aim was to get a few shots of southbound trains passing some of the semaphores controlled by the world’s largest mechanical signal box (Severn Bridge Junction), and particularly its rare pair of centre pivot signals (SBJ11) at the south end of platform 7 and its newest semaphore (SBJ99) at the south end of platform 3.

Wasteful ticket machine madness

In an age when everything seems to be done on a smartphone and revenue protection staff and guards on trains seem entirely focused on scanning ticket QR codes on phones there is still something reassuring about holding and presenting a paper rail ticket, even it is barely glanced at on most of the trains I travel on.

As someone who usually buys in advance and collects my pre-paid tickets from a station ticket vending machine (TVM), what I have recently noticed is the ludicrous way in which a relatively simple journey means you are presented not only with the ticket coupons you want and a collection receipt, but also a handful of totally useless “seat reservations”.

A remarkable revival of the Czech JHMD 760mm gauge system

A busy scene at Jindřichův Hradec on 8 August 2026, where steam loco U46-101 with the 09.45 departure for Nová Bystřice is flanked by T47-019 (left) with the 09.09 service to Nová Bystřice and T47-005 (right) with the 09.04 departure to Obrataň

RE-OPENING of railways is always a cause for celebration, so when I discovered that a delightfully scenic and extensive narrow gauge system in the south of Czechia had re-started full-line services in April 2026, almost four years after its previous operator had gone bust, I felt compelled to pay a return visit.

Having spent a glorious few days in July 2022 travelling and photographing the busy 79km (50-mile) 760mm-gauge Jindřichohradecká úzkokolejka (JHMD) system, that comprised two branches radiating from the town of Jindřichův Hradec, it had come as a real shock to discover that operations had been halted less than three months later (on 2 October 2022).

Semaphores and specials at Moreton-in-Marsh

ScotRail-liveried 47593 “Galloway Princess” powers the Avon Gorgeous railtour (1Z47) from Crewe to Bristol Temple Meads on 1 August, with 47712 “Lady Diana Spencer” at the rear

There are a number of places across the UK railway network that I never tire of re-visiting, and one of these is Moreton-in-Marsh on the delightful Cotswold Line from Worcester to Oxford, where there is an irresistible combination of semaphore signalling and Donnington Brewery beers to savour.

My excuse for a trio of summer time visits was the chance to photograph a Network Rail test train making its monthly visit to the Cotswold Line on 8 July 2026, then a charter special, the “Avon Gorgeous”, passing through Moreton on 1 August with its working from Crewe to Bristol via Oxford and finally some interesting empty stock workings on 3 August.