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A look at Ledbury

Test train 1Q18 passes Ledbury powered by Colas Rail 43357/274

For lovers of traditional mechanical signalling there are three routes radiating from Shrub Hill station in Worcester that all retain some semaphore interest, in an area bounded by Droitwich Spa to the north and Norton Junction and Moreton-in-Marsh to the south and east.

Westernmost of the nine signal boxes to control mechanical signalling in the Worcester area is the tall Great Western Railway box at Ledbury in Herefordshire, which is one of four along the Worcester-Hereford route, dates from 1885 and boasts a 42-lever McKenzie & Holland frame.

A remarkable SNCF metre-gauge survival in Central France

Railcar X74501 on the Saudre River bridge at Romorantin on 27 April 2026

Two weeks after a fascinating visit to Portugal’s last metre-gauge railway and now another chance to experience rare narrow gauge (NG) travel, this time on one of only three NG lines that are still operated by French state operator SNCF, the only one that is not electrified – the Chemin de Fer du Blanc-Argent (B-A) in Central France.

Like the Vouga system in Portugal, the metre-gauge B-A is a rather remarkable survivor, and is also one which is not catering for primarily tourists, as do SNCF’s famous Train Jaune in the Pyrenees and the Mont-Blanc Express route from St. Gervais-les-Bains to Vallorcine and across the border to Martigny in Switzerland.

Tondu revisited

197047 approaches Tondu on 21 April 2026 with 2L26 from Ebbw Vale Town (11.07) to Maesteg

An enjoyable return visit to Pantyffynnon in February 2026 prompts me to pay another overdue return on 21 April 2026 to what is now the only other mechanically-signalled location west of Cardiff in South Wales, and a trip to Tondu on the Bridgend-Maesteg branch line.

Four years on from my March 2022 visit and the only real change since then has been to the rolling stock and destinations served by branch services, with TfW Class 170/175 units replaced by Class 197s, all of which now shuttle between Maesteg and Ebbw Vale Town, rather than serving places as far afield as Cheltenham Spa and Holyhead.

Return to Deal

375615 departs Deal on 15 April 2026 with 2W73 from Ramsgate (15.46) to Ashford International

Among the handful of isolated locations across Southern England that still boast any mechanical signalling, one remarkable outpost is in the charming town of Deal, where semaphore signalling has hung on almost 15 years since completion of a major re-signalling project in East Kent at the end of 2011.

Deal boasts one of the classic Type 13 signal boxes built by the Southern Railway (1939) in what is known as the Odeon or glasshouse style, with a model of it produced by Hornby. Another working example (also with semaphores) can be found at Bognor Regis (feature: March 2026), while there are preserved examples at Horsham, Wimbledon, Woking and Portsmouth Harbour.

A trip along Portugal’s last metre-gauge railway

Railcar 9636 crosses the Ponte sobre o Rio Vouga on 11 April with R5109 from Aveiro (10.55)

Portugal was once home to a fine collection of narrow-gauge railways, but their ranks have sadly diminished over recent decades until the present day, when just one route remains to give travellers a small taste of once was a truly fantastic collection of scenic little railways.

That last surviving metre-gauge line is the Linha do Vouga, which extends in a 96km (60-mile) loop inland from the seaside town of Espinho, on the main line not far south of Porto, to its headquarters at Sernada do Vouga, then westwards to via the town of Águeda to another junction on the main line leading south from Porto at Aveiro.

A trip on Birmingham’s new suburban railway

196002/005 arrive at Moseley Village with 2E27 from Birmingham NS. (12.57) to Kings Norton

Railway re-openings are always a cause for celebration and invariably see passenger forecasts vastly exceeded, as has most recently been the case with the Newcastle-Ashington Northumberland Line, so with no indication when the Oxford-Bletchley East-West Rail route will see its first passengers, it is good to be able to head to the West Midlands and sample opening day on the UK’s newest passenger service.

While the Northumberland Line was closed to passengers during the Beeching era (July 1964) and the Varsity Line from Oxford to Cambridge in January 1968, residents of Moseley and Kings Heath to the south of Birmingham have had to wait a good deal longer for the restoration of Camp Hill Line services, whose local stations were closed 85 years ago (in 1941) as a war-time economy measure.

Daily steam services resume at Wolsztyn

Pt47-65 departs Zbaszynek on 20 March 2026 with the 15.37 service to Wolsztyn

After a gap of more than six months while its one working main-line loco underwent an extensive overhaul, scheduled steam action resumed at Wolsztyn in Western Poland on Monday, 9 March 2026, when a weekday Wolsztyn-Zbaszynek round trip resumed, with the Saturdays-only Wolsztyn-Poznan service beginning two days earlier, on 7 March.

This follows a complete overhaul of Wolsztyn depot’s main line locomotive, Mikado (2-8-2) Pt47-65, which remains its only working big loco until the long-awaited return of another of its main line fleet, Ol49-69 (2-6-2), whose new boiler was completed last month (February 2026).

Gold Cup day action in the Cotswolds

The Gold Cup Special (1Z25 passes the Moreton-in-Marsh down outer home signal MM2

Cheltenham Gold Cup day (13 March 2026) makes the perfect excuse for another rail excursion to ever-charming Moreton-in-Marsh, to photograph the luxury £799-a-head Gold Cup Special (1Z25) on its journey from London Paddington to Evesham.

This year’s special, formed of the Northern Belle Pullman coaches was top-and-tailed by West Coast Railways’ maroon-liveried 47812 and 57314 and made a fine sight as it approached and passed the Cotswold station and its array of semaphore signals.

HST and semaphores in NE Scotland

43125/148 pause at Keith with 1A16 from Inverness (12.39) to Aberdeen

Two days after my visit to Montrose and Craigo and the offer of a bargain-priced £19.00 ScotRail Club 50 flat-fare tempts me to max-out the opportunity and pay my first visit for more than six years to Keith Junction – a 380-mile round trip from Edinburgh, and with the first 130½ miles to Aberdeen happily being aboard another Inter7City HST set.

For the past nine years Keith Junction has been the UK’s most northerly outpost of mechanical signalling, an honour it acquired when the signal boxes at Elgin West and Forres were eliminated in October 2017, while the 2019 closure of Inverurie Signal Box has left just three other mechanically-signalled locations along the Inverness-Aberdeen route – at Huntly, Kennethmont and Insch.

HST action in Angus

43133/032 pass signal CO14 with 1B80 from Aberdeen (12.07) to Edinburgh Waverley

Almost four years on from my only previous visit (May 2022) and the lure of a 90-mile trip aboard one of ScotRail’s comfortable Inter7City HSTs tempts me to take a journey from Edinburgh to Montrose and then a short bus ride on to Craigo, to capture HSTs passing the re-opened signal box and its quartet of semaphore signals.

Craigo is a small village five miles north of Montrose that is home to a Caledonian Railway signal box dating from 1907 and boasting a 21-lever frame. As I wrote following my previous visit, the box was routinely “switched out” for many years, but re-opened on a regular basis when Montrose-Inverurie local services began in 2018.