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More than a decade after my last visit (in 2013) it is time to pay a return to the quaint and historic Isle of Man and spend a few days travelling on the four charming narrow gauge rail systems that make this Crown Dependency at the centre of the Irish Sea such a wonderful place to visit.

Armed with a three-day “Go Explore” ticket (£42.00) my aim (10-12 September 2024) was to travel on and photograph all four of these little railways – the 15½-mile steam railway from Douglas to Port Erin in the south, the 17-mile long Manx Electric Railway from Douglas to Ramsey in the north, the Snaefell Mountain Railway and the unique Douglas Bay Horse Tramway.

Continue reading “Steaming back in time on the Isle of Man”

Railway re-openings have been all but canned by the new Labour Government, so the two scheduled for 2024 look like being the last additions to our national rail network for some considerable time.

While the Ashington Line from Newcastle has been delayed until December, when only a limited number of its new stations will be ready for service, there were no delays to the £116m Levenmouth Rail Link north of the border, which opened as planned on 2 June 2024.

Continue reading “Britain’s newest rail service”

Travelling by bus from Dunblane to Auchterarder earlier in the year (March 2024) had given me the idea for a great vantage point to see and photograph trains from the west side of the A9 trunk road at the point east of Blackford where it crosses the railway line near the Highland Spring bottling plant.

I had subsequently seen various pictures taken from this spot and realised that it offered a fine panoramic location at which to photograph trains passing two of the remaining trio of semaphore signals controlled by the LMS 1933-vintage signal box, which stands next to a level crossing at the north end of the village.

Continue reading “Bonny Blackford”

Hoping for a case of third time lucky, it is time to pay a return visit to the glorious Peak District and spend a couple of hours witnessing freight activity and mechanical signalling at Peak Forest South, on the surviving freight-only section of the former Midland Railway main line from Manchester via Bakewell to Matlock and Derby.

My two previous visits had been on a Saturday in June 2017, when nothing was moving, and in April 2022 when I was defeated by the weather, so taking the 1½-mile walk from Dove Holes Station on a reasonably fine summer’s day (27 August 2024) I was hopeful of seeing and photographing some freight action.

Continue reading “A peek at Peak Forest”

Finding mechanical signalling in Cornwall has become rather harder since the trio of signal box closures earlier this year (February 2024), with the armless signal posts at Par being a stark reminder of what has sadly been lost.

But less than a mile away there is still the chance to see summer Saturday services passing the semaphores of St Blazey Signal Box while, back on the main line, Liskeard remains one of two outposts of mechanical signalling on Plymouth-Penzance route.

Continue reading “Sunshine and semaphores in the Royal Duchy”

There are a remarkable five signal boxes dating from the 1870s that control main line train services on the Marches route between Shrewsbury and Newport, with the honour of being oldest of all shared between Marsh Brook to the north of Craven Arms and the box immediately to its north, Dorrington, both of which date from 1872.

Dorrington is a small village on the A49, six miles south of Shrewsbury and roughly mid-way between Shrewsbury and Church Stretton, with the railway and signal box to the east of the village and the former station here having closed as long ago as June 1958.

Continue reading “Day trip to Dorrington”

There are a few places on our national network where the combination of varied passing traffic and spectacular scenery, along with mechanical signalling interest, are the perfect excuse to pay a return visit, particularly on a fine summer’s day.

One such place for me is Edale on the busy Hope Valley Line between Manchester and Sheffield, where in rather better weather (30 July 2024) than on my previous visit (July 2023) there was the chance to photograph a variety of freight and passenger traffic passing the handful of semaphores controlled by Edale Signal Box.

Continue reading “Ever enchanting Edale”

When Lord Peter Hendy chose to spend a Saturday morning (8 June 2024) addressing a gathering of mainly ageing rail campaigners at a WI Hall in the Cotswolds, it is a fair bet that he had worked out just what an influential a campaign group he was speaking to.

The ebullient Network Rail Chairman was guest speaker at the AGM in Moreton-in-Marsh of what must be Britain’s most enduring, and one of the most successful rail campaign groups in railway history, the 46-year old Cotswold Line Promotion Group (CLPG).

Continue reading “Network Rail Chairman visits Moreton-in-Marsh”

There has been a a temporary reprieve for the semaphore signalling at Pembrey & Burry Port and at Ferryside until sometime next year, meaning the chance for a summer-time return (2-3 July 2024) to these two photogenic locations, in the hope of finally capturing some freight action.

After a detour on the way to Craven Arms, courtesy of some half-price TfW advance purchase tickets, my plan was a late afternoon stop at Pembrey & Burry Port, in order to see the westbound train of oil tanks to Robeston Sidings, an overnight stay in Carmarthen, then an early morning call at Ferryside to see the eastbound tanks.

Continue reading “Freight and semaphores in West Wales and the Marches”

One year on from a day witnessing two Mazey Day excursions to Penzance as they passed the doomed semaphores at Par, my plan this time for a return to the Royal Duchy on Saturday, 29 June 2024 was to see this year’s brace of special trains as they passed the semaphore signals at Liskeard.

Star turn of the two special workings this year was a pair of Class 50s (50007/049) on the Pathfinder Railtours service (1Z69) from Dorridge and stations in the West Midlands, followed shortly afterwards by Statesman Rail working 1Z69 from Wolverhampton, powered by a pair of LSL-owned Class 47s (47712/810).

Continue reading “Mazey Day action and inaction at Liskeard”