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Loss of semaphore signalling on the soon-to-be-reopened Northumberland Line and at Billingham/Norton-on-Tees has left previous few outposts of mechanical signalling in North-East England, with the last few being along the Tyne Valley line, at Winning on the line to North Blyth, Shildon and at Nunthorpe on the Esk Valley Line.

One other location that I had long wished to visit and photograph is Crag Hall near Saltburn, where a rather unattractive North Eastern Railway box dating from 1878 controls a freight-only route from Saltburn West Junction to Boulby Potash Mine on the long-closed coastal railway route to Whitby.

Continue reading “Freight and semaphores on the North-East coast”

There was a fitting tribute to the D-Day 80th Anniversary on the Dartmouth Steam Railway this week, where US Army Transportation Corps (USATC) Baldwin 2-8-0 2253 “Omaha” was in service (4 June 2024) adorned with a “D-Day 80 Overlord” headboard.

Loco 2253 has a colourful history, having arrived in the UK on May 1943 and working with the LNER out of Neville Hill depot in Leeds. It was returned to the USATC after D-Day and spent many years working in Poland, before being bought for preservation in 1992. It was restored in 2019, when it was painted maroon and named “Omaha” before arriving at Paignton in February 2020.

Continue reading “D-Day 80 remembered at Goodrington Sands”

After a highly enjoyable day in the impressive Melton Station Signal Box (October 2023) it is time to pay another visit to the fascinating Leicester-Peterborough line and take a look at two more of the route’s six boxes that retain some semaphore signalling interest.

On a day of dire weather (28 May 2024) my visits this time were to the boxes at Ashwell and Ketton, giving a chance to see not only the boxes themselves, but also some heritage Class 37 action and a view of the network’s most historic semaphore signal.

Continue reading “Semaphores and Class 37s in Leicestershire”

PARLIAMENTARY TRAINS are a fascinating feature of the Northern rail network, so having previously sampled the operator’s sparse workings to Chathill, Brigg, Heysham Port, Helsby-Ellesmere Port and Stalybridge-Stockport it was time to finally complete the set with a trip on the 16½-mile route between Goole and Knottingley.

While service frequencies have generally been increased on lines across the country over the past few years, that is certainly not the case for this eastern extension of the Pontefract Line from Leeds and Wakefield beyond Knottingley, which sees far more freight workings to and from Drax Power Station than it does passenger services.

Continue reading “Parliamentary train to Hensall”

Saturday, 18 May 2024 marks exactly five years since the memorable final day of main line HST operations on the GWR network (18 May 2019), so the perfect excuse to recall the locations and services I photographed and travelled on that fateful occasion.

On a brilliantly stage-managed day where the four final departures from London Paddington were lined up alongside each other in the early evening, I had decided to shun the crowds and pay my farewells on two routes I knew well, the Cotswold Line from Oxford to Worcester and the Golden Valley route from Swindon to Cheltenham Spa. 

Continue reading “5 years on: remembering the final day of GWR main line HSTs “

Six months on from my last visit (November 2023) and it is time to take a day return trip to delightful Pembrey & Burry Port, in order to see if there has been any progress on the heavily-delayed re-signalling project called Port Talbot West 2 (PTW2).

This project will see the end of semaphore signalling at both Pembrey and Ferryside and was due for completion earlier this year, but that had seemed highly improbable on the evidence of my previous visit, when there was absolutely no sign of any work taking place to prepare for the re-signalling.

Continue reading “Back to Burry Port”

Loss of Cornish semaphore outposts at Par, Lostwithiel and Truro in March 2024 leaves just two main line locations in the Royal Duchy that are mechanically-signalled. These are Liskeard, which I last featured in October 2023, and St. Erth, junction for the scenic St. Ives Bay branch line.

St. Erth is a delightful and immaculately-maintained Grade II Listed station, where semaphore signalling helps retain the historic air of this busy country station, yet one that is sadly mired in controversy as its historic footbridge is replaced by a rather less attractive modern structure.

Continue reading “Super St. Erth”

DINING ON THE LINE has long been one of my great pleasures and one that dates back to my first experiences in the early 1980s, when I was the only enthusiast aboard the last ever restaurant service from Waterloo to Bournemouth (2 October 1981) and, early in my journalistic career, a number of enjoyable business trips aboard the all first class Manchester Pullman.

Regular readers will have spotted that many of my trips to the South-West are rounded off with Pullman Dining aboard the 18.16 service from Plymouth to Paddington, but one missing experience, until now, has been the full dining now offered aboard certain Transport for Wales (TfW) services between Cardiff Central and Manchester Piccadilly.

Continue reading “Three course lunch on the Marches Line”