Thursday, 17 July 2025 proved to be an historic day on the splendid East Midlands Railway (EMR)-operated Grantham-Skegness Poacher Line, with a first ever visit to the route by one of the new EMR Class 810 Aurora units.
A fleet of 33 bi-mode 5-car Class 810s is destined to replace the Class 222 Meridian units on longer distance EMR services, but introduction of the Hitachi-built units has been beset by repeated delays.
Glorious sunshine and guest appearances by some marvellous diesel-hydraulic traction are making for a highly popular gala weekend on the Alton-Alresford Watercress Line, where I have worked as a volunteer booking for the past decade.
Not normally being someone who relishes the crowds, I paid a 90-minute visit on Saturday (12 July 2025) to the footbridge at Medstead & Four Marks station in order to savour some of the remarkable heritage diesel action.
Only days after the Midland Railway signal box was celebrating its 100th birthday (5 July 2025) it is time to pay a return visit (on 8 July 2025) to fascinating Peak Forest, near Buxton, and hope to photograph again some of the heavy stone traffic passing the semaphore signals controlled by Peak Forest South Signal Box.
After two highly enjoyable visits in August and November 2024, my ambition this time was to capture a train passing up signal PF16, the motor-worked distant that is mounted beneath Great Rocks Junction’s section signal GR14, and is one of less than a dozen surviving working home and distant signals on the national network.
Almost three years on from my visit to the two southernmost outposts of mechanical signalling on the spectacular Settle-Carlisle Line (Settle Junction and Hellifield, September 2022) and time for a long overdue return to the northern end of the S&C. My quest this time is to capture some loco-hauled action at Appleby and also pay a brief visit to Kirkby Stephen.
Since its reprieve from closure in 1989 the S&C has developed into a major tourist artery, with active support from the Settle-Carlisle Railway Development Company, which provides guides on certain trains, a refreshment trolley service between Settle, Appleby and Carlisle and buffet services at a couple of stations.
Continue reading “Semaphores and loco action on the Settle-Carlisle Line”
As another year rolls relentlessly on I am paying a return visit to the Royal Duchy (28 June 2025) to capture – for a third successive year – the special workings that are bound for Penzance and its famous Mazey Day celebrations, the culmination of the two-week Midsummer celebrations in Cornwall known as Golowan.
Having almost been thwarted by train cancellations on this day in 2024, I am heading back to Liskeard, and walking out once again to Moorswater footbridge west of the town, which I first visited in March 2025, in the hope of capturing the special trains as they head west across Moorswater Viaduct.
Anyone wanting to see and experience scheduled weekday HST action in Great Britain 2025 has a choice between the three GWR diagrams between Exeter, Plymouth and Penzance or the rather more extensive 15 daily ScotRail Inter7City HST diagrams for express services between Glasgow/Edinburgh and Aberdeen/Inverness.
Having paid numerous visits to Cornwall in recent months, a short break in Edinburgh meant the chance to take a 90-minute journey aboard one of these very comfortable Inter7City HST sets on 18 June 2025 as far as Arbroath, in order to capture a few shots of four and five-car Class 43-powered sets passing the semaphore signals.
Four months on from my last visit (February 2025) and it is time to return once again to Pembrey & Burry Port to see whether Network Rail remains on track to complete the resignalling here by November 2025, as promised in its most recent update on the rather long drawn-out Port Talbot West 2 (PTW2) project.
At the time of that February 2025 visit there was no apparent evidence of progress, beyond some new equipment that had been in place for a considerable time, so visiting both Pembrey and Ferryside on this occasion (4 June 2025) it would be interesting to see if there was evidence of progress with the resignalling.
Continue reading “One final summer for the South Wales semaphores”
Almost seven years on from my last visit (August 2018) and the prospect of some fine weather prompts me to pay a return (on 30 May 2025) to a busy Wiltshire junction to witness the varied railway action at Westbury, a place best known to travellers on the Berks & Hants route for its impressive white horse, carved into the nearby hillside.
Like Eastleigh on the South Western Main Line, Westbury sees a great variety of passing passenger and freight traffic, the latter largely comprising stone traffic from Merehead and Whatley quarries, but also including civil engineer workings to and from the large yard south of the station and occasional workings to and from Southampton Docks.
Spare a thought for those of us who will this weekend (25 May 2025) lose a major rail travel benefit as a result of South Western Railway (SWR) becoming the first rail operator to be nationalised by the Labour Government.
Over the past five years a major benefit for me of working part-time for a FirstGroup company has been an annual allocation of cheap day rover tickets that are valid on any of the First rail operations and, importantly for me, SWR.
Fancying a change from the steam action at Wolsztyn, my fascination for narrow gauge railways takes me on a day trip to a place called Pleszew, one hour south of Poznań Główny station by regional (KW) train and location for the only mixed narrow/standard gauge railway in Poland.
Here there is a 3km (1.9 mile) branch line that runs from Pleszew Wąsk. (narrow gauge), adjacent to the main line station, to Pleszew Miasto (Town) station, a line that has closed, then re-opened in recent years, was operated by 750mm locos and railcars, but now has its regular passenger services formed by ex-Czech Railways (CD) 4-wheel railcars.
Continue reading “A mixed-gauge curiosity in Central Poland”
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