Historic and GM loco action at Westbury

45118 “The Royal Artilleryman” departs Westbury with 5Z46 from Salisbury (12.46) to Crewe

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.

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Paying the price for SWR nationalisation

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.

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A mixed-gauge curiosity in Central Poland

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.

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Springtime steam action at Wolsztyn

Pt47-65 departs Zbaszynek on 8 May 2025 with KW77236 (15.37) to Wolsztyn

Scheduled daily steam services have resumed at Wolsztyn in Western Poland after a pause in operations during late April to prepare for the annual and highly popular “parade” event on 3 May 2025.

But the current weekday round trip from Wolsztyn to Zbaszynek on the Berlin-Warsaw main line and a rather longer Saturday trip to Poznan and back will come to an end on 16 August 2025 when Wolsztyn depot’s one working main line loco will be stopped for repairs.

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Semaphore swansong at Manea

GBRf 66770/736 power away from Manea with 4L28 from Doncaster to Felixstowe South as 170622 is held at signal M2 with 1N51 from Stansted Airport (10.27) to Birmingham New Street

Removal of a number of the semaphore signals controlled by Whittlesea Signal Box in early 2025 and imminent removal of its remaining down trio will leave just one significant outpost of mechanical signalling in East Anglia, apart from a few shunting arms at March and a solitary semaphore controlled by King’s Lynn Junction Signal Box.

That one remaining outpost of main-line mechanical signalling is Manea, a rather remote and sparsely-served village mid-way between March and Ely, where the elimination of main line mechanical signalling in East Anglia is expected to be completed when its quartet of semaphores is finally replaced.

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Tyne Valley distant delight

158849 passes the Milton Gate Box up distant signal with 1N59 from Carlisle (08.59) to Newcastle

Returning south from Newcastle after my visit to Prudhoe and a day riding the Tyne and Wear Metro, I decided to travel back via Carlisle and the WCML (on 24 April 2024), in order to spend a couple of hours at a remote location on the wonderful Tyne Valley Line that boasts the route’s only semaphore distant signal.

A location that I had only recently read about is Milton Gate Box, just east of the station and historic market town of Brampton, where a NER Type N2 box stands at a level crossing on the A689 and controls a trio of semaphores from its 10-lever Stevens frame, including a motor-worked up distant signal (1) close to Brampton station.

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Postcard from Prudhoe

156489 approaches Prudhoe with 2A34 from Carlisle (13.32) to Morpeth

Plans are being developed by Network Rail for a re-signalling of the charming Tyne Valley Line between Newcastle and Carlisle, which would see loss of semaphore signalling at a number of delightful locations, most photogenic of all being Prudhoe.

Here, 12 miles west of Newcastle, a tall and rather magnificent North Eastern Railway (NER) signal box dating from the early 1870s stands on the north side of the line, just west of the station and a level crossing.

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Tyne and Wear Metro in a day

Metro and National Rail services share the route between Pelaw and Sunderland, as seen at Fellgate, where a Metro service to South Hylton formed of units 4017/27 passes 156444 with a service to Hexham

Having travelled the entire Merseyrail network using a day ticket (April 2022) and then repeated the feat with Manchester’s Metrolink (August 2022) it seemed about time to tackle the UK’s original light rail system and see how easy and interesting it would be to ride the whole Tyne and Wear Metro network in a single day.

I have long been a fan of day rover or ranger tickets as a way of covering an entire route or area in a single day, and checking the Nexus website it was good to see that there was no weekday time restriction on its day tickets, unlike the Merseyrail and Metrolink equivalents with their 09.30 weekday start time.

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Favourite photo-spots: Woofferton Junction

67008 passes Woofferton with 1V39 from Manchester Piccadilly (10.30) to Cardiff Central

There are a remarkable five signal boxes among the 14 controlling the busy Marches Line between Shrewsbury and Newport that date from the early 1870s, and two of that number are celebrating 150th birthdays in 2025, namely those at Leominster and at nearby Woofferton Junction.

While Leominster has just two remaining semaphores – both in the down (southbound) direction – there is rather more to appreciate at Woofferton, seven miles to the north, where there are a total of eight semaphores controlled from its 39-lever frame, with three in each direction on the main line, plus entry and exit signals for an up loop.

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Sun, semaphores and HSTs at St. Erth

43186/188 (set GW08) approach signal SE68 with 2P16 from Penzance (13.15) to Plymouth

Exactly a year on since my last visit and the prospect of Spring sunshine tempts me to pay a return visit to St. Erth on 7 April 2025, one of only two locations on the Cornish main line to retain semaphore signalling, but one that has sadly lost its historic footbridge since my April 2024 visit.

This is almost certain to be the final year of GWR HST Castle set workings between Plymouth and Penzance, so my lunchtime arrival would hopefully give me a chance to see two of the three Castle sets in action that day, after taking a 15-minute walk from the station to Rosengrouse Road over-bridge (321 miles 46.25 chains).

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