A rather grey photocharter with 47279 at the CVR.

Gloucester and Warwicks Railway - Dec 2008 (9 photos)

The Christmas Cracker gala at the GWSR with all the home fleet of engines in action.

The winter gala at the WSR, despite great weather photography was very difficult with an easterly wind causing havoc with the smoke.

Good light this time of year is very hard to beat, 34007 and 73096 are see in action at the Mid Hants.

A photocharter at the Bluebell with the 7F, some glorious lighting conditions made for a great day.

A glorious winters day at the Bluebell with the "Santa Season" in full flow.  53809, 9017, 5199 and 80151 where in action.

45407 in mainline action in the North West.

My first ever visit to the ELR and it was for a photographic charter I was running in conjunction with Warwick Falconer and Nigel Valentine.  The marvellous "Great Marquess" was our engine for the day.

Two days of photo charters featuring 70013 Oliver Cromwell disguised as 70048 Territorial Army.

A very fresh day at the GCR with visiting engine 5690 "Leander" in action on its last weekend with railway.

Got it!  At last I got the 7F in nice sunlight during a Jon Bowers photo charter.  I only made the end of the day but was very pleased indeed.

The 7F in action on a rather gloomy day at the Bluebell.  I will get this engine in sun at some point!  5199 and 65 where the other locos in action with 53809.

A couple of days at Swanage with 34070, 30053 and 80104 in action.

Another day at the GCR with Leander and newly arrived visitor City of Truro in action on passenger trains whilst 850 was on the driver experience.

35028 "Clan Line" seen at Eastleigh with a VSOE special.

The autumn gala at the Bluebell with visiting 7F number 53809 complimenting the home fleet.

The annual autumn gala at the GCR, featured visitor 5690 "Leander" as well as 70013 "Oliver Cromwell", 60163 "Tornado, 850 "Lord Nelson" and also 4141, 78019 and 63601 from the home based fleet.  Certainly an impressive line up for any gala.

The second photo charter of the week, this time the weather was great.  9017 on the superb GWR era freight and a great passenger set.  9017 is visiting the SVR from its base at the Bluebell Railway.

A photo charter at the SVR featuring 5526 (which is visiting from the South Devon Railway) on matching carmine and cream coaches.  Unfortunately the weather wasn't too kind.

The annual autumn gala at the NYMR hosted 71000 "Duke of Gloucester" as it's visiting locomotive.  Great weather and a varied timetable made for a great day.

The first official trains hauled by newly built 60163 "Tornado", marvellous to see this loco in action.  78019 was also running.

A photocharter at the Mid Hants organised by myself and Warwick Falconer featuring 41312 on the fantastic BR era freight.  We where blessed with fantastic light and some lovely early mist.

70013 Oliver Cromwell on the South Western Mainline, seen at Hurstbourne Viaduct and Buckhorn Weston (nr Gillingham).

The annual autumn gala at Swanage, featured the usual home fleet on a mixture of passenger and freight trains..  The Sunday of the gala also saw the first passenger trained worked by 34070 "Manston" since its restoration from scrapyard condition.

The annual autumn gala at the Mid Hants, featured visiting locos 41241, 5029 and 4936 as well as 34007, 60019, 41312 and 73096 from the home fleet.

Tangmere seen in action on the Torbay Express and 4277 on the Paignton and Dartmouth Railway.

A quiet day at the GCR allowed for some different shots from Loughborough and Rothley.  63601 and D123 where in action.

Terrier No 662 made a brief visit the Cholsey and Wallingford Railway.

A quiet day at the Mid Hants with 73096 and 41312 in action.

40 years ago the final steam train ran on British Railways, the infamous 1T57 "THE FIFTEEN GUINEA SPECIAL" running from Liverpool to Carlisle with 2 Black Fives and Oliver Cromwell. 40 years later the train was recreated with 2 different Black Fives and Oliver Cromwell.

A photo charter with Black 5 44806, recreating 40 years since it ran it's final ballast train, as seen in these photos.

6233 caught in action on the Cathedrals Express near Purley on Thames.

The annual "Mail by Rail" gala, featuring visiting "Lord Nelson" number 850, plus resident 78019 and 4141.  Two diesels also featured in an intensive timetable.  This was the last outing of the Gresley TPO vehicles as they are in need a a full overhaul.

A day in Devon, complete with shots of the "Torbay Express" and also action on the Paignton and Dartmouth Railway. I haven't been out on the train trail for a few weeks so it was good to be back out.

3440 "City of Truro" is on a flying visit to the CWR.  

A gala at the GCR featuring their "Windcutter" mineral wagons.  A locomotive visiting the line for repairs also featured, Fairburn Tank number 42085. This is the first time this locomotive has ever left it's home base and visited another line.

Another good turn out for the annual War on the line event.  Some different pictures from me, with hardly a train in sight! 

A photo charter at Swanage with 30053. 

73096 in action on the "Watercress Belle" dining train at the Watercressline.

6233 in mainline action at Potbridge, en route from Waterloo to Exeter.

The annual Festival of Steam at the GWSR featuring visiting locos 34007 and 44422.

A "PTG Tours" tour along the wonderful Douro Valley in northern Portugal.  Some of the lines and trains shown are on the 1 metre narrow gauge line from Regua to Vila Real, a truly amazing rail journey.  You may spot some "dual gauge" pieces of track in some of the pictures.

35005 "Canadian Pacific" will be out of action soon when its boiler certificate expire.  Was my last chance to see her in action, despite it being 25c out she put on some great smoke effect.  Looked marvellous with the uniform green stock, caught passing the watercress beds at Bishops Sutton and at Bowers Grove Lane.

The annual diesel gala at the Swanage Railway, visiting locos included 37906, 50044,73107 and 37275.  A real intensive service, for me the highlight was seeing VEP "Gordon Pettit" in service again.

35028 "Clan Line" on a circular trip from Victoria across the Surrey Hills.  Despite the temperature being 25c there was still some smoke effect.  You'll notice the helicopter in hot pursuit!

After a morning at the Nene Valley Railway my tour of the East Midlands turned to the return to steam of 70013 "Oliver Cromwell" at the Great Central Railway.  Was great to see OC on it's first passenger turn since its return to steam, a specially organised 5.10 ex Loughborough.  Also in action where 4141 and 30777.

7F 53809 is visiting the NVR for a few weeks, it's seen here in fine form at Mill Lane Bridge.  The S&D 7F's are one of my favourite locomotives, the combination with the red/cream coaches is hard to beat in my book.

E4 number 32473 is approaching the end of it's 10 year boiler certificate, so a heavy overhaul looms.  A Jon Bowers photo charter featuring the E4 on both passenger and freight stock provided a great opportunity to catch this loco whilst it is still in service.

A photographic charter ran by Warwick Falconer and myself.  Utilising Ivatt 41312 and matching BR era freight stock, we had a 6.30am start running from Alresford to Medstead.  Despite an awful forecast we where lucky with the weather, including some very stormy shots at Soldridge Cutting.

Another special event at the Bluebell Railway "Built at Brighton", featuring locos that where built at Brighton. Unfortunately I spent most of the day in the railways shop signing copies of my new book, but did manage a few photos.

The Spring Branchline gala at Swanage, featuring  80104, 30053, 34028 and diesel 47635.  Some lovely light in between very heavy shows made for a good days photography.

A monster LNER Gala at the NYMR.

GWR Pannier 5764 is on a short visit from the Severn Valley Railway and was in action along with 73096 and 35005 from the home fleet.

After 3 weeks of no photography due to the bad weather, what a way to come back!  1638 on a freight photo charter, despite heavy rain early on the sun did eventually come out.

34028 "Eddystone" is now back at Swanage after visits to the North Yorks Moors and an extended stay at the Bluebell Railway.

The annual spring gala in pretty awful weather!  GWR auto tank 1450 (and matching auto coach) visited to compliment the home fleet.  A number of period road vehicles where also on display at Horsted Keynes

Fantastic weather and a fantastic weekend!  Visitors 41312 and 62005 complimented the home fleet to make a great gala. 

An evening photographers event with a host of GWR locomotives on display.

Auto tank number 1450 (complete with matching auto coach no 178) is visiting the railway for a few weeks and is seen on it's first day of operation.  The other locos in action are 32473, 65 and 55.

An amazing winter gala at the GCR, a great days photography.

A tale of what could have been!  It had the making of a nice glint shot, however the wind did it's worse with the smoke.  35038 "Clan Line" is seen approaching Mortimer on a VSOE from Victoria to Southampton.

A nightshoot involving 2 of the "non operational" locomotives, T9 number 120 and Schools Class "Stowe" number 928.  I also managed to catch 65 on the service train.

Was good to see 35005 back in action at the MHR, was a brief visit before heading off to the Bluebell (see above!)

A very brief visit saw 60019 in action.

 Another photo charter at the GWSR with the J15, this time on a mixed freight.  The weather was very kind indeed.

Between Xmas and New Year the Bluebell like to give their "Vintage Trains" an outing, so 65 and 672 "Fenchurch" where in action.

Nothing beats a photocharter over the Xmas period.  9682 was running as 9789 on an engineers train along the former GWR Branchline.

Yet more Santa's, but back the Mid Hants.  73096 and 34007 where the locos, I thought I'd try some different locations and was fairly pleased.  I'd like to try shot with the car again, but maybe with "Classic Car" if anyone has one!

Mainline - December 2007 (1 photo)
60009 "Union of South Africa" seen on VSOE duty near Chilworth, shame it was so grey!

Mainline - December 2007 (6 photos)
A double dose of mainline steam.  30777 is seen at Vauxhall, whilst 35028 Clan Line is seen at Clapham Junction and Chilworth on a fantastic winters day!  The night shots are at Basingstoke.

Watercressline - December 2007 (4 Photos)
The start of the "Santa Specials" at the Watercressline, despite some heavy showers I did manage a few pics.  73096 and 34007 where in action.

Bluebell Railway - December 2007 (7 Photos)
The start of the "Santa Specials" at the Bluebell with 80151, 21C123 (still carrying OVS Bulleid nameplates) and 34028 in action.

Gloucester and Warwicks Railway - November 2007 (22 Photos)
A charter at the GWSR with J15 65462 which is visiting from the North Norfolk Railway.  A grey start, but the sun did appear for a while.  Have never seen this loco before and was very impressed, a great little engine!