Now that there are around 3,500 pictures in this gallery, it is becoming difficult for new additions to be found amongst the existing collections. In future, I will upload new pictures to this collection and leave them here for a few days before moving them to their relevant collections. I hope that makes sense!

All other collections are mainly in alphabetical order below. When a new collection is added, it will become "03. xyz 123" for a while before taking its place in alphabetical order. The Wrexham & Shropshire collection has now been designated 02, as it seems to be a popular subject!

Once again I was privileged to be invited by Wrexham & Shropshire to join a crew route learning run on Chiltern's "Bubblecar" 960014. This was one of several runs undertaken for W&S Drivers and Train Managers to learn the various potential diversion routes for Wrexham trains around north west London. Diversions have already taken place and more will happen in the future in connection with route upgrades. As W&S prefer diversions to "bustitution", crew route knowledge gives them the option to keep passengers on the trains! All photos in this collection were taken with permission and under supervision. Unfortunately, the light and weather were pretty poor all day... Many thanks to WSMR for a very memorable day!

Lots more to add!

So that the pictures of the new open access operator WS&MR don't get "lost" amongst the Chiltern pictures, I have added a collection of their own.

The crew training runs started some time ago between Banbury and Marylebone, initially utilising two EWS Class 67 locos, 67016 and 67017, in "top and tail" configuration with a train of three MkIII first class coaches in BR Blue & Grey livery, provided by Cargo-D. Several changes of locos and coaching stock have taken place since then, including the use of a Sleeping-Car in the formation!

There were also crew training runs further north, utilising 67029 with three coaches and a DVT, this will be the normal train formation once the public trains start to run from Spring 2008.

Five Class 67 locos have now received Wrexham & Shropshire livery and through test runs commenced between Wrexham and Marylebone a while ago. The full public service started on 28th April 2008, initially with hired-in coaches, "topped and tailed", until the W&S DVTs came on stream. The operator has now been going for around 18 months - the first set of their own liveried coaches is now in service and the second is imminent!

More pictures to be added as this project develops!

Some pictures formerly here have been moved to the "Haddenham & Thame Parkway Station -21 Years" Collection.

Wrexham & Shropshire/Chiltern Railways took delivery of a shunting loco to Aylesbury Depot on Friday 9th October 2009. This loco is to be used for shunting Wrexham stock around the depot and any other shunting moves required.

Ruston & Hornsby 0-6-0DM, Works No. 468043 of 1963, "Lesley", was delivered by Allelys Heavy Haulage from their yard at Studley. The loco carries Chiltern all over blue livery, its TOPS number is 01509, though it doesn't carry this, it is allocated to Aylesbury depot in pool MBDL and was owned by Knight's Rail Services of Eastleigh, it was sold by them to DB Regio UK, Chiltern's parent company.

It was officially named by Lesley Knight, Personal Assistant to Adrian Shooter, at Aylesbury depot during a ceremony on Friday 30th October 2009.

My parents lived for a while in a village near Antwerp, while my father was working on North Sea oil projects. This meant that we could visit for holidays and spend some time both in Belgium and Netherlands. This coincided with the celebrations in 1985 for the 150th anniversary of railways in Belgium, when some interesting steam-hauled specials were run.

Pictures on the former LNER lines that became the Eastern & North Eastern Regions of British Railways - apart from the East Coast Main Lines and the Chiltern Lines! Photos are in chronological order, oldest first - many more to be added!

Pictures on the former LMS lines of England and Wales not having their own specific collections! Photos are in chronological order, oldest first. Plenty more to add in the future! This also includes some pictures on the old Great Central lines which were transferred from the Eastern Region not long before closure.

Pictures on former LMS and LNER lines in Scotland, including the East Coast Main Line north of Edinburgh. A few pictures to start with, more to be added as time permits.

I made some early visits to Scotland with the RCTS in 1957 and 1960, plus some family holidays, all before I had a camera. I saw some wonderful things and have very happy memories, so I have been lucky enough to fill in some of those gaps with original slides from other photographers, some of whom are sadly now deceased. I'm very grateful that they took the shots!

Much additional information about the engines themselves has come from this invaluable site:

http://www.britishsteam.com/

Many Thanks!

The 40th anniversary of the end of steam on the Southern Region passed in July 2007, so here's some shots from the last days of steam to the present day on lines to the south, south east and south west of London. Photos are in chronological order - more will be added in the future!

From Paddington to the West Country and South Wales, via the main lines and secondary routes of the former Great Western Railway, from steam days to the present. Photos are in chronological order, oldest first! Pictures on the routes to Birmingham and beyond are in the "Chiltern & Cherwell Valley Lines" collection. More photos being added as time permits!

As steam traction was run down on BR lines, so interest in industrial systems rose. There were many places around the country with a wealth of ancient and modern machines still hard at work in the late 1960's and early 1970's. Here are just a few to start with, the pictures are in chronological order, oldest first. Plenty more to be added!

Photos of preserved steam locos in action or repose on the main lines of the UK. The pictures are in chronological order, oldest first! Collection constantly being added to, as time permits!

Steam hauled specials during the summer of 2005 were a great success so there is bound to be interest in this area. Here is a selection of pictures taken on the lines during the last days of steam and early days of DMU's. Photos are in chronological order and more will be added as time permits!

Pictures from the last days of steam to the present on the lines from Marylebone & Paddington through the Chiltern Hills and Cherwell Valley, plus associated branch lines. Photos are in chronological order, oldest first! New (or old!) pictures are constantly being added!

Some pictures have been moved to the "Haddenham & Thame Parkway Station - 21 Years" Collection.

Subsequent to a message being left on this site asking "where is the Chinese steam?", I've made a start on adding it to the gallery! I was able to participate in the tour organized by "Steam in Paradise" for readers of "The Railway Magazine" in November 2002, and a very memorable and brilliant tour it was!
Photos taken using Pentax Z-70 and MZ-6 SLR cameras with a variety of Pentax lenses on Kodachrome 200 slide film

During the 1960's I was fortunate enough to visit Crewe Works quite a few times, both officially on Railtours or organised events and also accompanying my father who was involved in the modernisation of the works mechanical services. This meant replacing many old loco boilers, that supplied miles of ancient steam and hot water pipework which had grown piecemeal over the years, with a new central boilerhouse and custom designed distribution system. I was with him on many occasions as "semi-official" photographer, dispatched to take pictures of obscure pipework and fittings, only to find that locomotives and such like would get in the way!
Subsequent visits have been at Open Days and the like, in more recent years. More pictures will be added as time permits.

The Cromford & High Peak was a wonderful piece of railway, high in the Pennine hills. Originally conceived as a canal, it had long level sections interspersed with fearsome gradients, inclines and sharp curves. My early visits to the line were long before I had a camera, but I did manage several trips with a camera, including the final day of working on 30th April 1967. Here are a few pictures to start with, more to be added!

From King's Cross to Edinburgh, on the main lines and secondary routes, from steam days to the present. Photos are in chronological order, oldest first! More pictures being added as time permits! Pictures north of Edinburgh are in the "BR Scottish Region" collection.

Photos taken in France and Spain, some whilst in transit to Portugal, some from earlier or later years. Pictures are in alphabetical order by country and then in chronological order. As usual, more pictures will be added as and when I get the time!

The Portuguese pictures have now been moved to a collection of their own!

Mainly steam but also some diesel and electric locos in both West & East Germany, and Austria, mostly taken in the early to mid 1970's. Pictures are in alphabetical country order and then chronological order, oldest first. More will be added as time permits!

I have now moved the Polish pictures to a collection of their own!

The year 2008 marked several milestones in the history of the stations in Haddenham - it was 45 years since the original station closed in January 1963, 21 years since the replacement station was opened in October 1987 and 10 years since the rebuilt new station came into full use from July 1998! Here are some photos to look back to the original and the building and re-building of the new station. More shots to be added in the near future, hopefully!

Whilst a long way from each other, these islands have much in common, including some ancient relics running around their venerable transport systems! Both are delightful holiday destinations and their transport systems were geared for the tourist hordes! So it's back to the sixties again - pictures are either in chronological order - oldest first, or work from Ryde towards Ventnor and to Cowes. A few shots to start with, many more to be added!

I don't have much material from Italy, mainly because in the early days of my travels abroad it was a difficult country for railway photography. Much of what I have was taken during work trips ("Italia '90" World Cup & "Blind Date!") or family holidays - here are a few shots for starters - more to follow as usual!

Despite using London Transport a fair amount, I don't know that much about it! So if anyone can help with information for captions, or correct what I've already written, I would be very grateful! I lived in Pinner (on the Metropolitan Line) for several years, so was lucky enough to see quite a lot of LT steam in the form of the ex-GWR "Pannier Tanks", some of which appear here...

Some of these pictures and several more now appear in the recently published book "Red Panniers - Last Steam on the Underground" by John Scott-Morgan and Kirk Martin from Lightmoor Press in association with the London Transport Museum. A very good read and profusely illustrated with pictures from a variety of photographers, including R.C. Riley!

A selection of pictures taken on the two RCTS "Longmoor Military Railtours", the first of which ran in miserable weather on Saturday 16th April 1966. The second tour ran two weeks later on Saturday 30th April 1966, this time in glorious weather!

More shots still to be added, including more recent pictures of the abandoned railway.

Bletchley to Bedford section of the erstwhile Oxford to Cambridge line - pictures taken before and during the re-signalling of summer 2004. Photos are in chronological order, oldest first! Further pictures between Bletchley and Oxford can be seen in the "Chiltern & Cherwell Valley" collection. More pictures will be added as time permits!

As may be seen from some of the pictures in my "Personal & Work" collection, I was lucky enough to be in Mexico for six weeks filming with the England Football Squad during "Mexico '86" for ITV Sport. I managed a few days off here and there and got a few pictures on the railways. Here are a few to start with - my knowledge of American diesels is sketchy, so if anyone can confirm or correct any of the captions, I would be most grateful...

Michel Costes in France has very kindly sent me some pictures from his archives, taken in France, Portugal and Spain. Rather than lose them amongst my own photos, Michel has agreed to me setting up a collection here purely for his photos. Michel has now sent more photos, including some from the UK, Italy and Germany.

These are high quality pictures, full of atmosphere and evocative of a bygone age, even though it’s not that long ago!

Captions are based loosely on comments sent with the pictures by Michel.

So many thanks to Michel and I hope visitors to the site will enjoy the pictures!

More to add and I also look forward to receiving more from Michel…

From the days of steam to the present on the routes north from London St. Pancras - Manchester - Leeds - Carlisle and Bristol - Birmingham - Derby. Photos are being added as time permits! Pictures are in chronological order, oldest first!

For those shots that so far don't fit into any of the collections - but might do one day!

Following several requests from visitors to the site, I have set up a new collection for these lines rather than include them with the Cambrian Coast Lines. Pictures are in alphabetical railway order, then chronological order, oldest first. Many more to be added as time permits!

BR steam finished in August 1968, but there was still main line steam operation to be found in the United Kingdom for another couple of years on the Northern Ireland Railways. This was mainly based at Belfast York Road for workings to Larne, Antrim, Coleraine, Portrush and Londonderry and was worked by the "WT" Class 2-6-4T's. Much of the work consisted of "top and tailed" spoil trains from the quarries at Magheramorne to the site of the new M1 motorway being built from Belfast on the shores of the Lough, but they also worked passenger trains as well. I travelled by overnight ferry from Heysham Harbour in September 1968, to investigate...

A few photos to start, more to follow, as usual, as time allows!

Whilst working recently with a former colleague from London Weekend Television, she suggested that I should put some stuff on the site with regard to my personal history and working assignments, so here are a few shots for starters...

In view of the popularity of the pictures of Polish Railways, I have now given them a collection of their own, rather than sharing! I visited with a friend in the summer of 1974, when taking photographs of the railways was somewhat difficult, to say the least, hence the rarity of colour pictures of steam in action in the country.

A quick note on Polish locomotive classifications! A capital letter comes first: T (Towarowy) denotes a freight engine, O (Osobowy) a mixed traffic engine and P (Pospiesny) an express passenger engine. The second letter is in lower case and denotes the wheel arrangement: e.g. m = 4-6-2, k = 4-6-0, l = 2-6-2, y = 2-10-0 etc. If the locomotive is a tank engine, then the second letter is also a capital – K (Kusy), to denote tank engine, the wheel arrangement letter follows this! The letters are followed by a number: 1 – 10 denote ex-Prussian or Deutsche Reichsbahn locomotives; numbers from 11 – 19 denote ex-Austrian; 20 - 99 denote a Polish construction designed from that year! 100 and above denote miscellaneous designs. So as above, Ok1 is a mixed traffic 4-6-0 of ex-Prussian origin (Prussian P8), Ol49 is a mixed traffic 2-6-2 designed and built in Poland from 1949. An example of a tank engine would be OKo1, which is a mixed traffic 4-6-4T of ex-Prussian origin (Prussian T18). Very complicated!

I hope I've got that right, and apologies for not having the correct accents on letters - my English keyboard doesn't seem to support them!

My very first trip abroad in 1969 was by train from London to Porto, via Newhaven, ferry to Dieppe, train to Paris, bus across Paris, Hendaye, Irun, Salamanca, Fuentes de Oñoro, Pampilhosa and Aveiro in order to sample the steamy delights of the Douro Valley (Port wine country!) and it was quite an adventure - no easyJet in those days! It took three days to get there, including an overnight run across France, a day in Spain for photography and another overnight trip to Porto. It was well worth it and I repeated the trip exactly a year later. Photos are in chronological order, oldest first - more will be added as time permits.

France and Spain now have a collection of their own.

The Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway was a combined venture between the Midland Railway and the London & South Western Railway, running from Bath Green Park (originally Queen Square) to Bournemouth West, over the Mendip hills. After the grouping it became joint LMS and SR and ended up as part of the BR Western Region. Prior to closure in March 1966 it had a wonderful variety of motive power and was always popular with enthusiasts. It was lovingly photographed and filmed by Ivo Peters and is sorely missed by many.

A few photos here (not up to Ivo Peters standards!), more will be added, though sadly, I only made a few visits.

I was lucky enough to spend a three week holiday in these countries, organised by Dave Thornhill of "World Steam" fame, during 1972 when there was still plenty of steam to be found. Photos are in alphabetical country order then chronological order. More photos will be added as time permits!
Photos taken on Pentax S1a and SL SLR cameras with Pentax 55mm standard lens, 135mm telephoto lens and 28mm wide angle lens, metering by Weston Master V - Agfa CT18 Slide Film.

On another tour organized by David Thornhill of "World Steam", I was able to visit Java, Malaysia and Singapore in 1973, when there were some incredibly ancient steam locomotives still in use as well as more modern traction. Here are a few for starters - more will be added as time permits. As usual, the pictures are in alphabetical country order, then in chronological order.
I was also able to grab a few stills shots whilst filming on board the "Eastern & Oriental Express" for LWT's "Blind Date" programme in 1998!

I was fortunate enough to receive an invitation to an open day at the railway - and what a brilliant day it was! The weather was glorious and so was the railway - engines in steam round every corner. So many thanks to Kim Winter of the Imperial College Railway Society and Ffestiniog Railway Society (Lodon Area Group) for extending the invitation to me, and of course to Graham Lee, his family, staff and volunteer helpers for providing such an entertaining day! If you get the chance to go, I can thoroughly recommend the day out.

More pictures to come!

There are also some pictures in the "Three Dimensional!" collection.

No, you won't need special glasses to see this, though you might do afterwards...

Pictures on the main lines from Euston to Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow, from the final days of steam to the present day. Photos are in chronological order, oldest first! More photos being added as time permits!