Just 'click' the thumbnails for a fullpage image! (1280 +853 nominal)
Recent Additions (Very Mixed) from prior to March-2011(When this Website was set-up).Random Dates in this section.
Please forgive the mediocre state of some of the older pictures mainly due to negative degradation and age (Some now well over 50 years old) and poor quality film stock because I didn't know better all those years ago!
This section devoted to random pictures from the vaults dating from 2011 back to 1963.These will be transferred to appropriate Galleries dedicated to individual Classes eventually.
A4-60006 'Sir Ralph Wedgewood' is seen passing Perth MPD having just restarted an express from Aderdeen down to Glasgow-Buchanan Street.
..13 august 1965..
Thompson-B! 61099 stands 'in steam' within the confines of 64A-St Margerets MPD in Edinburgh...Waiting for its next duty.
..16 august 1965..
IOW-27 'Merstone' sits in a yard next to a scrapyard somewhere in the Island between Shanklin and Ventnor(I think?). Obviously being employed on shunting duties. I lasted until steam was completely withdrawn in 1967.Then scrapped without ceremony.
..14 april 1965..
GWR 2859 and SR 30847 sit in the sunshine enjoying the sea air at Woodhams-Yard in Barry -South-Wales.Both these engines made it out in one piece into preservation.46 years later 2859 is yet to steam whilst 30847 went to the Bluebell Railway and was restored to working order again.
..May 1977..
Tucked around the back of the 'Factory' at OOC was yet another Class-47 derelict. This one being 47430 in Trainload-Construction Livery.Now this was quite a wreck,the other cab-end had no roof and somebody had been into both cabs and systematically smashed all the instruments with a ball-peen hammer.What a bunch of animals! It was withdrawn in March 1994 and was hanging around until May 1997 when it was cut up here on site.
..19 march 1994..
I well remember this day because it rained constantly for dawn to dusk----lovely! So here is a Pathfinders Railtour from Bournemouth to Weymouth Town where it formed 3 round trips down the Quay Tramway to the Quay itself.This being the 1st trip, the 12:25 away from Weymouth Town Station. 33109 (then un-named) was the loco and the coaches were a 4-TC Set. Here the train has just crossed the B3155 main road near Weymouth Station and was slowly proceeding after several cars had to be 'bumped' out of the way which were blocking progress.30 years later the Weymouth Tramway is gone.All embeded rails are now gone and tarmaced over and no trace now exists apart from a few rails down in the abandoned Quay area..
..3 april 1993..
Here is a pair of old Southern Sandite 3rd Rail EMU's in Westbury Yard taking a break on their journey from Eastleigh to Gwent Demolition in Newport for disposal there.Script on the flanks denoted it a 'De-icing and Rail Cleaning.' Its Departmental Unit was '002' ADB977366/ADB977367. Also with it was '001' in the foreground.Within days it was gone from here to S-wales and then within a week or so completely gone!
..July 1993..
Whilst travelling on a railtour called the 'Tunnel Taster' from Bath Spa to Folkstone to celebrate the upcoming opening of the then new Channel Tunnel the train passed the rear of Stewarts Lane Loco Depot in South London.On show there were multiple Class-73's and some 37's. Identified were 73138/73133 and 37706....
..7 may 1994..
Regional Railways liveried 37414 'Cathays C&W works 1846-1993' sits in Bradford on Avon with '2V93' the 19:38 from Weymouth to Bristol-TM'.It lasted until March -2009 when it was cut at Stocton by T J Thompson's.
..June 1999..
37227 is viewed in an 'Occupation' at Bunns Lane,Witham Friary doing a ballast drop from a set of old 'Seacows.Doing it the old fashioned way with an operative releasing the ballast on each hopper manually.No helmets required in those days! This loco was withdrawn in July 1999 and is now preserved on the Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway in full working condition.
..Summer 1993
60075 'Llathach' with a Westbury to Merehead Sunday morning wagon tripper rolls slowly 'wrong line' past some work going on on the down line here at Bunns Lane at Witham Friary nr Frome.Back then GM's were still 6 or 7 years in the future! This loco lasted until Now-2008 and was dumped at toton.Currently it is now owned by DCR and is at Brush in Loughborough for possible resurrection but the chances of that look pretty slim?
..Summer 1993..
33114 running as 6532 looks in fine fettle when seen here in Salisbury working a substitute service from here to Basingstoke and return deputising for the usual 'Hampshire DEMU' that normally worked this service.Sadly less than a year later this loco was 'cut' in Eastleigh deemed surplus to requirements during the mass influx of Class 159's.
..february 1992..
50033 'Glorious-Network South East' sits in Salisbury awaiting departure with a train from London-Waterloo bound for Exeter.This loco amazingly is now part of the National Collection and preserved for the Nation.Note the Austin Allegro in the near deserted Station Car Park.There is probably more Class 50's around now 30+ years later than there are Austin-Allegro's!
..February 1992..
'Laurence Olivier' 86233 in Inter-City colours passing through Stafford heading for Euston.
..Early 1990's..
90006 at this time un-named and wearing I/C colours speeds north non-stop through Stafford.Stafford at that time was a great place to visit as apart from a few HST's all Class 1 trains were loco hauled.47's,86's,87's and 90's plus 56's,58's and 37's on the quite plentiful freight's as well!
..Early 1990's..
50029 'Renown' pulls away from Salisbury with a morning train from Exeter to Waterloo.By now this loco had less than a year to go before it was withdrawn, although today it still survives albeit in a fairly derelict condition at Rowsley on Peak Rail in Derbyshire.
..Summer 1991..
Can it really be 35 years ago this shot was recorded? Here is an unidentified Inter-City HST calling at Westbury on its journey from Paddington to Cornwall. The practice in those days was for the loco number to be incredibly small and situated on the rear of the loco making recognition difficult to say the least.
..Spring 1988..
'Split Box' 45053 stands in the scrap line at 'Eagle Bridge' in Crewe Locomotive Works awaiting its fate along with various Class40's/47's and 84's. This Loco long gone now but its 'Split Headcode Boxes' live on having been salvaged and applied to preserved D100 to return that loco to 'as built ' condition.
..4 july 1987..
37191 in 'dutch' colours sits in Frome with '2O87; the 09:00 from Bristol-Temple Meads to Weymouth service.Back then 30 years ago access to the long closed 'down' platform here was freely available for this shot.No spiky fences or H&S paranoia in those days unlike the Police state we have to endure in 2023! 37191 lasted until 2001 when it was scapped at Wigan CRDC during EWS's mass cull of UK built loco's.
..August 1993..
33051 'Shakespeare Cliff' in the Trainload Freight Construction Sector livery sits in the sunshine at a memorable Open day at Merehead Quarry in deepest Somerset.
..25 june 1989..
53809 pauses at Bath Spa in poor light on its way from Butterley to Andover for use on the Andover to Ludgershall Shuttles in connection with the Basingstoke Open Day.
..Sept 1987..
Having only been in service a few years 60025 'Joseph Lister is seen passing Salisbury with an LPG train from Furzebrook going to Avonmouth.A working that is now consigned to history.60025 ended up dumped at toton in 2010 after less than 18 years of service and has now spent longer dumped than it actually ran in service..Great value for a 1.5 million pond investment!!!!!
..Spring 1993..
47708 'Templecombe' sits in Basingstoke with an Exeter to Waterloo working whilst alongside is a Cross-Country HST from Poole going north possibly to Manchester or beyond. Whilst the HST soldiered on 30 years into the future 47708 passed away at Crewe in a shower of molten sparks just 2 years later in August 1995.
..Spring 1993..
47642 'Resolute' waits time in Salisbury's Platform-4 ready to work an evening stopping service up to Waterloo.
..18 november 1991.. '
47701 'Old Oak Common' and 47579 meet at Salisbury in the sunshine during the final year of loco haulage on the Waterloo- Exeter route.
..Spring 1993..
NSE liveried 47716 'Duke of Edinburgh's Award' sits in London Waterloo ready to haul an afternoon departure to Exeter.Sadly this loco was cut by 'Booths' in March 2010.
..Summer 1991..
A Rail-Blue Class-47 heads South through Norton Bridge on the WCML in the low evening sun with an LPG type train.This station is now closed as is the modern looking signal box located here.
..Summer 1979..
Class-O2 0-4-4T IOW-28 'Ashey' stands in Ryde St Johns station having just arrived from Ryde Esplanade. Probably about to go onto the Loco Shed here for servicing.It survived until 1967,two years after this shot was recorded when it was cut up on the Island probably here in Ryde.
..14 april 1965..
Thompson A2 Pacific 60512 'Steady Aim' stands stored at Perth MPD.Note the yellow diagonal line on the cabside.This was to denote the engine was not to work south of Crewe!.Not much chance of that as it never steamed again.These Thompson 4-6-2's were not very successful with several serious design flaws which made them unpopular with just about everybody!
..13 august 1965..
Here is a nice combo coming from Newport-ADJ to Westbury.Loadhaul liveried 37884 'Gartcosh' leads with 37676,37211,37707 and 47475 along with the then regular flow of flyash from Longannet Power Station in Scotland going to Westbury Cement Works for blending during cement manutacture there.Viewed at Ladydown in Trowbridge. Today 24 years later 37884 continues to work regularly on the national network as does 37676.The other pair of 37's and the 47 are now long departed and scrapped.
..8 may 1998..
In-between royal duties 47798 was used on Mail Trains as part of the RES Fleet.Here is 'Prince William' sitting in Bristol-TM having just arrived from Cornwall with a booked Mail working.It was a late one that night as we had to wait until after midnight for this working to appear.The loco was eventually taken out of service in 2004 and now resides in the NRM as part of the National Collection.
..23 october 1999..
Dutch-37185 'Lee & Perrins' powers up through Hinksey in Oxford with '4Z17' from Eastleigh to Garston with a trainload of Ford Transits.Back then in 1999 these vehicles were being manufactured at Eastleigh.Now of course in 2020 they are not,coming from Turkey now instead.37185 was removed from service 6 months later and was consigned to Wigan-CRDC for parts recovey......
..16 january 1999..
Transrail's 37696 with a lengthy train of a dozen EWS barriers vans passes Sands Lane at Dunsomer Hill heading north.I believe these vans were used for aiding the movement of LT tube stock (West Ruislip to Horbury) back to the Capital after overhaul. This loco was used in France less than a year later on TGV Infrastructure work.After its return it languished at various locations but eventually ended up at Booth's in Rotherham getting cut in November 2014....
..17 march 1999..
This is 66054 dragging long withdrawn 37077 and 37377 from Bristol Barton Hill down to Eastleigh as '6Z70'.They had been in Bristol for quite a few years after work preparing them for use in France was aborted as the work there used Class-56's instead. Viewed at Arn Hill nr Warminster.37077 had already been to France in 2000 in Mainline Blue (See my Weebly Site for shots of it there).Nothing was done to these engines at Eastleigh and in 2009 were transported by road to Booth's in Rotherham for cutting. ..22 august 2008..
43024/43192 carried the 'Merlin' version of Great Western livery for a while.So much nicer than the crappy green in use 20 years later! Here this HST-set is seen passing the superbly manicured location of the Little Bedwyn Locks on the K&A Canal with a Paddington to Plymouth working.Visit here 20 years later and the railway from this standpoint is all but invisible due to rampant tree growth!
..17 march 1999..
This Enterprise working was '6M18' the evening Eastleigh East Yard to Carlisle.Today it was spectacularly hauled by this triple header comprising of 58040 with 37065 & 37057 as well.Seen coming under the bridge at the well known location of Cholsey Manor Farm.Nowadays this stretch of line is defaced with ugly OHLE and all these loco's are no-more as is this working--A pity? ..19 april 1999..
At this time and indeed for the next 6 months this was the only GM-66 then in the UK.Here is 66001 viewed at Purton next to the River Severn working '6V05' from Round Oak going down to Margam with its load of empty covered steel carriers.Quite a milestone picture,my first GM-66 on a train on its own and sadly the beginning of the 'Red Death' that signalled the end for many many UK built Class 37's-47's and 56's. ..6 january 1999..