UK Railways

Bagnall saddle tank Sir Tom brings a rake of tipping skips towards the working face at Threlkeld Quarry.

Last shot from my epic rail trip around Yorkshire. Stockport Station is almost deserted; just this lass waiting for the last train home.

The remote desert line from the Guyaozi area coal mines and chemical industry to the connection with China Rail at Daba was not an easy option due to the fairly sparse service. The weather in winter was often unpleasant with visibility reduced and low light levels. However, when you did find a train the results could be very good. After chasing around in the gloom for some time we were able to catch QJ 7200 having just crossed a loaded coal train (which can just be seen in the left distance) whilst heading the empties towards Guyaozi. The next day it snowed!

N7 69621 at Consall with a Caldon Low train, awaits the token for the section to Leekbrook. This view through the front cab window of the arriving DMU service from Cheddleton.

QJs 6751 and 6876 climbing from Reshui and below San Di on the Jinpeng section of the Jitong Railway

69621 makes a good start from the Consall stop with the second Caldon Low train of the day. I was, of course, able to wait to take this shot whilst enjoying an excellent pint in the garden of the Black Lion. :-)

Gmeinder 5243 runs the empty stone wagons down from the limekilns loading bank at Rheinkalk Werk Hönnetal in Oberrödinghausen.

SCT010 at the head of containers moving west between Mingary and Olary NSW. The four ex Northern Rivers Railroad coaches at the rear were causing problems, presumably with wheelflats judging by the noise emanating from them. They were dropped into a siding at Olary and the train proceeded without them.

The reincarnation of Holly Bank No.3 heads a short mineral train onto the causeway with the drained reservoir as a background. The weather may have been dull, but the photoshoot was a lot of fun and the Chasewater volunteers could not have done more to make the day go well.

My little camera has been playing up of late and so it was when I was preparing for a shot of the service train arriving at Swanwick Junction. This view was the result of my trying a shot just before the train arrived in order to be sure that the camera was working. It was working, sort of, but it refused to zoom at all.

The railway stations at Middlewood provided an interchange between the Stockport to Buxton line of the LNWR and the Macclesfield to Marple joint line of the Great Central and North Staffordshire Railways. There was no road access and passengers not changing routes had to use public footpaths to reach High Lane or Higher Poynton. The Higher station on the joint line closed in 1960 whilst the Lower station remains open to this day. The nearest bridge in the background once carried the Norbury Colliery Railway which had an exchange siding on the right side just beyond the overbridge crossing the LNWR line.

In the very last rays of evening sun, Hunslet 3783 of 1953 posing as Holly Bank No.3, heads a short NCB mineral train along the causeway across the reservoir on the Chasewater Railway.

45379 on the approach to Ipstones at the Churnet Valley Steam Gala.

The sun is low as Bagnall No.2 lifts the final train of the day out of Foxfield Colliery at the Autumn steam gala.

The classic steam shot at Consall Forge on the Churnet Valley Railway with a train accelerating away from the station stop and crossing the Caldon Canal outside the Black Lion.

Passengers head for the exits at Liverpool Lime Street in the days when trains had real coaches. I had been riding behind Deltics as their time in regular service drew to a close and had just arrived in the train seen on the right, There was then time for a few shots around the station and a quick pint before reboarding for a run back to Manchester. Within a week or two the fun was all over.

A little of the morning mist hangs in the air as 66031 departs Tunstead quarry with a heavy load of limestone.

'Holly Bank No.3' arrives at Chasewater Heaths with a short mineral train on the Chasewater Railway whilst the shunter leans on the point lever.