Saturday was a very good day for me, as 7029 Clun Castle visited Cardiff on the Return to Steam Celebration tour. Being the Great Western fan that I am, I was very happy to see it. I could talk for ages about why I love these engines, but instead I'll link to a post I made in the Suggestions forum about why I want to see them in TSW2. https://forums.dovetailgames.com/threads/bring-the-gwr-castles-to-tsw2.55687/ I must apologise for the quality of these photos. The sun couldn't have been in a worse position and it wasn't helped by it being under the canopy of the station. I tried brightening the images a little bit to help. I had the pleasure of seeing it leave the station twice- once to haul it's train out to the sidings near Pengam and later in the evening when it hauled the return portion of the tour back to Birmingham Snow Hill. On both occasions the exhaust sounded absolutely magnificent. The last three engines I'd seen in steam before this day had all been Bulleid Pacifics, which with their wide chimneys have quite a soft exhaust, so it was really refreshing hearing such a powerful exhaust. I felt it reverberating through me as it pulled past me! I can't wait for when the next opportunity presents itself to see a Castle on the mainline.
Real life Legends Of The Great Western at Ealing Broadway today as 47270 and 31128 passed through on an empty stock working.
Most people associate the Class 323s with the Cross City line through Birmingham, however most of my experience of these quirky little EMUs comes from the Northern operated ones. This is a picture I took of 323225 leaving Manchester Piccadilly on 16/09/2019. With new units set to appear in the Birmingham area in the near future, the West Midlands 323s will soon be joining Northern's fleet. For how long they'll remain there is yet to be seen, but I'm glad we still have plenty of time to appreciate these unique units.
Some picture I took from my workplace. Around 4:00 AM a MaK G 1206 came at the central tracks to install one of the 2 travelators: The Z8886 of the RER C, this is one of the oldest EMUs running on the Transilien network, it was build at the 80’s: A tampering machine working regularly around this place, sadly I didn’t have enough time otherwise I’ve take more pictures on the track:
On the 4/5/2022 I went to Cardiff to see the Welsh Marches Express. I was hoping for 46100 Royal Scot to be the loco hauling it, however I ended up getting the pioneer BR Standard Pacific, no 70000 "Britannia", which admittedly disappointed me a bit. Don't get me wrong the Britannias were excellent engines (despite being in the Class 7 power bracket they were known for putting up performances approaching Class 8 standards), I've just never been able to muster the same enthusiasm for them as their pre-nationalisation equivalents. They're still impressive looking engines, with a utilitarian look to them. Not surprising as above all else they were designed to be cheap and easy to maintain, hence the high running plate. They could be seen pretty much anywhere on the BR system in the 1950s and 60s, however they're best known for their outstanding performances on the Great Eastern line from Norwich to Liverpool Street. They were the only real top link express steam locos the line saw, replacing the great (but inadequate for the increasing loads) LNER B17 4-6-0s. Their other main allocation was to the Western Region, where their introduction wasn't as smooth. The former men of the GWR were hostile to nationalisation and everything that came with it, and the enginemen who took great pride in their Castles and Kings found it difficult to adapt to the new locos. Eventually a few sheds came round to them (appropriately for this photo Cardiff Canton was one of them), however they never ousted the Castles and Kings from being the main motive power behind expresses, right up until the end of steam.
I'm loving all your steam engine pics and info - you're very fortunate to see this many. Keep up the good work!
On the 29/09/2021 I travelled to York for a short holiday. It's a strong contender for my favourite city in the UK, and I've stayed there a number of times. Not long after arriving I snapped a photo of 802202, one of TPE's new "Nova 1" fleet. In the background a Northern Class 195 can be seen waiting to form a stopping service to Leeds. I wasn't sold on the stained glass livery at first, but I've really warmed up to it and now I think it's the best livery currently in Britain. It looks fantastic! (the lighting isn't the best to show it off here though). I don't know who decided each allocation of 80x sets should get it's own silly nickname- in addition to "Nova 1", LNER call theirs' "Azumas", Hull Trains have the "Paragons" (which at least makes sense considering they run to Hull Paragon). GWR in a homage to the HSTs insist on calling their sets "Intercity Express Trains" or "IET". Neither of these are as catchy or memorable as what came before them in my opinion. EMR's new fleet of Class 810s will be called "Auroras"! It's a pretty name but doesn't roll off the tongue very well. I dread to think what Avanti intend on calling theirs!
I'm glad you're enjoying them! In the past few months I've really reinvigorated my interest in steam, so I'm trying to see as many railtours as I can. If you wanna keep an eye out for railtours I use railadvent's website to keep track of what's going on. They provide links to the Realtime Trains timings when they become available too, which is useful. The site also shows Diesel Railtours and light engine movements too. https://www.railadvent.co.uk/railtours
I often struggle to come up with positive things to say about my hometown of Merthyr Tydfil, however one benefit I'm grateful for is that I live within walking distance of a narrow gauge steam railway! Specifically the Brecon Mountain Railway, which runs for 5 miles from Pant to Torpantau, along the alignment of the former Brecon and Merthyr railway which closed in 1964. The northern terminus of Torpantau stops just a bit short of Torpantau tunnel, which used to be the highest standard gauge railway tunnel in the UK. They have three locomotives, two of which built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in the USA, and the third being a German tank engine. The loco I had on my journey was the Santa Teresa- recently restored in 2019 but built as far back as 1897 for a railway in Brazil. I visited it last Thursday, and as the photos show, the scenery is absolutely worth the trip, and for once I lucked out with the Welsh weather! I've also included a couple of photos of the workshop at Pant, where you have an excellent viewing area. If you ever find yourself in the South Wales area I would definitely recommend paying it a visit!
As we all know there have been 3 days of rail strikes this week in the UK. On Saturday morning something very interesting happened at York railway station. Due to the line between Doncaster and Leeds being closed from Friday evening and into Saturday because of a tree blocking the line and damaging OHLE, LNER had to divert some of their services to York. This lead to 3, yes 3, class 91 and IC225 sets being stabled at York overnight. On Saturday morning, these sets needed to be moved to Neville Hill TMD in Leeds but due to the line being unavailable for electric use between Wakefield and Doncaster, these sets had to be dragged from York to Leeds via Church Fenton and Garforth. Chosen for the task was DRS locomotive 37425 'Sir Robert McAlpine/Concrete Bob' which had been based at the parcel sidings in York for a while. Railcam UK has various live railway cameras throughout the UK (some available for free on YouTube such as York and Crewe) and has put together a video showing this event. Myself and some regulars from the York cam YouTube chat were glued to the screen for several hours just watching what happened.
Made a quick after work visit to the real Boston Sprinter a few days ago. Saw both a regional with an ACS-64 and an Acela Express shortly after. Photos taken at Attleboro Station.
Last Thursday I visited the Didcot Railway Centre, home of the Great Western Society. It's a mecca for Great Western fans like myself, and if you're a fan of steam locomotives then you absolutely owe it to yourself to visit it if you can. The highlight is without a doubt the authentic 1932 built engine shed, housing several iconic GWR locos. You're allowed to wander around to your heart's content, and as I went in the middle of a weekday I had the shed to myself at some times! I'll show off more of the individual locos on display in the future, to give them proper focus. Their pride and joy is without a doubt Castle Class 4-6-0 no. 4079 Pendennis Castle. Of all the Castles in preservation this is probably the most famous. In the infamous 1925 exchange trials with the LNER it was sent to work on the East Coast Mainline between King's Cross and Doncaster. It definitively outperformed the much larger A1 Pacifics on it's own turf, and in the 1926 British Empire Exhibition it was displayed next to A1 no. 4472 Flying Scotsman, with a notice cheekily proclaiming the Castle to be Britain's most powerful express loco. The two engines have sort of been seen as rivals ever since, like the Goku Vs Superman debate of the railway world. In 1964, nearing the end of steam on the Western Region, 4079 was selected to haul an Ian Allan railtour from Paddington to Taunton. It was billed as possibly one of the last high speed steam runs on BR, and it certainly went like the clappers, however unfortunately one of the firebars melted when it was travelling at 96mph and the engine had to be removed from the train at Westbury. It then went to Western Australia to work on an iron ore railway, and it reunited with Flying Scotsman when that loco was on it's tour of the country. They even double headed a few trains together. It was brought back to Didcot in 2000 and after a very lengthy overhaul was finally relaunched in steam of April of this year. For now it'll only be running on select days on the demonstration line, but here's hoping it'll one day return to the mainline.
Thought I'd add to this chain of Class 37 stuff. Back in 2019, Transport for Wales briefly hired some 37+ Mk2 sets for use on the Rhymney line owing to DMU shortages. These locos have been historically connected with this route for some time- they worked on the line in the 90s up until the mid 2000s, so it was great to see them return. All pictures are at Cardiff Central- the top one is of 37025 (a VERY long way away from it's namesake!), the middle shows 37418 and the bottom one is of 37421 on a wet December evening. Far from my best night photo but I thought it was worth sharing.
How about a Tram Boston MBTA Type 8 made by Ansaldo Breda 1998-2008. Motors are MTA NYC R142A R188 7211-7936 R143 8100-8312. Runs with MBTA Type 7 Kinki Sharyo 1986-1988 & 1996-1998 these are on the Green Line
Ivatt 41313 at Havenstreet last week after I gave her a good clean for the 1940s event she was the newest train on the island before the island line had the upgrade. The railway also has 42198 and tender ivatt 46447 she is on loan to the east summer set
ES44 8027 Near Rockwood TN SD70 2737 at Oakdale Yard in Tennnessee C44-9W 9742 Somewhere near Oakdale TN C40-8W 8314 In Bulls Gap TN coming from the yard UP 4237 Entering Bulls Gap Yard
C44-9W 9354 At Bulls Gap TN UP 4237 Near Yard limit watching as the yard switcher shoves some cars ET44AC 3646 Near Bulls Gap C44-9W In Bulls Gap TN C44-9W 8993 Leaving Bulls Gap Yard
UP 2232 Entering Bulls Gap Yard ES44AC 7512 In Bulls Gap TN C44-9W 9970 In Bulls Gap TN SD70 1081 In Bulls Gap TN C44-9W 9493 Leaving Bulls Gap TN
A recent railfanning trip to Eastern Connecticut, this is Providence and Worcester train NR-4, an as needed local industrial switcher on the Norwich Main. The power for this day was GE B39-8 #3904 painted in corporate Genesee and Wyoming colors.
Cheshire is more scenic than Spirit of Steam makes out, here are some pics from my walk today under Dutton Viaduct which passes over the River Weaver just south of Weaver Junction.....
On the 15/9/2019 I paid a visit to the East Lancashire Railway, a preserved railway which I highly recommend visiting if you ever find yourself in the Manchester area. The first train I went on was hauled by a BR Standard 4MT Tank, no 80080. These were based on the preceding LMS Stanier and Fairburn 2-6-4Ts, and were one of the most successful of the BR Standard designs. They were often used for suburban semi fast services, and 80080 spent most of it's working life on the former London, Tilbury and Southend line. The top photo is of it at Bury Bolton Street and the bottom one was taken at Rawtenstall. I had to make do with a diesel on my return trip from Rawtenstall. Specifically 56006, which I believe is one of the original batch of 56s to have been built in Romania. While I prefer steam I can't deny that the loco sounded absolutely magnificent in the tunnels. I could listen to that engine scream all day!
Some beautiful commuter EMUs over level crossings of Seibu Shinjuku Line Nippori Station view with EMUs from various lines running:
My dad and I went out last Saturday to Wauseon, Ohio and rail fanned Norfolk Southern's busy Chicago main line. The highlight from this trip was definitely seeing the Reading heritage unit (unfortunately I don't have a pic of it since I was mostly rerecording video).
Back in June I visited the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway, just outside Cheltenham. It's a great preserved railway and I highly recommend you visit if you have the chance. When is was there I had the pleasure of seeing not one but two Bulleid Pacifics running- visiting from the Swanage Railway was Rebuilt West Country no. 34028 Eddystone (which unfortunately I was unable to get a decent photo of) as well as the line's own Merchant Navy - no. 35006 Peninsular & Oriental S. N. Co. I wish Bulleid gave his top link express engines more exciting names like his mentor Gresley did! This photo shows the engine at Broadway, the northern terminus of the line. It is kind of sad seeing these powerful stallions relegated to trundling up and down at 25mph with loads half as light as what they were designed for hauling, but I suppose it's better than them being static exhibits or worse still rotting away in a shed. Thankfully we currently have two mainline certified Merchant Navies to enjoy in preservation (I was even allowed onto the footplate of one of them! If you go back far enough you'll see the pictures). The rebuilding of both types of Bulleid Pacifics was undertaken as a measure to improve their reliability, efficiency and ease of maintenance. The unrebuilt Bulleids (Spam- Cans as they were known due to their air- smoothed casing) were exceptionally free running and powerful, being able to seriously challenge both the LNER A4s and LMS Duchesses in both the speed and power categories, however that came at the cost of very high coal consumption, and they were very prone to failure. Not only that but because of the oil bath encasing the motion (another novel feature of the original design), occasionally leaking the engines developed an unenviable reputation for slipping. At one point I believe BR were considering getting rid of the whole lot and replacing the fleet with Britannias, but the rebuilding of the engines resulted. The best features of the original engines were retained, and what resulted were some of the best looking Pacifics in the country, which while perhaps not as powerful as the original engines (the boiler pressure was reduced from 280 psi to 250), were still capable of an excellent turn of speed. When it comes to the number of recorded instances of speeds at or in excess of 100mph, the Merchant Navies are second only to the streamlined A4s.
I was on holiday in Brighton last week, and I spent three days exploring lots of lines in the South of England. Here are a few photos I took at locations seen in TSW2's East Coastway and London Commuter routes. 700144 is seen at East Croydon on a bright and sunny morning on the 24/7/2022. Taken the previous day, and quite far out of typical GWR territory is 165110, working a Gatwick- Reading service (or Reading- Gatwick, I can't remember which way it came in from). Taken earlier the same day, on a beautiful morning at Brighton 377452 waits to form a West Coastway service to Portsmouth Harbour. On the 25/7/2022, 377120 arrives at Lewes on a London Victoria to Ore service. And earlier in the week on the 23/7/2022 I rode 171806 on one of the only regular diesel hauled trains in the South East of England- Southern's service from Ashford International to Eastbourne via Hastings. This photo was taken at Eastbourne after I had ridden it throughout from Ashford. It's an interesting line between Ore and Ashford- it's single track in parts and it's a nice change from the high density commuter feel of other routes in Kent. I travelled on the branch to Uckfield later in the week (I wasn't able to get photos unfortunately), and it had a similar feel.