A quick visit on saturday as the sun was out.The trains were full of little Brownies bless em! I did'nt stay long.

A fantastic day.No other railway could manage this.Superb organisation.Well done to all.

This year's Autumn Gala at the Great Central was named the Heavy Metal Show and it certainly lived up to it's name.I visited on Friday and saturday and it was pretty hectic especially on saturday with a mixture of freight and passenger trains pounding the metals.Thanks again to Mike Snow for transport on saturday.

My visit to the SVR Gala in the company of Mike Snow was an enjoyable one and the sun made several appearances in the afternoon.I shared the same field as that master of steam photography Ed Hirst who was explaining his techniques to the assembled gallery.

My first visit to the Rutland railway Museum near Cottesmore.They were holding a Heritage day which meant no entrance fee to this quarry based industrial line.One loco was in steam but the museum is fascinating and well worth a visit.

Tangmere at Budbrooke near Warwick on it's way to Stratford Upon Avon from London Victoria

The two recently refurbished tank engines the Fairburn and the N2 were paired together this weekend and were scheduled to double head the 4.45pm departure from Loughborough on saturday. I made a flying visit over there.

I ventured over to darkest Warwickshire on sunday to catch a glimpse of Earl of Mount Edgecombe on it's first return from Stratford.I managed to **** up my camera settings so I apologise for the quality in advance.

My first view of the N2 at Leicester North with the newly canopied station .

After a week of heavy showers Saturday promised a welcome spell of dry and hopefully sunny weather.However the sunny spells which did materialise did'nt coincide with the timetabled appearance of any steam locomotives and once again we were left to ponder on what might have been.Thanks again to Mike Snow for ferrying Clive and I around.The Gala ran more or less to time and seemed well attended.

It's July so it must be Foxfield.Another excellent day in the company of ace videographer Mike Snow at the annual Foxfield Gala.Never any complaints about engines not working here!

A quick visit to the GCR to see the newly commissioned and freshly painted Fairburn Tank.

I made a rare visit down to the SVR at the weekend .The occasion was the WW2 weekend re-enactment although primarily the aim was to photograph the trains.I must thank Mike Snow once again for driving me and Clive Hanley for keeping me out of trouble.

I spent a couple of hours on sunday at Quorn station in the sunshine at the GCR's War weekend . The trains were incidental at this event the main feature being the service and civilian people re-enacting the period of WWII. I have to admit to not really being a people photographer but I found that most people were only to willing to pose,getting them not to pose was the problem!

I recently travelled from Rugby to Euston by train,my first visit to Rugby since the extensive station redevelopment took place there.The work which was highly publicised for overrunning time is extensive and I visited a few days before I was due to travel to get the lay of the land so to speak.All these pictures were taken with my new little compact digital Panasonic TZ6 which has a 12X zoom and which takes amazing pictures.Thanks to Clive Hanley for recommending it to me.See my PicturesGalore website for the London pics.

Celebrating 25 years the G&WR held its Festival of Steam this weekend. I accompanied Mike Snow on saturday which turned out quite sunny although it clouded over in the morning.A mixed bag of locos and some odd timetabling but still quite enjoyable especially as we enjoyed the excellent company of Graham ,Gordon,Henry and the incomparable Dee.

Once again I entered some pictures in the annual L&LPS competition for pictures taken on the GCR.This time I came away empty handed but for sake of continuity and fairness I am posting my entries on my site.There is also a link to the winning pictures posted on the L&LPS site See winners.

I spent three days up in North Yorkshire being blown about at the so called NYMR Gala.I have to admit being disappointed that so few engines were actually working. The Glossy brochure was pretty much a farce as regards which locos were running on the friday as there were only three locos actually on passenger train duties, no more than on thursday. Ok so Tornado was one of them, but not good enough for a Gala! Also there were no freights running at the weekend! My rant is over so here are the pics,enjoy.

The first saturday of the nine day Steam Gala at the Llangollen Railway dawned bright and sunny.Thanks to Clive Hanley for chauffering me in his limo I was able to attend this event for the first time.The weather was great and the lineup of locomotives inspiring.Congratulations to the Betton Grange society for organising the event,the printed programme was the best I've ever seen and I hope others take note.

In somewhat dismal weather the so called GCR Tank Engine Gala commenced over the Easter weekend.Saturday dawned grey and drizzly and so it stayed most of the day.With visitors from the NNR and KWVR the third engine insteam was 4141 which is nearly out of it's ticket.Thanks to Mike Snow for ferrying us about.

The annual trip to the WSR Spring Gala was eagerly awaited but not so the traditional dousing we seem to get each year.This time it was the strong winds which sought to blow us and the smoke everyway.It was cold wet and windy at times especially on the first couple of days but sunday was lovely.Timetabling was at times baffling with tender first locomotives too prevalent but in spite of all this it was enjoyable.Thanks to Graham,Gordon ,Henry and Dee for their company and to the WSR for keeping this wonderful line running and well kept!

On saturday I made one of my rare trips to the east coast to the NNR Gala commemorating the closure of the M&GN. My thanks to Mike Snow for taking me on the 240 mile round trip.

After suffering with flu for a couple of weeks I ventured over to Loughborough for a few shots in the sunshine.Not as exciting as the Bluebell but it will have to do!

Along with the rest of the world or so it seemedI managed to photograph Tornado in glorious sunshine at South Muskham north of Newark as she sped south from Darlington to Kings Cross.

The Winter Gala was blessed with fine weather on saturday and was once again a non stop steam fest from start to finish.Those reprobates Mike and Clive once again kept me from seizing up in the cold and I am endebted to Mike for ferrying us around.