A sunny Sunday afternoon and I was down at the Swanage Railway on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset

A cool cloudy Sunday afternoon at the East Kent Railway at Sheperdswell, Kent. A short 2 mile line which is all that remains of the East Kent Light Railway built by Colonel Stephens

My latest visit to the Kent and East Sussex Railway in April 2007

A visit to the Severn Valley Railway on a lovely sunny Sunday in April 2007. We take the 10.30 departure from Kidderminster........

The Spa Valley Railway runs 3 miles between Tunbridge Wells West and Groombridge on the Kent/Sussex Border.
My first visit to the railways coincided with a visit by 32662 Martello from the Bressingham Steam Museum who ran all the steam services whilst I was there.
They hope to reach Eridge before too much longer where an indirect connection with the Uckfield Line will be possible. The line is currently open to Birchden but does not see regularly scheduled services beyond Groombridge.

On the return from the GW Railway weekend trip in June 2006, a few of the Bluebell members who still had "railway stamina" paid a visit to the Didcot Railway Centre (near Didcot Parkway Station) on our way home. Normally closed on a Monday, the centre provided a guide and a tour in return for a donation.

During the visit to the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway by the Bluebell tourists, a small party "jumped the rails" at Winchcombe and walked the one mile or so into the town. In the town, we found the Winchcombe Railway Museum. Accessed from a small gateway in an unassuming frontage, a small passageway led to an amazing collection of railway ephemera crammed into a half acre of Cotswold back garden.

A group from the Bluebell went on an arranged visit to the Gloucestershire Warwickshire railway near Cheltenham. The railway runs from Toddington (where its base is located) at the northern end, to Cheltenham Racecourse Station at the southern end - reached 2 years ago. Here are a few snaps of bits and pieces from the visit!

For the whole weekend of 6 / 7 May 2006, the Kent and East Sussex Railway based at Tenterden in Kent, ran a Terrier Festival. Not dogs (although their was a terrier dog show in the field by Tenterden Town Station Car Park on the Sunday), but small steam locomotives. 5 of these elderly locomotives were gathered together: "Bodiam" newly restored resident of the KESR, "Knowle" (32678) daily workhorse on the KESR, "Stepney" & "Fenchurch" - both from the Bluebell Railway, and "Martello" (32662) from Bressingham Steam Museum.

Please also have a look in the general photo collection for the Kent and East Sussex Railway - this can be found towards the bottom of the list of collections

Just off the A2 between Canterbury and Dover, there is small 2 mile railway with plenty of character. It doesn't have a working steam loco, but makes up for that with enthusiasm and friendliness. Take a short ride with me on their Class 101 DMMU.
The railway is tiny remnant of a light railway system built to serve the former East Kent coalfields. The last stretch of railway was closed by BR in 1987 and reopened by the EKR in 1995.

A brief visit to the "World's Smallest Public Railway". The photos were taken on a brief Sunday visit to this 13.5 mile 15in gauge railway located on the south coast of Kent

On the way home from a recent visit to Yorkshire, I called in at the National Railway Museum in York for a couple of hours.
I have would be grateful for any help in identifying the locomotives that I have been unable to name.
I have already received several identifications for which I most grateful; I have finally got around to including them and updating my captions.
Leave a comment if you can help with any of the remaining photos.

The saloon normally lives at the Bluebell Railway in Sussex and is brought out on "high days and holidays".
During April 2005 it visited the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. It was during this visit that I took this small collection of photos

The P-Way gang took a second trip up to the NYMR in April 2005 to visit at the Gresley 100 celebration. During the weekend of 16th & 17th April there was a mini war weekend 'Gresley at War'. Enjoy my snaps of the railway as I saw it.

The Southern Electric Group have berthed a carraige from their 4-Cor at Horsted Keynes as a static exhibit. Join me on a short tour!

A selection of snaps taken around Horsted Keynes on the Giants of Steam Sunday - 24th October 2004. A day when the sun managed to shine just a little bit, and the trains shone even more.

Along with several others from the Bluebell Railway, I visited the North Yorkshire Moors Railway over the weekend of the 2nd & 3rd October 2004. On the 3rd we were out and about with their permanent way gang, but Saturday 2nd saw us out photographing. Here are my photos of the day.....

The Blue circle locomotive visited the Bluebell over the weekend of 26/27th June. I even managed to get a ride......

Sunday 27th June 2004 was the last day of the Thomasfest at the Bluebell. Large crowds, packed trains, and happy kids were the order othe day.

The work on the Bluebell extension is making headway towards East Grinstead.
This album currently contains pictures from May & June 2004.

Please remember the Bluebell railway Northern Extension is a contstruction area, and is off-limits to those not on official business and without permission.

A selection of action & 'still-life' photographs of the Bluebell Railway volunteer Permanent Way Gang.

Please remember that railways are dangerous places, and that I only have access to the lineside through my work with the gang.
Most heritage railways in the UK have volunteering opportunities. If you feel you would like to join in, then get in touch with your local railway.
The Bluebell Railway website gives full details of ours, and the link can be found on the gallery front page.

** 29/05/2004 ** 2 new photos: The key skill of waving trains is demonstrated by a keen exponent of the art, and three members working quietly on the linbe near to Horsted House Crossing.

** 06/06/2004 ** 2 new photos: Jacking and packing work taking place immediately south of Kingscote station labelled Kingscote P-Way Work 1 & 2.

** 03/07/2004 ** 1 new photo: Loading ballast "the easy way" into hoppers for the use on the Northern Extension

** 25/10/2004 ** 3 new photos: Showing the reconstruction of the eastern formation immediately north of Horsted Keynes; the new pointwork north of 3 & 4 roads at HK; and the p-way guide to using a keying hammer.........

** 16/01/2005 ** 7 new photos: Work at Horsted Keynes taken earlier today; what happens when a train passes a working site, the new experimental buffers, and 'The Three Stooges'

** 30/01/2005 ** 4 new photos: The finishing touches to the maintenance of 'A' road in the Carraige & Wagon Shed. Infill is placed in between the sleepers.

A selection of images of typical Bluebell track & trains from all over the line.

I have access to the lineside only through my volunteer work in Permanent Way; please don't trespass on any railway without permission - they are dangerous places.

** NEW: 03-07-2004 ** A picture of 55 & 75027 double-heading an afternoon train southbound from Horsted

** NEW: 16-01-2005 ** 2 pictures of 672 Fenchurch north of Horsted Keynes

This is currently the temporary northern terminus of the Bluebell, itself only reached 10 years ago.
Soon trains will be stopping here on their way to & from East Grinstead about two miles north-east.

** 6/6/2004 **
2 photos added: 1 is a general view of the station from the trackside south of the station, and the other is a b&w view of a token exchange at the Kingscote signal box.

Horsted Keynes station, the mid-point of the Bluebell Railway. Home to the Carraige & Wagon, Permanent Way, and Signalling & Telecoms Departments.
It was also the start of the former electrified branch to Ardingly & Haywards Heath which was among the very few electric lines to close, and it did so in 1963.

The southern station on the Bluebell Railway, and the start point for the majority of train trips on the Bluebell. It is also home to the Locomotive Department.
Two collections of photos; 11-01-2003 & 14-01-2007

The WSR runs from Bishops Lydeard to Minehead - a distance of twenty miles.

Running through the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, the traveller is taken from Norden to Swanage

The Severn Valley Railway runs from Kidderminster to Bridgnorth in Shropshire

The Mid-Hants Railway, also known as the Watercress Line, runs from Alton to Alresford in Hampshire.
This railway was visited as part of an 'exchange' between the permanent way gangs on the Bluebell and the Mid-Hants during September 2003.

The Kent & East Sussex Railway runs from Tenterden in Kent to Bodiam in East Sussex

** NEW **: 21-05-2005
11 new photos taken at the Kent and East Sussex Railway on a sunny May afternoon

** NEW **: 07-05-2006
10 new photos of tracks and crossings taken from the LNWR Inspection Saloon platform on a run from Bodiam to Tenterden