Consett: Q6 0-8-0 no 63357 in the yard at Consett on 15 February 1964.

Beamish: A train of steel flats climbs through Beamish towards Consett in February 1964 behind Q6 0-8-0 no 63455. Tyne Dock shed's allocation around this time included 16 of the hard working and reliable Q6s as well as 10 of the Westinghouse pump - fitted 9F 2-10-0s.

Consett: Looking across the ash roads in the shed yard at 52K Consett in February 1964. Resident Q6 0-8-0 no 63379 stands beyond, having arrived earlier with a train of empty steel flats see image [[23814]]

Beamish: BR Standard class 9F 2-10-0 no 92097, having taken on WD 2-8-0 no 90434 as banker at South Pelaw, climbs through Beamish on an overcast Saturday 15 February 1964 with iron ore destined for Consett. By the time the train reaches its destination, it will have lifted its load from the import terminal at Tyne Dock bottom, on the south bank of the river, to the steel town, on the eastern edge of the Pennines, one thousand feet above sea level and, along the way, will have overcome gradients of up to 1 in 35.

Consett: One of the solid and reliable Raven Q6 0-8-0 locomotives, no 63394, simmers in the yard at Consett in February 1964. Consett shed (52K) was closed the following year.

Beamish: A hard working Q6 no 63379 climbs through Beamish past a notable North Eastern signal post hauling empty steel flats destined for Consett on 15 February 1964.

Annfield Plain: A February morning at Annfield East in 1964, as BR standard class 9F 2-10-0 no 92063 works hard on the rear of a Consett bound iron ore train. Sister locomotive 92066 is on the front of the train see image [[23835]].

Beamish: Q6 0-8-0 no 63357 near Beamish up distant on a misty 15 February 1964 see image [[27314]].

Annfield Plain: Not the ideal time for quiet contemplation amongst the good people of Annfield Plain, as a pair of Tyne Dock's finest wrestles 700 tons of iron ore onwards and upwards past Annfield East box on the final leg of the climb towards Consett steel works in February 1964. 92066 is the train locomotive on this occasion with 92063 banking.

Beamish: Q6 0-8-0 no 63455 climbs through Beamish on a chilly February day in 1964 with a train of steel flats returning to Consett.

Annfield Plain: BR Standard class 9F 2-10-0 no 92098 running downhill near Annfield Plain with iron ore empties from Consett on 15 February 1964.

Annfield Plain: What is thought to be Q6 no 63455, photographed on the climb towards Consett near Annfield Plain in February 1964.

Beamish: WD Austerity 2-8-0 no 90434 works hard at the back end of an iron ore train climbing through Beamish on 15 February 1964. Together with Standard class 9F 2-10-0 no 92097 on the front of the train the locomotive is helping to move 700 tons of iron ore from Tyne Dock import terminal up to the blast furnaces of Consett steel works on the western edge of County Durham.

Bathgate West Junction [2nd]: The crew cast a friendly eye from the cab of J36 65267 as they set off from Bathgate with a short freight in the direction of Westfield on 15th February 1965. Earlier in the afternoon, they had kindly given my young brother a cab ride during locomotive's preceding duty, banking a coal train up the hill to Armadale. The locomotive is about to cross Whitburn Road.

Bathgate Yard: Contrast in Bathgate yard in 1965, between the still relatively new Standard Class 2MT 2-6-0 78050, less than ten years old, and the venerable ex-NBR J36 65243 'Maude', by then more than seventy years of age.

Bathgate West Junction [2nd]: The crew of ex-NB J36 0-6-0 65267 'watches the birdie' on 1th February 1965, while waiting for the home signal to clear at Bathgate West junction, to allow the train to proceed through Bathgate Upper into Bathgate yard.

Polkemmet Junction: One of the tasks given to Bathgate's J36 65267 on 15th February 1965 was to bank a westbound coal train up the hill to Armadale. I was quietly watching the spectacle as the loco came past, not planning a photograph, but had to grab the camera quickly when I saw my young brother grinning down at me from the footplate! Unknown to me, he had got himself invited on to the footplate by the very affable crew!

Glasgow Central: A 303 leaves Glasgow Central on 15 February 1967 displaying the less than helpful destination Glasgow.

Grangemouth MPD: Probably the first view I ever had of Grangemouth Shed. The back wall and outbuildings as seen on Sunday 15th February 1970.

Grangemouth MPD: The north side of Grangemouth shed on Sunday 15th February 1970, with only the shed foreman's Austin A40 Farina betraying that there's any life on the premises.

Edinburgh Waverley: Deltic D9009 'Alycidon' leaves Waverley with the 12.15 (SuO) to Kings Cross.

Grangemouth MPD: A quiet Sunday at Grangemouth on 15 February 1970, although the line-up on shed suggests there will be quite a bit of activity once Monday morning arrives.

Tinsley Marshalling Yard: Detail of one of the 3 class 13 super - shunters formed by permanently coupling a pair of class 08s (one with the cab removed) in a master and slave combination to handle hump shunting in Tinsley Yard. (A larger rigid-framed locomotive could not be used due to a risk of grounding on the hump). This example consisted of D4189 (left) and D4190, jointly becoming D4501, later renumbered 13001. The locomotives became redundant on closure of Tinsley hump in 1985, with 13001 scrapped at BREL Swindon the same year. See image [[38598]]

Springs Branch Shed: View from a passing train of Springs Branch, Wigan MPD in February 1986. A pair of Class 20s appear to have made a recent fuel delivery. After closure the depot became an EWS loco component recovery centre, and was later used by Network Rail track machines, but is now an EMU and DMU depot for Northern.

Warrington Bank Quay: 20006 leads a sister loco on a northbound freight, possibly steel empties, through Warrington Bank Quay on 15 February 1986.

Prestonhall Level Crossing: Long, long ago, before Glenrothes had been invented, the Leslie branch served various mills along the Leven valley. Photograph taken in February 2007 showing the remains of Prestonhall level crossing, a mile west of Markinch, with rails still imbedded in the road. View west along the trackbed of the short stub which latterly served Auchmuty Paper Mill. The route is now a walkway.

Kincardine: A lone ballast wagon stands near Kincardine on 15 February 2007. View south along the exit line from the yard.

Alloa: Work underway on what will become the main entrance to Alloa station. 15 February 2007.

Alloa [1st]: Alloa - view west on 15 February 2007.

Larkhall: View north over the buffer stops at Larkhall on 15 February, with the 14.37 to Dalmuir standing at platform 2.

Hamilton Central: Scene at Hamilton Central on 15 February 2008.

Borwick: Railway Cottage was built to be Borwick Station but when the railway arrived it was in the wrong location and an identical building See image [[18286]] was built alongside the line, about 100 yards away. The station that has never seen any trains!

Borwick: Borwick Station (SD537729) opened in 1867 and closed in 1960 but still used as a home. Viewed westwards towards Carnforth. Just down the hill from here stands Railway Cottage, which has an interesting story....See image [[18285]]

Livingston North: What the..? A passenger off the departing 1448 Waverley - Bathgate train takes in the scene around Livingston North station on 15 February 2008, in apparent disbelief at what has occurred here in the past few days. (I was a bit taken aback myself to be honest...)

Clifton Bridge: Freightliner 66523 coasts past the closed station of Clifton Bridge towards Bristol on 15 February with a loaded coal train on the Portishead branch (reopened for freight traffic in 2001).

Uphall: An Edinburgh - Bathgate service pulls into the platform at Uphall on 15 February 2008 as traffic continues west along the M8. Note the area now pegged around the site of the second platform as well as the work underway beyond in preparation for new infrastructure on the north side of the station.

Clifton: View across the Avon from the Portishead branch on 15 February towards the lower entrance to the Clifton Rocks Railway, a funicular built within the cliff face of the Avon Gorge. Closed since 1934, the Clifton Rocks Railway Trust has been formed with the objective of restoring this unique structure.

Livingston North: A ScotRail 158 leaves Livingston North on a Bathgate - Waverley service on 15 February 2008.

Uphall: The 14.33 train to Edinburgh Waverley boards at Uphall on 15 February. Note the earth moving equipment at work on new access facilities on the the north side of the line in connection with the doubling of the route.

Kinghorn: The sole, disabled-hostile access to Platform 1 at Kinghorn station. 15 February 2009.

Portsoy [2nd]: View from location of the old down platform looking towards Tillynaught junction. The station is now in use as a scout hut.

Spey Bay: Spey Bay survives under private ownership, but could do with a lick of paint!

Overton: 60163 Tornado photographed shortly after leaving Overton on 15 February 2009 with The Cathedrals Express special, which ran Victoria - Andover - Southampton and back via Winchester.

Pass of Brander Stone Signals: View from the roadside of the stone signals at the Pass of Brander. Should a rock fall occur then a series of wires that run along this stretch of line automatically throw the semaphore signals to Danger!! Hopefully averting a disaster!!

Corrour: Not long after passing Lubnaclach a southbound Sprinter heads for the Cruach Rock Shed in February 2010.

Corrour: Corrour and snowy mountains seen from the east in 2010.

Cruach Rock Shed: I love this kind of photograph; a train barely visible in landscape. This shows much of the nature of the West Highland Railway and given that the train is a Sprinter you might forgive me.
A southbound distant Sprinter (top right) will have to work its way all the way over to the left before reaching the line in the foreground. View is from above the Cruach Snowshed.

Corrour: Corrour at night looking towards Rannoch. I was waiting on the southbound train and boy was it cold! The platform has been resurfaced since my last visit, which was quite some time ago. The track to the right is the one generally in use.

Warwick: A CrossCountry Voyager bound for Reading passes through Warwick on 15th February 2010

Moniaive: The large former goods shed at Moniave at the northern terminus of the Cairn Valley Light Railway, seen here in February 2010 in use by the local farmer. [See recent news item]

Corrour: At 1520 the northbound service for Fort William pauses at Corrour. It's been 15 years since I was a regular user of Corrour and the new station house and a waiting room on the platform are distinct improvements over the old Mansard roof house and no shelter whatsoever. Pity there's no door on the new waiting room.

Moniaive: The old station building at Moniaive continues its slow, inexorable decline, seen here standing in the rain on 15 February 2010, having handled its last passenger in May 1943.

Corrour: Across the Wasteland: the northbound bauxite and oil tanks for Fort William run north towards Corrour (an hour earlier than scheduled). Viewed from just south of Lubnaclach.

Cruach Rock Shed: View south over the southern half of the Cruach Rock Snowshed. This is a covered cutting running north 205 yards from a girder overbridge. The roof is made of corrugated iron laid over a structure built of old rails with two walls built on either side of the cutting. There is a central portion which can be lifted off in the summer and replaced to keep the snow out of the cutting. When a train passes some of the central portions are lifted by the dam of air pushed by the train. Spoil from the cutting can be seen on the right.

Cruach Rock Shed: The Fort William portion of the Caledonian Sleeper approaching Cruach Rock Snowshed from Rannoch on the morning of 15 February 2010. This cutting lies about a mile north of Rannoch station. From the first winter following the opening of the line this section suffered from snow blockages. Snow fences were built down either side of the line (there is one on the left here and spoil from the cutting on the right) and a portion of the cutting was covered over with Britain's only snowshed. Stone from the cutting was used in the construction of Rannoch Viaduct.

Cruach Rock Shed: View north over the northern half of the Cruach Rock Snowshed. This is a covered cutting running north 205 yards from a girder overbridge. The roof is made of corrugated iron laid over a structure built of old rails with two walls built on either side of the cutting. There is a central portion which can be lifted off in the summer and replaced to keep the snow out of the cutting. When a train passes some of the central portions are lifted by the dam of air pushed by the train. Spoil from the cutting can be seen on the left.

Waun-Gron Park: The off-set platforms on Arriva Trains Wales City Line Waun-gron Park station looking towards Cardiff on a miserable February evening in 2011.

Glencorse Viaduct: Looking over a wall alongside the A701 at Glencorse, Midlothian, showing the eastern portal of Glencorse Tunnel. Trains from Roslin reached this point by crossing a viaduct off to the left and, after clearing the 40 yard tunnel, turned south to reach Glencorse station on the other side of the road. The station lost its passenger service in 1933, while the line from Roslin closed completely in 1959. The viaduct was demolished in 1987 and the tunnel entrances were subsequently fenced off. View south west in February 2011, with traffic on the A701 heading for Penicuik.

Bodsberry Level Crossing: A southbound Pendolino passes Bodsbury Level Crossing.

Kirkby Stephen: A southbound service pauses at Kirkby Stephen. The station has a tea-room in the main building - with rather cute cup and saucer signs around the station.

Edinburgh Waverley: The west end of Edinburgh Waverley on 15 February 2012, with ScotRail Glasgow shuttles headed by Turbostars 170457 and 170426 alongside the 12.00 East Coast service to London King's Cross.

Edinburgh Waverley: Over the wall from Market Street a CrossCountry Plymouth service awaits departure from Waverley platform 8 on 15 February amid the ongoing reconstruction works.

Lostock Hall: A pleasant change from the more mundane looking Class 66s that normally handle the Lindsey Oil Terminal to Preston Docks tar tank trains. No 60011, in DBS red livery, hauls the returning empty tanks through Lostock Hall on 15 February 2012.

Royal Scottish Museum: Wylam Dilly, preserved in the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh. Built to work on the Wylam Waggonway, circa 1814/15. Designed by William Hedley and built by him with Jonathan Foster and Timothy Hackworth, the locomotive, and her sister engine, Puffing Billy, herself now preserved in the Science Museum in London, were still operating at Wylam Colliery in 1860. Possibly the only locomotive to operate on water it did so in 1822, having been taken off her chassis and converted to drive paddles instead, to break a strike by the keelmen, who normally handled coal traffic on the Tyne.

Birkdale: Passing the redundant signal box at Birkdale is 508112, heading north towards Southport. Only a mile separates Birkdale station from Southport but there are four level crossings, all now controlled from the Merseyrail centre at Sandhills rather than the local signal boxes previously used.

Museum of Liverpool: The Titfield Thunderbolt herself, but masquerading as Lion of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in the display hall in the new Museum of Liverpool. It seems incredible to think that this veteran, built in 1838, steamed as recently as 1989. However, the work required now to allow her to steam safely would destroy too much conserved material so she will remain a static exhibit.

Haymarket: Construction work continuing apace at Haymarket on 15 February 2013.

Birkdale: Restored glass and wrought iron canopies are still in place at Birkdale, a suburb of Southport, and are seen to good effect on 15 February 2013 as 507009 calls on a Southport to Hunts Cross service.

Museum of Liverpool: The Liverpool Overhead Railway's last surviving car is part of an ingenious exhibit at the Museum of Liverpool. It is mounted on a replica section of the Dockers' Umbrella so visitors can see the height at which trains operated. There is also a replica station and visitors can enter the car and sit on the wooden seats. See image [[42111]]

Museum of Liverpool: The Museum of Liverpool's replica LOR station and last surviving car seen at 'platform level' on 15 February 2013. The Liverpool Overhead Railway closed at the end of 1956 and demolition was completed during 1958. See image [[42103]].

Ainsdale: A Hunts Cross to Southport service pulls away from Ainsdale heading for the next stop at Hillside in February 2013. 507026 is just passing one of the many level crossings at the northern end of this line. The tender process has now started to replace the 58 3-car EMUs in the elderly Merseyrail fleet.

Liverpool Pier Head: Falklands War veteran 'HMS Illustrious' berthed at Liverpool Ocean Terminal, near the Pier Head, on 15th February 2013. This was a public visit to the city by this famous aircraft carrier. She was decommissioned the following year and there was some talk of preservation but in the end she was towed to a Turkish ship breakers in 2016. Seven years after this visit one of Illustrious's successors would berth here for a similar public visit [[72355]].

Limehouse: Limehouse Viaduct, east London, from the south-east on 15th February 2014. This viaduct opened in 1840 for the London & Blackwall Railway and closed to passengers in 1926 and to freight in 1962. It then stood unused until utilised by the first stage of the Docklands Light Railway (Tower Gateway to Island Gardens section) in 1985. The viaduct is now a Grade 1 Listed Structure by English Heritage.

Abbey Road: Docklands Light Railway unit no. 50 from Stratford International to Beckton arriving at Abbey Road station, on 15th February 2014. This station has nothing to do with The Beatles as this Abbey Road is in darkest east London. The Abbey Road of John, Paul, George and Ringo fame is in the more salubrious neighbourhood of St. John's Wood in north-west London.

Shoreditch [NL]: Remains of the North London Railway station at Shoreditch opened with the Broad Street branch on 1st November 1865 and closed after heavy war damage on 3rd October 1940, seen here from a passing London Overground train on 15th February 2014. This is all that is left at platform level of the station but up until closure of the Broad Street branch in 1986, the disused central island platform was still in position. That was swept away during the reconstruction of the line as part of the London Overground which opened in April 2010 with a new section of track linking it to the former LUL East London Line to enable trains to run through from north to south London. The new section includes a station at Shoreditch High Street, further south and which was preferred to rebuilding the original 1865 NLR station. (I travelled on the very first train south from Dalston Junction to New Cross back in 2010 and I still have fond memories of riding the line in the 1960s, 70s and 80s into and out of the moribund eyesore that the once great Broad Street station (now demolished) had sadly become.)

Hardengreen Viaduct: The new bridge at Hardengreen starts to take shape.
Bob Smith's Flickr site.

Woolwich Arsenal [DLR]: Docklands Light Railway unit 123 waiting to depart for Bank from the sub-surface terminus at Woolwich Arsenal, opened in 2009 with the extension under the Thames from King George V, on 15th February 2014. This is an interchange with National Rail South Eastern services and will eventually be served by Crossrail that should have opened in December 2018. This is one of two DLR termini south of the Thames, the other being at Lewisham.

Farington Curve Junction: After three postponements the 2014 Tin Bath finally ran on 15th February 2015! Hauled by the Ian Riley Black 5s 44871 and 45407 the train is seen here making a spirited departure from Preston at Farington Curve Junction.

Leith Central: Thirty years since my last photograph see image [[18393]] and the hulking presence of Leith Central's trainshed has long since ceased to dominate Duke Street. It was demolished in the late 1980s to make way for a supermarket and leisure pool. The hipped roof of Tesco is however redolent of the old train shed. I refer to the store as Tesco Leith Central in an effort to keep the name alive.

Donibristle Platform: Pathfinder Tours The Great North of Scotland Reviver from Edinburgh to Elgin, utilising a mixed bag of stock from the Carmarthen - Edinburgh rugby special, climbs past Donibristle on 15 February behind 66086. 66232 is on the rear of the train.

Junction Bridge: Only a few hundred yards separated Junction Bridge station from North Leith terminus and most of it was in tunnel. The eastern end of the platforms ended under the bridge then the line swung left to go through the Coburg St tunnel, the mouth of which was to the left of this picture. Not a trace remains. A coal depot occupied the foreground. The branch closed to passengers in 1947, on the eve of nationalisation.

Sheffield: Double headers old and new at Sheffield on 15 February. On the right is the 13:21 Cross Country service to Glasgow Central whilst 44871 and 45407 The Lancashire Fusilier have been serviced and are ready to depart with the 13:29 return leg of the Tin Bath excursion to Preston.

Marple: A pair of EMT Class 158 units (806 and 812) passing through Marple on 15 February 2015 while working the 5M10 Nottingham to Manchester empty stock move.

Marple: Looking over Marple station on 15 February 2015 with a Sheffield to Manchester service at the platform.

Camperdown Junction: The former Camperdown level crossing, Dundee, on February 15 2015, looking south from the A92. The crossing was closed after the Port of Dundee confirmed access was no longer required. See image [[5947]]

Wigton: Pacers alive and well - at least for the moment. Northern 142052 calls at Wigton, Cumbria, on 15 February 2016.

Hest Bank: With the Settle & Carlisle line closed for landslip repairs at Armathwaite a number of freights have been diverted to run over the WCML. On a sunny February morning the cutting at Hest Bank is still in shade as DBS 66111 powers south with Castle Cement empty tanks from Mossend to Clitheroe.

Shawfair: The 1128 ex-Tweedbank, formed by ScotRail unit 158728, photographed on 15 February 2016. The train is heading north along the new route opened in 2015 between Shawfair and Newcraighall.

Shawfair: The 1154 Edinburgh Waverley - Tweedbank passing the Biogen anaerobic digestion facility at Millerhill on 15 February 2016 as it approaches the Shawfair stop.

Shawfair: The 1128 ex-Tweedbank seen shortly after leaving Shawfair heading for Newcraighall on 15 February 2016. Photographed from the road bridge to the north of the station.

Shawfair: Sunday morning at Shawfair on 15 February 2016 with the surroundings bathed in bright winter sunshine. The 1126 ScotRail service to Edinburgh Waverley (1045 ex-Tweedbank) is about to depart from platform 1.

Wigton: Sprinter bubble car 153331, on a Northern service from Carlisle to Workington and the Cumbrian Coast, calls at Wigton on 15th February 2016. The distinctive building just beyond the platforms is an old windmill on the edge of the town.

Shawfair: A bridge too far... the last bridge to be completed on the Borders Railway prior to commencement of passenger services in September 2015. The structure, to the south of Shawfair station, links the village of Newton to the west of the line with housing at Harelaw on the opposite side. View is east towards the latter in February 2016. See image [[50968]]

Haymarket: Milepost 5 at Haymarket Station. This E&G milepost dating from 1842 has tonight (15th) been installed at Haymarket Station on the eve of the line's 175th anniversary.

(Mileposts 2, 3, 4 and 9 are still in situ. Chambers Street has one and there was another in a museum at Kirkintilloch.)

Bothwell [North British]: View south towards Bothwell station from the point where the trackbed has been preserved as a public footpath. Beyond the station site the path becomes the Bothwell Nature Trail. Behind the camera, a housing estate has been built on the site of Bothwell junction.

Uddingston West: View from the top of the remaining railway embankment at the motor dealer's yard over the M74 and what was the site of Uddingston West station. It seems fairly safe to opine that this station is unlikely to be reopened. Access by kind permission of W Livingston Ltd.

Uddingston West: View south east along the solum towards Uddingston West station. The much overgrown trackbed can be accessed at Lucy Brae path where a bridge has long ago been removed.

Maryville: View north west along the former trackbed towards the site of Maryville station. No trace of the station remains, it having been obliterated during the construction of the M73/M74 Maryville junction works.

Haggerston [1st]: Remaining side platform at the original North London Railway Haggerston station on the Broad Street branch of 1865, added to the line in 1867, closed after war damage in 1940 and seen here on 15th December 2014. The derelict island platform on the west side of the viaduct was still in situ for many years and I can remember speeding past it on the rattly old 501 slam door units as a boy in the 1960s and well into my youth too. The line and Broad Street station closed in 1986 but most of it was reopened in 2010 and linked by a new stretch of track at Shoreditch to the former LUL East London Line. A brand new station at Haggerston situated just to the north of the 1867 station was opened at the same time.

Maryville: View from the point where the line of the trackbed crosses the B7001 towards the site of Uddingston West station. The solum is intact but much overgrown for a distance from the point where the trees appear behind the house.

Mount Vernon North: View from the infilled Mount Vernon Avenue overbridge along the trackbed towards the site of Mount Vernon North station. Mount Vernon Community Centre and park are on the extreme left. The former railway land now has housing on the approaches and site of the former station.

Calderpark Viaduct: The railway viaduct just south east of Calderpark Halt once loomed high over both the North Calder Water and the still extant road bridge in the photograph. The long demolished viaduct crossed the river at an angle and continued above the left abutment of the road bridge seen here. Apart from a very short section on the west bank of the river where one of the viaduct abutments survives, the solum on both sides of the river crossing has since been landscaped and built over.

Mount Vernon North: The infilled overbridge at Mount Vernon Avenue seen from the trackbed near the park. The trackbed continues on the other side of the road, much overgrown up to the point where it crossed the Rutherglen and Coatbridge line.

Maryville: A consignment of goods rolls through Maryville station site. Underneath the M73 flyover in the left centre is the location of sidings and the junction serving the Clydeside coal pit.

Uddingston West: View north west along the line of the former railway at platform level from a point approximately underneath where the footbridge crossed the lines. Across the road, slightly left of centre, there remains a length of overgrown trackbed. Access by kind permission of W Livingston Ltd.

Uddingston West: View north west along the trackbed from near the path at Lucy Brae. In the distance can just be seen the houses built across the solum at Boggknowe, from which point the trackbed has been obliterated through the former Maryville and Calderpark Halt staions and almost to Broomhouse. Most of this happened in the late 1960s during the construction of the Maryville interchange on the M73/M74, the section around Calderpark Halt some time later with new housing at Broomhouse and at Calderpark on the site of the former Glasgow Zoo.

HM Dockyard Gibraltar: This covered goods van was restored in 2015 as a reminder of the once extensive Gibraltar Dockyard Railway. At its height the sidings, storage areas and tunnels inside the rock were served by seventeen locomotives but these two small railway vehicles, displayed by the Ragged Staff Gate in the defensive walls, are one of the few tangible remnants of those days.

Whifflet: On 11 February 2019 GBRf 66746 performs a rather more mundane duty than its Belmond Royal Scotsman livery would suggest as it passes Whifflet with empty alumina tanks heading for North Blyth.

Craigendoran Junction: A private charter hauled by LMS Class 5MT 4-6-0 no 45231 pauses in the Craigendoran loop and is passed by an electric on its way to Helensburgh Central. Steam, diesel and electric all in the same shot.

Craigendoran Junction: Black 5 45231 'The Sherwood Forester' draws to a pause at Craigendoran Junction. Over the roof of the first carriage a model of Henry Bell's PS Comet can be seen, Waitrose's homage to the vessel which once ran to Helensburgh.

Craigendoran Junction: 47614 on the rear of a private charter to Fort William and Mallaig, seen at Craigendoran Junction.

Hest Bank: Former Corkerhill set 156449 is now based at Heaton and, still in the old Scotrail livery, is seen on a Lancaster to Carlisle (via Barrow service) at Hest Bank on 15th February 2019. It was the cascade of these Sprinters that allowed the loco hauled sets to be withdrawn in January.

Glasgow Queen Street High Level: Progress at the east side of the Queen Street site in mid February 2019 shows the framework recently erected next to the the Millennium Hotel. This is now obscuring the old North British lettering on west wall of the hotel which was revealed by the demolition of the frightful 1970s hotel extension See image [[66339]] for a view from November 2018.

Carlisle: I noticed a few years ago after the devastating floods in Carlisle NetworkRail raised several inside cabinets to prevent them for getting flooded. I tried to get a train in the frame of this image on 15th February 2020 but there weren't many running and it was pouring with 'Storm Dennis' rain, testing the water sealing on my Olympus.

Carlisle North Junction: Elevated trackside cabinets at Carlisle, installed following the devastating Storm Desmond floods of 2015. By coincidence I photographed these during the 2020 version - Storm Dennis - on 15th February.

Oldfield Park: Storm Dennis? What Storm Dennis? A Maritime liveried class 66 puts a brave face on being an hour late as it hauls a stone train from Banbury to Bristol on 15th February.

Bay Horse: 43251 leads a late running Derby to Carlisle test train (pantograph up) into the cutting at Forton on 15th February 2022. 43257 was on the rear. Both these power cars are still in overall LNER livery but now have Colas logos on the bodysides.

Bay Horse: 66067 is at the head of the daily Seaforth to Mossend intermodal train as it snakes into the cutting at Forton on 15th February 2022. As is usually the case the train was almost full of containers.

Bay Horse: Colas 56302 takes spent ballast from Carlisle to Pinnox Sidings through Forton cutting on 15th February 2022. This train isn't scheduled to pass here until around 1700hrs but often runs very early.