phil_sutters

The routes that ran down to our part of south London were the 63 to Honor Oak and 45 to Clapham via Camberwell.

I have a soft spot for Adelantes, although I think I have only travelled in one once. They are a bit like a rail version of the VW beetle - a distinctive shape.

My only sailing experience was sailing RNSAs on the Thames at Raven's Ait. The river cruise boats used to hate us bumbling about, as they had to give way under steam/power gives way to sail rule.

The other side of the country - somewhere around Hereford I would guess. His gliding was of a good enough standard that he trained assault glider pilots in WW2.

From the ancestral albums! My great-uncle Percy with his family. He also went on to have motor bikes and a variety of cars, as can be seen in the album online - as long as your firewall allows ipernity through! http://www.ipernity.com/doc/philsutters/album/824054/@/page:2:18

I can't remember if I have mentioned this restoration firm before. Stanegate Restorations and Replicas, of Haltwhistle. It has restored a number of early bits of rolling stock, my favorite being the Peterhead Prison quarry convicts van. One of its staff has albums on the other website that I use for photo-sharing - ipernity. http://www.ipernity.com/doc/312383/album Some firewalls still don't seem to find ipernity compatible and block access. ipernity is now an independent, member-owned photosharing website, with a much pleasanter layout than Flickr and it is without adverts, being member-funded. I think that that applies to visitors as well..It isn't always easy to see websites that you belong to as a visitor sees it.

It looked like someone had screwed up the article, binned it, dumped the digital copy, then realised that wasn't the one the editor had rejected and tried to straighten it out. Fortunately the original glass negatives were still at the back of the filing cabinet and so the photos were crease free. The council I used to work for had extensive guidelines about the clarity of its publications both in their content and their design - all part of what would now be called 'inclusiveness' - including everyone with poor sight. That article's appearance would not have been accepted. Given that the BRM front cover has to have a space for the DVD, it is actually a bit less cluttered than Model Rail. Railway Modeller tends to keep to one photo, but lists more articles on its cover. This is all pretty irrelevant as all you see in most newsagents' displays are the titles. By the time you have picked one out of the fitment, you are on the way to having a quick flip through. I rarely study the covers. As I get my BRM by post I don't need to worry about looking at it in a shop - bagged or not. Judging by our local small newsagent's limited space and tightly packed fitments, I suspect having a projecting DVD risks having copies damaged when they are pushed back into the rack. That's why they prefer them bagged.

I seem to have a gap for 1999 & 2000!

I only seem to have a handful of scanned rather fuzzy prints from Swanage to choose from for 1997. I don't think I have used this one before. I hope someone has 1998 - I seem to have a bit of a gap until about 2002. Oops jbqfc seems to have beaten me to it - must have been while I was hunting for an acceptable snap.

Surely someone has a photo taken in 1996!? If not, help yourself to a wildcard, to start a new challenge.

I realise that these are just initial thoughts, but can I suggest that you have a look at some of these old postcards of pre-grouping locos. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/gallery/album/4319-railway-postcards-and-other-illustrations/ The lettering is almost always somewhat smaller and usually more ornate than you have used. Many also have company crests. Your's is an interesting project. I went to school in Leatherhead and charged across Box Hill firing blanks while in the cadets, so I sort of know the area.

Now for 1996 please

We were doing twilight shots - mornings and evenings - but it looks as though that has run its course. Let's try going back to a sequence - while with Dad's help I could go back quite a way to start a year by year progression, it would be fairer to start in the not too distant past. If we move forward by a year each time, with any railway subject being included. I'll start with the earliest I can find of my own shots from 1992. I trust that is an OK suggestion. 1993 next please

Not the Walworth Road (London SE17) that I worked in, but an exhibit from a local model railway exhibition a couple of years ago.

If one searches online, particularly in Google images, it seems relatively easy to find memorials for major disasters like Southall and Ladbroke Grove. Smaller events, especially on lines that have now closed, may be more down to local knowledge, but you never know with search-engines what you will find.

Don't forget the Buddleia! Every derelict site has loads. In the '80s we had a scrap of land between our office, in Grange Road - about half a mile away from your site, and the day centre next door, which was covered in the stuff. It was cleared and the space tarmacked over. The next year it was back, straight through the tarmac. Here's some from round the back of boatyards in Newhaven. They have purple or white flowerheads - or rusty coloured dead seed heads - upto 18" long.

Returning to the war memorials theme for a moment, I remember my father, then Vicar of Highbridge, being involved with the rededication of the S&DJR War Memorial, when, as the closure of the line approached, it was moved to a site, in Southwell Gardens, just off Highbridge's Church Street. This website says that it was moved from the works, but I seem to remember it on the end of the S&D station building - in fact I have just found a photo of it there in the Middleton Press Burnham to Evercreech Junction volume. The station location was obviously chosen when the works closed, but I don't know the exact date. Not only does the memorial remember the 13 S&DJR employees who lost their lives, but the other 153 who fought and often suffered great hardships and injuries, while serving. https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/99400/

This photograph was taken from a train on the Reading to Gatwick service when it stopped alongside this memorial bench. I may have used this earlier on this thread, or maybe another, but it fits here, again.

I am sure that there are a number of memorials around the country. My father, who was a great railway enthusiast was born on the day of the Quintinshill troop-train disaster, in 1915. The huge number of troops and railway crew are remembered on the memorial shown in this online page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quintinshill_rail_disaster

I always thought of Lewes as a destination for commuters returning home from London, but of course those who work in Lewes have homes to go to as well! More from the twilight zone please.

This is group of memorials is closer to home for many enthusiasts. It recalls some of those who gave their time and efforts to the Kent and East Sussex Railway. It is between the platform and the level crossing at Northiam. Click on the images to see the inscriptions enlarged.

These two war memorials are in the Steam museum, along with several more. It is interesting and heart warming that they all seem to have been erected by their fellow workmates, rather than by the company. Although not a railway memorial, but as the subject has been mentioned, the huge Russian losses - 27 million - are remembered in this memorial in the grounds of the Imperial War Museum.

These two were photographed from a train on the other side of Haywards Heath station - hence some reflections. I regret that I wasn't able to stop, the following week, to photograph the front coach of a new Thameslink 70,0 which was parked at Hove station with a very liberal coating of graffiti.