bingley hall

A couple more 'Westerns'.......... An unidentified Class 52 (though probably 1027 'Western Lancer') heads through Ealing Broadway with an up freight sometime during 1974. On 5 March 2013, 43192 leads a First Great Western's formation towards Paddington - the westbound Theale-Robeston empty tanks can be seen in the distance. This was only a couple of weeks before the PS at Didcot closed.

Another mixed bag......of Westerns this time....... An unidentified Western departing Paddington with an express during November 1974. A bit obvious Metre gauge Western Railway 2-6-2 YL 5132 at Junagadh shed on 28 October 1978. This was one of 151 YL class locos delivered to the Indian Railways by Henschel in 1956.

Former Australian National GM22, freshly painted in the colours of short-lived open access operator Great Northern Rail Services, at Islington Works, South Australia on 16 November 1998. GM22 was originally built by Clyde Engineering for the Commonwealth Railways in 1962, now owned by Southern Shorthaul Railroad and still active. I was pretty much a steam snob and more interested in partying while travelling across North America in the summer of 1981, and much to my later regret largely ignored the local railscene. Just occasionally I would have a moment of weakness. Arriving on a Greyhound bus at Grand Forks, North Dakota I caught a glimpse of this F9A/B lash up sitting 'on shed'. Luckily the Greyhound had a 15-20 minute scheduled stop, so I quickly legged it back to grab just this one shot.

Thanks for the clarification re the Golden Rover. Correct re the 309A - we were on it

I recently touched base with the person I did this trip with after a gap of some 45 years! From the correspondence we have had to date I am assuming this was Green Rover adventure using Greenline coach routes to escape the Central Area. It was the last day of regular GS operation and we also visited Tring and Amersham on our way to Rickmansworth for the last run. SM453 spent its nine-year active career at London Country's Amersham garage where it was photographed on 29 March 1972. London Country's MB108, seen here outside Amersham garage on 29 March 1972, entered service in January 1969 and was withdrawn in January 1980. XMB15 had been renumbered MBS15 by the time I photographed it at Tring garage on 29 March 1972, looking as though it wasn't seeing a lot of use at the time. The last revenue route for the GS class was on the the 336A from Rickmansworth to Loudwater Village. On 29 March 1972, GS42 of Garston Garage waits to depart on the very last run.

Stick to your guns guys. I wonder how many more times you will have to explain your business model before the penny final drops?

The Railway Hotel at Faversham The Railway Inn at Barnetby

What a challenge..............my first railway memories are all associated with the Southern Region, I work for Southern Shorthaul Railroad, I have a few images taken on the Southern Railway in India and my favourite US railroad is the Southern Pacific. Alas with the latter I have no images - my only visit to the US being during a times when my interest in railway was at a low ebb. So, on the Southern Region, E5001 sits at Dover Marine with the Golden Arrow in August 1967 - the first railway photograph I ever took On the Southern Railway in India, Southern Railway WP class 4-6-2 no.7607 departs Quilon for Trivandrum on 26 December 1978. Built by the Canadian Locomotive Company, Ontario in 1956. Southern Shorthaul Railroad's S317/GM27/GM10/S302 maintain a steady 80 km/h as they rattle past the disused silos at Caltowie with the 1400km transfer move of 90 redundant coal hoppers from Port Augusta to Lithgow, New South Wales on 28 October 2016.

Five GM G12B export model locos were originally built between 1955-57 by Clyde Engineering in Australia for the Kowloon Canton Railway - four of which were repatriated in 2005 by CFCL Australia for use as lease units in Australia. In June 2012 TL153 was seen waiting some TLC at CFCLA's Goulburn workshops, New South Wales, but has probably not turned a wheel since then. Currently stored in the open at Goulburn, unlikely to run again. UGL workshops at Broadmewadow, Newcastle, New South Wales on 4 July 2012 saw Xstrata (later Glencore) unit XRN022 in the final stages of construction. One of 30 model C44aci locos built by UGL for the multi-national coalminer for use on the Hunter Valley open access rail network, powered by a GE 7FDL four stroke V16 engine.

Sadly a dearth of buffer stop shots in my collection...........these were both taken around February/March 1989. Nice quirky subject too.

A couple more from South Australia....... A GWA class loco on the unloading balloon loop inside the Whyalla Steelworks complex (July 2013). On the hill in the background is the lookout that the pic a few posts above was taken from. The Viterra export grain silos at Outer Harbour (Adelaide) - Feb 2016

Yes there is a train in it...........unloading at the iron ore pellet plant, Whyalla Steelworks, South Australia, Feb 2013.

Preparing a Thermit weld - taken near Adelaide River during construction of the Alice Springs to Darwin railway in May 2003

I knew I had a couple a bit more closer to 'home'........ Class 37 37131 passes West Ealing with a westbound empty domestic coal service during March 1989. Again March 1989, 37411 'The Institute of Railway Signal Engineers' passes Great rocks with the return Speedlink working from Warrington.

I'm not convinced the rack system has been engaged by the locomotive here as 0-10-0T E1067 (built Nippon Sharyo/1967) climbs the grade above Batutabal, West Sumatra, pushing two hoppers of coal and some decrepit passenger accommodation en route to Padang Panjang - September 1978.

Not my photo, but that's me crouching bottom left. Broken Hill, New South Wales - August 1986.

There is a fence there, somewhere beneath the undergrowth. NSW TrainLink 4-car EMU, set H6, heads the 1559hrs Sydney Central to Gosford service near Koolewong on 19 November 2014.

31316 passes Burton Lane junction (York) with a Scarborough bound passenger service on the morning of 25 May 1981. To the left are the tracks to Foss Island Goods and the Rowntree Works, still in use at the time. Note the un-fenced allotments and how close they are to the running lines (click on pic for larger view).

Just going back through my fairly meagre ticket collection and I came cross the Red Rover from the day the images in post #518 were taken... There was also the Weekender which covered Red and Green buses, Greenline and the Underground. The cost of these made a serious dent in one's pocket money, so I can only remember using these on two or three occasions. How were we able to give our parents any idea of what time we would be home? I suppose we always had enough change in our pockets for a payphone, which were in greater profusion back then.

Thanks for the memories. I was a few years ahead of you - both these tickets were back from when I was 12. And yes we ended up all over London and the outer suburbs in our quest to visit every LT red garage back then.

A good line up., especially the M & D group. I went a couple of years ago and was a bit disappointed at the lack of variety, but that's just the way it is sometimes. I'm just jealous.

Adelaide Station entrance - March 1985. Not too dissimilar today, except for a ruddy great modern hotel behind it. Formerly the headquarters of the South Australian Railways, today it's main function is as a casino, however the main entrance in the pic is still used to access Adelaide's suburban railcar services which depart from the lower level.

Eastbourne - July 2015 East Croydon - August 2015

Bewdley - September 2015 Jha Jha, Bihar, India - January 1979