Me and a few of the lads decided to hire a car and visit Toton to bag the stored 60's that are around the depot, plus me needing 3 loco's that ive never seen and knowing they are there was an opportunity not be missed, firstly the depot was rammed with locos, 60's everywhere most can be picked off from the bank or the A52 bridge, secondly the three locos i needed where there so i have now seen the whole fleet!! thirdly it was bloody hot!! on the bank it had to be close to 30 degrees, we had flies and midges all over us!! all in all a bloody good haul with over 100 locos copped at Toton

47501 was rostered on the 'drags' today so a visit to Norwich station to capture the home action was the order of the day, firstly a big thank you to the NATEX station staff and ticket barrier staff who kindly let me onto the platforms without a ticket to photograph (seems if you are polite enough you can gain access to the platforms)

Back to the action this afternoon 47501 arrived on time with the ex 13.06 Yarmouth service, but she never took the 14.18 'drag' back to Yarmouth, the service was substituted for 2 x class 170's as 501 developed operating faults, so 501 was left on the blocks ticking over until 15.05 when she left light engine for Crown point.

seems the 14.18 service to Yarmouth has caught the 'gremlins' again as it does most years, be interesting to see whats on the drags next weekend!!!

Day 2 of the trip took us to Doncaster, we found a car park behind the power signal box and an unbelivable price of 2.00 per day!! now there is a barrier at Doncaster station so you ask at the info desk that you want to take pictures/spotting, they will tell you to go to the barrier and ask to gain permission from the station manager on platform 3b, but the chaps on the barrier just asked us for proof of our aim i:e camera/books etc and let us straight through with no problems (thank you NATEX and the kind staff at Doncaster station who were very friendly towards us)

it was a very busy and sweltering day (26 degrees) freight was busy and two rail tours really made the day, but the highlight was 66841 (66406) which came from the south and stabled in the works sidings, a fantastic day i recommend Doncaster station still to anybody!!

The Annual 130 mile trip North to Barnetby/Doncaster, the first day was spent at Barnetby station, a very cloudy start with low light but mid afternoon the clouds dispersed and the sun gave good results from the east. A busy day with 8-9 freight workings per hour, inc a GBRF coal train. The day was started at 9.00 and finished at 18.30 then a few pints and a meal before heading back to the Holcombe guest house.

Thanks to my 'gen bear' Oli i got the word on 47832 working the summer Saturday 'Drags' so armed with my trusty Nikon DSLR i hotfooted to Whitlingham Junc to phot the service ex Norwich, then on way back to Norwich 47760 was spotted shunting Norwich lower sidings, so two 47's captured today, cant be bad!!

A sunny day, a day off and lure of the ECML, on a total whim, i went to Norwich stn bought a 'off peak' return to PB, i was warned it could be hit and miss at PB on a Sat, but it was a Hellfire few hours with 2 rail tours, 2 loco convoys and varied freights and L/E moves, i certainly picked a good day, well worth 16 quid of anyones money

An off duty visit to Dereham for a ride down the line on the 'cushions' 31438 was the rostered loco today with 47580 doing 'shunt' realease at Dereham stn

30 images from the month of March, i found an assortment of images on a memory card i thought i'd mislaid last week, in this gallery we see pics from Ipswich, London and the MNR

A few more pics from our Spring gala at the MNR, these were taken early on Sunday morning before the first train, headed by 37425, i thought i'd add these as they were taken by my Nikon D70's

The annual 3 day MNR March gala was a massive success for us, hosting the event were DB Schenker (EWS) who supplied 4 locos (37425-60059-66144-6700  plus the home and residence fleet 20069-31438-50019-73210 and 56040 which made its passenger debut. The event was prob the most anticipated gala this year, Saturday was a washout for most of the day but that did not keep the crowds away with a record 502 people on one train, what with the visititing DBS locos and the yards being open to the public on Sunday inbetween trains, this has to be the best gala i have worked with.

I would like to thank my collegues at the MNR for a great weekend they include: the Ops and Shunt team who made it all work on the day with positioning of locos and all the drivers from the MNR/DRS/DBS and GBRF who put on a great show for the public, i would also like to thank everybody at the MNR who took part in anyway large or small, im proud of you all!!

Here are 50 shots taken over the three days which show us at work at Dereham Station.

Its been a sad month so far for the Class 60 with only 15 locos remaining in service, DBS has admitted this week that the class 60 fleet is to be axed, which is sad news, so as a tribute i have been through my class 60 pics over the last few years and produced a gallery of 66 of the best class 60 pics i have taken over the last few years, so if you are a class 60 fan like me please enjoy.

I also run a class 60 enthusiast site on facebook with daily class 60 news and gen, if you are on facebook please join and keep up to date.

A warm sunny winters afternoon, so the first trip of the year was well awaited, with a nice gaggle of Freightliner 66's inc a new 66954, a very nice afternoon was had, many thanks to the Freightliner driver who spoke to me a nice chat was had!!

A morning out in the damp rain to 3 photographic locations to hunt RHTT trains and grab what was stabled for the weekend, first stop was Stowmarket to see if any locos were stabled at the DRS sidings, we found 37607/087/261 57011 and 57009 Then onto Ipswich which was a feast of class 66's stabled a total of ten along with 3 class 90's

i then got word from my 'gen bear' Oli Smith that a few class 66/7's were on engineering duties between Norwich and Diss after following the track from Diss to Norwich through muddy roads, tracks etc, i finally found a top and tail GBRF autoballaster working at Lower Tasborough, the location was horrendous to get to and only loco copped which was 66712, it was such a bad location i darent even take a camera to get a picture (sorry, but by this time my boots were covered in thick mud, my missus is gonna kill me when she gets home!)

Finally a visit to Norwich and 47818 was in the center road stabled with 57012 and 57007 stabled near platform 6 with an RHTT train!!

all in all a total of 23 locos seen inc 3 x 37's and a class 47, with only a 66/7 awaiting i.d

Many thanks to Oli Smith for the heads up gen at Stowmarket, i owe you buddy, buy you a pint when im next at Dereham

The second gala in two weeks, this time featuring our new star atraction of 73210 and GBRF 73210 of course 20069 08631 and 31438 put in fine performances on the line.

Myself and Tim had to learn how to shunt with the new loco as she is possesed with buckeye couplings and thanks to Pete from GBRF who not only trained us on all aspects of coupling/uncoupling but also started training our home drivers on the 73.

An excellent turn out by the public and i'd like to thank everybody who took the tme to join us over the last two weekends esp the people who took the time and came and spoke to us, your kind comments are very welcome.

Again many thanks to my ops collegues for a great weekend esp Roger/Tim/Pete/Mark/Andy/Pete C and Suz for for the cheese toasties!!!

A few pics from the three day MNR gala, glorious weather and plenty of action from 20069/31438/08631 and visiting traction from DRS class 20's 20307 and 20315 thanks go out to Barry/Andy/Tim/Paul and the other DRS drivers who made the trips great for the punters also our home drivers Mick/Martin/Mark/Pete and Rod, special thanks must go out to the shunt team run by Roger which included Tim/Graham and myself, everything went to plan, not easy when running triple headed trains, i dedicate this gallery to all members of the MNR who made the event special!

As i live very close to the old Norwich city station, i thought i'd take a walk from the old City station up to the first station on the old M&GN system. The first station Hellesdon is roughly 2 miles form Norwich. The line opened in 1882 and closed to passenger in 1959, freight traffic held on untill the late 1960's with sand trains using the former goods yard at Norwich City, so i thought i'd go on the hunt looking for relics that still remain on the long disused line and to be honest i think i found quite a lot ( must admit i knew where to look) so take a trip with me from Norwich city station to Hellesdon.

Some new class 56 pics have come to light and i thought i'd share them with you, firstly is a gallery of colour 35mm scans taken all over the country during the 1990's

I have been sent a series of 12 pics from a railway enthusiast showing 56005 on fire, looks like a traction motor fire to me, but can anybody shed any light on it, I:E where is the location and what year, i have tryed to research the inncident but have hit a blank, any info would be gratefull.

The annual family hol and this year we went to North Yorkshire, during the week i took in the North Yorks Moors Railway, York station and a visit to Barnetby on the trip home, here are 20 photts from the week.

A visit to Norwich station after work to phot 47375 on the Lowestoft air show shuttles with 47818, a big suprise was EMU 321416 and 321426 working between London and Norwich, a case of right time right place!!