FEBRUARY 2026 On 4th February, members were treated to a presentation by Steve Philpott, who returned with his latest show, “Spinning Around (again!)”. The evening was an engaging journey through the regions of the UK, beginning in the late 1960s and culminating in the present day. The show featured a remarkable collection of photographs, with many contributed by Gordon Lacy and the late Richard Ponder, complemented by Steve’s own work. This blend offered a comprehensive visual record, capturing moments from different eras and regions. In the first half, Steve took us back to the 1960s and 1970s, sharing over a hundred previously unseen images from the closing days of steam and the advent of early diesel locomotives. Highlights included evocative shots of Jubilee 45562 at Carlisle and a striking, smoky image of steam at Manchester Victoria. The audience was then transported through scenes featuring Western region hydraulics, the baby Deltics, and the notable ‘number one to tenners’ early Peak diesels. Throughout, Steve provided commentary on the variety of liveries and the dramatic transformation of stations and yards, many of which are now unrecognisable compared to their appearance during the era depicted. The second half of the presentation moved forward in time, covering the 1980s and bringing the audience up to date. This section continued to showcase the evolution of Britain’s railways, concluding an evening rich with history, nostalgia, and expert insight. We very much look forward to Steve's return to deliver a show in the future. A selection of shots from Steve’s presentation is shown below.
D7029 at Bath Spa with 1O12, 11.43 Exeter St. David's to Waterloo on 31st March 1973, by Gordon Lacy.
9000 and 60009 at Haymarket T.M.D. on 25th August 1985, by Gordon Lacy.
9018 at King's Cross "Passenger Loco" L.H.S. (known locally as 'The Swamp') after working the up "Flying Scotsman" on 17th April 1973, by Gordon Lacy.
45150 heads a westbound inter regional passenger train out of Exeter St. David's on 29th May 1982, by Richard Ponder.
HS4000 "Kestrel" is at London King's Cross on 18th October 1969 before working 1N06, 07.55 to Newcastle Central, Gordon Lacy.
A class 124 "Trans Pennine" diesel multiple unit departs Hull Paragon on 5th June 1979 for, presumably, Manchester and Liverpool, by Richard Ponder.
On 18th February, Bob Gellatly delivered his second presentation on the South Yorkshire Joint Railway. Picking up where he left off last year—from Maltby—Bob guided listeners along the remaining stretch of the line to Kirk Sandall Junction. He began by providing historical context, supported with maps that illustrated the railway's development from its earliest days. Bob’s presentation was supported by a combination of his own images and also many contributed by others, including John Law and Geoff Warnes, both names very familiar to members. The images ranged from vintage black-and-white shots, such as an RCTS rail tour at Maltby Station in 1957, to the more modern era freight trains. We also travelled along sections of the line with a video view from the driver’s cab. This wide range of visuals brought the story of the railway’s evolution to life. Throughout his talk, Bob showcased numerous features of the railway, including signal boxes, junctions, disused ground frames and the impressive Brookhouse Viaduct. We looked at how the area surrounding the line has changed over the years with the development of the massive iPort at Doncaster and the closure of the collieries at Firbeck, Harworth and Markham Main. Altogether, Bob’s comprehensive and visually engaging approach helped the audience gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of the South Yorkshire Joint Railway from Maltby to Kirk Sandall, combining history, imagery, and detailed explanations of unique railway features. Bob tells us that he has other presentations which might interest us just as much, so we look forward to his return.
JANUARY 2026 On 21st January, Glenn Williamson delivered a slide show entitled ‘50 years of Rail Freight’. He began by establishing the context, explaining the differences in how rail freight was managed before and after the Beeching cuts. Before Beeching, freight was typically transported in individual wagon loads, whereas after the reforms, the approach shifted to full train loads. This change marked a significant evolution in freight operations. Glenn then guided the audience through five decades of freight locomotive development. He started with electric locomotives, illustrating his points with images of typical freight traffic on the West Coast Main Line during the 1970s. The presentation also featured some rare sightings, such as Class 86 and Class 90 locomotives working freight through Doncaster. To bring the story up to date, Glenn included photographs of the modern GBRf Class 99, a powerful dual mode electro-diesel engine locomotive, highlighting the ongoing innovation within rail freight. The focus then turned to diesel freight locomotives, which represented the bulk of the presentation due to the number of classes involved over the years. Glenn began with the Clayton locomotive, shown at Glasgow Works, and described it as a ‘garbage’ freight engine because of its limited success. In contrast, he highlighted the much more effective and enduring Class 20s, showing images from the early 1970s at Loughborough where they were still hauling wagon loads. He also noted that the Class 20s remain in use today for various odd jobs, demonstrating their resilience and versatility. As the show moved through the various diesel classes, Glenn presented images of several underused marshalling yards, including Toton, Tinsley, and Wath. He also shared a particularly striking photograph of a Class 47 hauling tank wagons at Rotherham Masbrough. The presentation continued with a look at the evolution of rail freight liveries and companies, many of which are now considered historic. To conclude, Glenn discussed the impact of the so-called General Motors ‘invasion’ in the late 1990s, which brought new classes of locomotives—specifically the 59, 66, and 70—into the British rail freight market. These powerful engines have played a key role in shaping the modern landscape of rail freight. The audience really enjoyed Glenn’s show and look forward to him returning in the future.
NOVEMBER 2025 On 5th November 2025, members gathered for the first face-to-face social evening since early August, taking place in the newly refurbished room at the Doncaster Sports Club. The night was especially significant as it coincided with Bonfire Night, marking a memorable occasion for all attendees. For the evening's entertainment, Steve Armitage presented his show entitled ‘All Things Great and Central’. Since retiring, Steve has dedicated his time to restoring historic railway photographs and has gained access to numerous collections from various railway photographers. His passion for railway history was evident throughout the presentation. The show featured a remarkable selection of engines, beginning with the pre-grouping era Manchester Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway, and progressing into the Great Central Railway. Steve displayed early black and white photographs of pre-grouping engines, all immaculately maintained by their sheds. These included images of smaller engines at Winsford and Over sheds, as well as B19 No. 423 ‘Sir Sam Fay’, which was shown complete with its indicator shelter at Manchester Central Station. During the LNER years, the audience witnessed the naming ceremony of the A4 ‘Sir Nigel Gresley’ at Marylebone and Mexborough Shed in 1932. Of particular note were the colour photographs, which were exceptionally rare for the period. Moving into the British Rail era, Steve showcased the opening of the second Woodhead tunnel in 1954, along with photographs of the experimental prototype gas turbine 4-6-0 No. GT3 at Wendover in 1961. The evening proved to be both entertaining and informative, with the audience expressing great appreciation for the historic nature of the images, especially those featuring local South Yorkshire scenes. The event was a resounding success and anticipation is already building for Steve’s return in the future with another engaging show.
On 19th November, Geoff Griffiths delivered a presentation entitled ‘The Inside Story of the Royal Train’. Prior to his retirement, Geoff enjoyed a long and varied career as a railwayman. Most notably, between 2003 and 2010, he held the distinguished post of Royal train Manager. In this capacity, Geoff acted as the primary liaison for all Royal rail travel, working closely with the Royal Travel Office at Buckingham Palace. Geoff's responsibilities encompassed the organisation of Royal train journeys, arrangements for royal travel on scheduled services, and also the management of the Royal train budget. The annual plan and budget required the approval of the Queen herself. His meticulous approach included decisions on train formations, catering provisions, overnight stabling to name only a few of the tasks. Arrangements had to be made to determine the precise location for the train’s halt upon arrival, ensuring that the Queen could disembark smoothly and access the station exit with ease. During his time Geoff arranged 105 journeys and enjoyed 32 visits to Buckingham Palace. He was the first to arrange for the Royal train to be steam hauled for Prince Charles, who requested a footplate ride (which was no mean feat to organise!). As a result he got the railway industry to accept further steam hauled Royal Trains as the norm rather than the exception. Another accomplishment, again encouraged by Prince Charles, was achieved in 2007 when the Royal train became eco-friendly, running on 100% biofuel. Throughout his talk, Geoff shared a wealth of entertaining anecdotes and examples, highlighting the complexity and attention to detail involved in Royal rail travel. Arrangements needed to be so intricate, demanding a scheduled arrival within a margin of just fifteen seconds. His evident pride in the role and enjoyment of the work shone through in his presentation, offering us a rare glimpse into the unique challenges of managing the Royal Train. Two of the images are shown below.
Tornado on the Royal train on 19th February 2009, the day it was named at York.
67006 on the Royal train at Doncaster, on 14th September 2007, with Pennine member Joe Wray at the controls.
OCTOBER 2025 October was another month of Zoom shows because our venue was still being refurbished. Thank you to Tony Caddick and Robert Pritchard for stepping in at short notice to deliver excellent shows. Robin Patrick also presented an excellent Zoom show which had been rescheduled from earlier in the year. We have been advised that our venue is now available again so there will be no more short-notice Zoom shows as we will be meeting again in person. We look forward to welcoming all three presenters back to deliver shows in the future.
Below is a selection of images from Tony Caddick's show 'Scanned Memories from 1985'.....
27040 on the 12.40 Carlisle to Glasgow Central on 23rd March 1985.
Class 501 M75157 at London Broad Street on 30th March 1985.
50023 on the 13.35 Exeter to Waterloo and 50005 on the 10.35 Paddington to Paignton, at Exeter St Davids on 27th April 1985.
SYPTE Experimental Trolleybus 2450 at an SYPTE Open Day on Doncaster Racecourse on 8th September 1985.
Blackpool Standard 40 at the Tower stop on the Blackpool Tramway Centenary Day, 29th September 1985.
31243 at Sheffield on 1st August 1985.
Below is a selection of images from Robert Pritchard's show 'My Review of 2023'......
GWR “Castle Class” HST 43097+43162 leave Plymouth with the 10.50 Penzance-Cardiff Central on 6th June 2023. In the background is a GWR IET and XC HST 43357/285.
St Erth still has a fine collection of semaphore signals. On 6th June 2023 150246 and 150239 arrive at the station with the 19.05 shuttle from St Ives.
50008 arrives at Sheffield with the 1Z54 07.33 Derby-Keighley BLS “Eyre Valley Explorer” railtour on 25th June 2023. 37418 was on the rear and then led the train northwards from Sheffield towards West Yorkshire.
175115 arrives at Llandudno with the 11.25 from Manchester Airport on 26th January 2023. 197007 is seen alongside – this day was the official press launch of the Transport for Wales 197s.
Docklands Light Railway B07 cars 111 and 107 pass Limehouse Basin with a service for Tower Gateway on a gloriously sunny 8th February 2023.
Sheffield Supertram 116 approaches Netherthorpe Road with a Blue Road service to Halfway on 27th May 2023.
Below is a selection of images from Robin Patrick's show 'April 2024 to March 2025'.....
D213 on 1Z85 on platform 5 at York on 5th June 2024.
66004 on 4R49 Drax Biomass at Melton Ross on 18th July 2024.
66301 on 6H12 at Beningbrough on 31st July 2024.
37607 and 37057 on 5Z37 at York Dringhouses on 15th January 2025.
69014 on 6N71 at Hambleton West Junction, with an LNER Azuma on the ECML in the background, on 4th February 2025.
43303 and 43301 plus 91117, on the DATS Test Train, at Copmanthorpe on 24th March 2025.
SEPTEMBER 2025 On 3rd September Geoff Griffiths kindly stepped in at short notice to present another Zoom show, which he titled ‘Plus 10 divided by 25, Part 2’. Geoff relocated to Doncaster in 1999 and then began taking photographs in the area. This show was his second collection of images, all taken within a 10-mile radius of Doncaster over the past 25 years. He took us numerically through the different locomotive classes that have visited the area during this period. Early shots already provided history for the audience to discuss and then he brought us right up to date with some more recent drone shots taken over the area. Another excellent show from Geoff. Some of his images are shown below.
43314 at Doncaster, with a Class 91 loco in the bay on platform 2, on 28th June 2019.
50008 passes through Rotherham Masborough on 9th February 2023.
Deltics 55009 'Alycidon' and 55019 'Royal Highland Fusilier' at Mexborough on 14th April 2015.
93001 at Doncaster on 12th June 2025.
Black 5 locomotive 45212 passes through Doncaster on 'The Valentines White Rose' on 15th February 2025.
On 17th September, Rhys Jones conducted his inaugural Zoom presentation, again at short notice, titled ‘Never Mind the Quality,’ a name chosen with evident irony. The images showcased were scanned from his personal slide collection, primarily spanning the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s. During his show, Rhys presented a diverse range of photographs taken across the breadth of England, Scotland, and Wales. Many of the images were captured from unique vantage points away from station platforms, often highlighting coal trains operating on now-defunct lines and at former collieries. An excellent show from Rhys. Some of his images are reproduced below.
A Class 55 Deltic at Challoners Whin with a southbound express on 2nd August 1981.
A Class 50 at Dawlish with a northbound service on 26th June 1982.
31231 coming off Barnstable branch at Cowley Bridge on 3rd May 1983.
59201 at Kilnhurst with 6E56, 06.39 Tunstead to Drax on 14th May 1994.
6024 leaving Newport with Flying Scotsman Services tour from London Paddington to Newport and Paignton on 2nd October 1994.
45407 passing Medge Hall SB with Pathfinders Tours "The Lancs - Lincs", Crewe to New Holland and Cleethorpes tour, on 27th March 1999.
AUGUST 2025 On 6th August, Andy Barclay hosted a show featuring photos from the late Peter Fox's collection, co-founder of Platform Five Publications. The first half covered 1990s-2000s highlights like DLR tram no 25 at Galleons Reach (now in Essen), the prototype class 424 ‘Networker Classic’ unit at Derby Litchurch Lane, green DMU ‘Daisy’ at Totley Tunnel East and Manchester Piccadilly, and from 2007 at Edale, 67027 and 67021 on two of the football specials which took Doncaster Rovers fans to Cardiff for the Football League Trophy final. The second half showcased 1970s-1980s slides, including from a snow-covered Sheffield Midland, the five remaining signal boxes before re-signalling, class 76s on an MGR train at Dunford Bridge, and the show concluded with 55015 ‘Tulyar’ on the Deltic Scotsman Farewell at a suitably gloomy Doncaster. Andy assures us that there are still more of Peter Fox's slides which we have not yet seen so we look forward to him putting together another show in the future.
On 20th August Rob Hay presented his show ‘A Multitude of Colour’. The show became a Zoom show due to the unavailability of our venue at Doncaster Town Fields Sports Club. The venue is being refurbished, and we look forward to returning there when it is completed, hopefully in late September. Rob had put together a show of his scanned 35mm slides, choosing shots which portrayed the railway in all its colours, so we enjoyed seeing lots of former liveries on both engines and stock, predominantly from the UK but also from Rob’s occasional foray into Europe. We look forward to Rob returning to present a ‘real’ show in the future. A few shots from the show are shown below. Rob dedicated his show to Andy Latham who was a true railwayman through and through. He lived in Worksop and his entire career was to do with wagons; from oiling wheelsets to full on maintenance in practice and on paper, of all wagon types. He was full of knowledge, had patience and time for all. He passed away in June 2025 aged 64, following a 3-4 year battle with leukaemia. He will be much missed.
37401 passing Dalrigh, near Tyndrum (Lower) with 1H90 the 1407 Edinburgh Waverley to Taynuilt “Royal Scotsman” on 4th August 2002. Ben Challum at 1025 metres dominates the background.
47295, in top and tail mode with 47727, run over Reedham Swing Bridge with 2D17 the 0947 Lowestoft to Norwich instead of an unavailable DMU on 19th May 2001.
47615 approaching East Holmes, Lincoln with 1D20 the 0915 Newcastle Central to Skegness on 31st August 1991.
86210 passing Claypole, between Grantham and Newark with 1S04 the 1633 King’s Cross to Edinburgh Waverley mail on 10th July 1996.
JULY 2025 On 2nd July John Law presented the latest part of his A to Z of railway stations, covering E to F from Eaglescliffe in Stockton-on-Tees, to Fyling Hall, which was on the Scarborough and Whitby Railway. The show featured a mix of historic and more recent images from across the UK and parts of Europe. Some of the more obscure stations which we visited were those at East Fortune, Essendine, Fallowfield, and Filey Holiday Camp. As with John’s previous shows, audience members again thoroughly enjoyed guessing unnamed stations in the photographs. Next year we’ll hopefully see John again for his next instalment. A few of John’s images are shown below.
Earls Court with London Transport District Line stock in the 1970s.
East Grinstead station in West Sussex, DEMU 1302 in 1978.
Edale Station in Derbyshire, D7590 circa 1966.
Edinburgh Haymarket Station in Lothian, DMU in 1982.
Folkestone Harbour Station in Kent, MLV 68010 date unknown.
On 16th July Pete Sargieson presented a new batch of slides by his friend ‘Keith, the farmer’, featuring engines mostly in ‘BR blue’ from the mid-1970s to early 1980s. Highlights included D1010 ‘Western Campaigner’ at Newton Abbot, D1062 ‘Western Courier’ at Paignton, Hymek and Warship locomotives at a Doncaster Works Open Day, and Hymek D7020 at a Swindon Open Day. The show took us all around the country, with images from Aberdeen, Manchester Picc, Rugby and Carlisle to name a few places. The show ended with 50027 looking particularly filthy, at Paddington alongside HST 253001 (43002) on 4th March 1978. Pete and Keith assured us that there are enough slides left for another show in the future, and we look forward to that.
JUNE 2025 On 4th June Andrew Shenton presented 'Dawn to Dusk - A Creative Railway Photography Journey around Britain'. Andrew's aim is to create a visually appealing photograph, using railway as the subject matter, and in this show he took us around Britain, beginning with dawn shots and taking us through the 'day' until dusk. The following five images are a snapshot of his show and describe the care he takes in planning his shots, to capture both the railway subject matter and the surroundings. The audience were very impressed with Andrew's show and we look forward to his returning to do another show in the future.
Barrow Haven - Humber Backwater
With an afternoon lull in the freight activity, the backwaters on the Lincolnshire bank of the Humber beckoned. Crossing "The Beck" 153359 runs slowly towards the ungated crossing and halt at Barrow Haven, a real rural railway survivor.
Working the bi-hourly Cleethorpes- Barton on Humber shuttle, Northern 153359 runs back to Cleethorpes with 2F92 the 15:50 return.
10th July 2019
Newark Flat Crossing - Flat Line
Returning home up the A1 I decided to break the journey at Newark, have a bite to eat and a short break. Whilst I was there, I thought I'd hunt out any views of the Flat crossing, taken from a lightly used level crossing just to the East of the ECML, which gives the unusual sight of trains speeding across the main line at an angle that just doesn't look right.
This LNER HST rattles south across the Newark Flat Crossing with the 1A41 16:45 Leeds to Kings Cross with power car 43251 leading and 43312 bring up the rear.
31st May 2019
Dewsbury
A tight crop of the Heavy Woollen architecture of Dewsbury, contrasting with the modern look and outline of the new(ish) Transpennine class 802.
1P33 15:54 Liverpool Lime Street High Level to Newcastle.
17th May 2021
Stirling Castle
With Stirling Castle and old town nicely illuminated with a spotlight of sunshine perfectly timed just as an LNER Azuma rounds the bend towards Bannockburn. No photoshopped merging of images on this one.
800112 1E17 09:40 Inverness - Kings Cross
24th October 2021
Dawdon Back streets
A perfect street, with no bins and no cars this Dawdon backstreet offered a clear view down to the Durham Coast Line with North Sea beyond, so good it was nearly worth a dance, the site is just a couple of streets away from the backstreet used in the film Billy Elliot.
15th March 2025
On 18th June Graham Lightfoot presented his show 'Colorado Railroads, then and now'. The presentation featured a number of colourised and digitised photos from the Denver Public Library Collection, some from as far back as the 1880’s, which Graham compared to his own taken over the last 30 years. In the first half, he covered the old Denver & Rio Grande 3-foot gauge lines, built by General William Palmer, which ran West & South from Denver to tap into the traffic from rich silver and gold mines in the Rocky Mountains. Most of the lines were later converted to standard gauge and the name changed to the Denver & Rio Grande Western, before being taken over today by the Union Pacific. But not all was lost, a number of 3-foot gauge lines remained until the 1960’s, with two sections passing into preservation. The second half looked closely at the 3-foot gauge lines in preservation today and one of the others built by Otto Mears, the Rio Grande Southern, which closed in 1961, but many parts of the infrastructure still remain today. Finally Graham covered the Colorado State Railroad Museum at Golden, which houses a number of standard and narrow gauge locomotives and finally the rack and pinion line which climbs to the summit of the infamous Pikes Peak on the Eastern Slope of the Rockies. This was a very different railway topic which the audience found really interesting. Two of Graham's shots are shown below.
Manitou and Pikes Peak Railway Cog Base Station in 1897.
Manitou and Pikes Peak Railway Cog Base Station today.
MAY 2025 On 7th May it was a real pleasure to welcome back BBC Look North presenter Tom Ingall, who delivered another informative presentation entitled ‘The Cable Cars of San Francisco’. Tom provided an in-depth account of the history and development of the cable car system, which was engineered to manage the steep inclines of the city, with gradients reaching up to 1 in 6. He also offered valuable insights into the operational mechanisms of the system. We learned about the 'slot' that grants access to the extensive network of cables running beneath the streets, the role of the Gripman in operating the cars, and the resilience of the system following the catastrophic earthquake of 1906. Tom enhanced his talk with a collection of historical photographs as well as recent images captured during his recent visit. Notably, he demonstrated some of the changes over time by merging old photographs with contemporary Google Streetview images. The audience thoroughly enjoyed the presentation and eagerly look forward to Tom returning again in the future.
On 21st May, Chris Theaker delivered a presentation described as ‘an old fashioned slide show’, featuring images of loco-hauled trains and light-rail in the British Isles and Europe. He commenced with images of 37403 at Kyle of Lochalsh, 37428 at Wick, and 47804 on ‘The Highlander’ rail-tour, also at Kyle. From there, the presentation progressed south, covering various locations across the UK and Ireland. Notable highlights included photographs from the North Yorkshire Moors Railway in the 1980s, when Chris had a photo pass, showcasing a class 24 at Pickering before the construction of the overall roof. An image of a class 150 unit at St Ives captured a summer scene with sand and blue sea. Staying in the south-west Chris showed 67006 on vans in Penzance and a pair of Westerns at Blue Anchor, on the West Somerset Railway. The presentation shifted focus to Europe, featuring locomotives in Switzerland in ‘proper snow’, and numerous shots taken along the Rhine in Germany. Light rail was represented with an image of a PCC tram in Brussels. Chris crammed lots of slides into his presentation so we did run a bit late but the audience happily stayed on to see them all. Hopefully there will be plenty more to see in the future.
APRIL 2025 On 2nd April Bryan Johnson presented the second part of his travel show, 'Travels with my Swiss Rail Pass 2023', detailing his experiences in Switzerland while utilising a 15-day rail pass. The journey began in Lucerne, featuring a trip to Stoos on the world's steepest funicular and a ride on the oldest mountain rack railway in Europe up Mount Rigi, returning to Lucerne on a paddle steamer. He also visited the Swiss Museum of Transport and took a trip to Zurich, where he rode the historic Polybahn. The base then moved to Chur, allowing him to explore the entire narrow-gauge Rhaetian network, including the Bernina Pass, the highest railway crossing in Europe not classified as a rack railway, reaching 7392 feet above sea level. Check out some of Bryan’s images below; they give a real flavour of the whole presentation.
SBB 420-153 (formerly RE4/4 11153) rests at the buffer stops at Zürich Hauptbahnhof. A 1960’s design and with this example possibly built in the late 1960’s, these locos still see regular service.
A view of Andermatt looking West from a Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn train climbing from Andermatt to Oberalp. The railway to Brig follows the Furkareuss valley into the distance. The short branch to Goschenen curves away to the bottom right.
The view from a Rhaetian Railway train along the Rhine gorge near Versam-Safien between Disentis/Mustér and Chur.
Two Rhaetian Railway Capricorn railcars, headed by 3129, stand at St. Moritz station. These modern units were introduced in 2020.
https://www.rhb.ch/en/company/projects-dossiers/capricorn-railcars
A Gornergrat railway train approaches the summit station, with the Matterhorn in the distance.
MBC 420-506 (formerly SBB RE4/4 11142) is seen at Morges station, west of Lausanne.
MBC (Transports de la région Morges Bière Cossonay ) operations include a metre gauge railway from the main line at Morges to Bière, serving an army base and sugar beet farms plus a local passenger service. https://www.mbc.ch/
Standard gauge wagons are taken on narrow gauge transporter wagons. This standard gauge loco was purchased in 2013 to give the railway a main line capacity. It is transported on translator wagons to Bière for maintenance.
On April 16 Robert Pritchard presented a review of his ‘travels in 2024’, showcasing over 400 images from various locations in the UK and Europe. His journey included visits to Fenchurch Street for new units, Wolverhampton for a new tram extension, and Glasgow for new subway units. He countered this new technology with A4 Pacific 4498 ‘Sir Nigel Gresley’ at Saxilby for a water stop. Robert also documented early train photos at the new Dore platform and visits to Slovakia and the Czech Republic. In Dublin we saw LUAS trams and the depot at Red Cow, plus trams from visits to Nottingham, Blackpool, and Edinburgh. Additionally, he highlighted his experiences at the Loram workshop and Alstom factory in Derby, and the Ardwick TPE depot in Manchester. The excellent presentation was noted for its variety and interest, with anticipation for his 2025 travels. A selection of his shots are shown below.
Recently delivered new Stadler units for Glasgow Subway are seen being commissioned at the Edmiston Drive depot, near Ibrox football ground on 14 February 2024.
Having failed in the Acton Main Line area, 37800 has been rescued by DB Cargo 66014. The 37 was hauling 387138 back from Ilford to Reading on 15 March 2024 following overhaul, the two locos and unit being seen here at West Ealing.
Blue & Grey celebrity 507001 brings up the rear of a Hunts Cross to Southport service, led by 507017, at Ainsdale on 11 May 2024.
93001 is seen at Sheffield on 16 May 2024, being hauled to Tyseley for tyre turning by 37608.
In pouring rain, brand new 99002 for GB Railfreight is seen on display at the InnoTrans trade show in Berlin on 24 September 2024.
MARCH 2025 On 5th March Paul Chancellor presented a 12th Colour Rail Journey, ‘A Spotter’s Life’, a pictorial autobiography. As a child he lived in the West Country and his first spotting memories were visiting Taunton where he made friends with a young spotter. They started to spread their wings and he saved up to buy his first Combined Volume, the 1958 issue, for 10 shillings and sixpence. Telling their mums they were going to Bristol they travelled to Swindon; then Swindon became Reading and eventually Reading became London. As a 16 year old he joined RCTS and started to travel with them on bus trips to sheds. A family move to Teeside saw him visit locations in our local area, Doncaster Works, Wath and Tinsley. Later, Paul joined Dalescroft Rail Fans Society and one of their trips featured the elusive Holyhead shunters 01001 and 01002 at the breakwater. Other highlights included Deltic 55022 on the Silver Jubilee at Darlington and various shots in 1985 of the GWR 150 celebrations. In later life Paul started acquiring collections of photographs and in 2009 he took over Colour Rail, growing the collection from 100,000 to 350,000 images. This presentation marked his final one as he is retiring to focus on the Colour Rail business. We thank him for all his past excellent presentations to the society and wish him well for the future.
On 19th March, Richard Tuplin, editor of 'Railway Herald', presented ‘The Brian Morrison Collection’. Richard, a long-time friend of the late railway photographer and author Brian Morrison, now holds Brian’s photographic collection, which includes approximately 200,000 pictures taken from 1951 to 2014. This first show featured a small selection, mainly from the 1950s, showcasing the intricate details logged in 16 accounting ledgers. Highlights included images from unique vantage points, such as the ‘Flying Scotsman’ at the dockside in 1989 taken from a floating crane; Brighton Works in 1954 where we saw LMS diesels 10000 and 10001; ‘Mallard’ passing Balby Bridge, Doncaster in 1955 with trolley bus wires clearly in view; a truly atmospheric shot inside the roundhouse at Gateshead in 1954; at Edinburgh Waverley we saw A4 60004 ‘William Whitelaw’ on an early working of ‘The Elizabethan’ in 1953; and a wonderful evocative shot at Euston featuring vintage taxis in the background. The photos not only captured the locomotives but also the surrounding landscapes which so many years on told a story, capturing moments in time that reflect the changing landscape of railways over the decades, a visual journey through history. We really look forward to Richard returning in the future to show more of this extensive collection.
FEBRUARY 2025 On 5th February, a technical issue affected Rob Hay's show, and Tony Caddick filled in at short notice. Rob’s show will be rescheduled. The audience chose the year from Tony’s file list of scanned slides. The chosen year was 1982, commencing with Tulyar on the ‘Deltic Scotsman Farewell’ at a very gloomy Doncaster, which suited that occasion. Numerous Doncaster Works trips featured Deltics on Canal Sidings awaiting their fate and Class 50s undergoing refurbishment. Railtours that year included 40084 on ‘The Fenman’. We saw 26030 and 26038 on a Doncaster Merrymaker taking over from 47403 at Inverness, ready to take the train to Kyle. Other highlights included shots taken on an all-line Railrover, at locations such as Wick and Thurso, Plymouth and Penzance, Weymouth and Welshpool. The audience were thoroughly entertained by a selection of memories from Tony’s misspent youth. He will be back! A few of Tony's images are shown below.
On 19th February, Bob Gellatly presented his show ‘The South Yorkshire Joint Railway Part 1 - Brancliffe Junction to Maltby’. He began by explaining the history of the line, supported by maps showing how the line developed from its very early days. This historical context set the stage for the subsequent pictorial journey. The journey along the line commenced on 1st March 1986 with a special Hertfordshire Railtours train, the ‘Capital Jointliner’, hauled by 47631. Throughout the presentation, Bob intermittently returned to this train, illustrating the joint line's route in both directions. His portrayal of the line was a rich blend of his own photographs and donated shots. This ranged from old black and white images to contemporary colour photos. The variety of visual materials created a vivid and engaging narrative of the line’s evolution over time. The presentation covered a range of features along the railway line. These included: Signal boxes, Junctions, Mileposts, Bridges and even a Plate layers hut. In addition, Bob highlighted both freight and special passenger trains that have traversed the line over the years. Bob's presentation provided a comprehensive and visually engaging exploration of the South Yorkshire Joint Railway from Brancliffe Junction to Maltby. Through the meticulous combination of historical context, pictorial documentation, and detailed descriptions of various railway features, the audience gained a deep appreciation of this significant railway line. We are already looking forward to Bob returning to do Part 2 next year, which will take us from Maltby, via St Catherine’s, to Kirk Sandall.
NOVEMBER 2024 Our meeting on 6th November was a celebration of 50 years of the Pennine Railway Society. John Sanderson, our Treasurer for all those 50 years, gave a presentation of society activities during all those years. It began and ended at Rotherham Masbrough. The society was formed in November 1974 by a group of friends who met regularly in the "Prince of Wales" pub, across from the station. There followed slides taken from 39 separate MPDs across the country visited on trips organised by the Pennine, along with slides from Works at Doncaster, Derby, Crewe, Swindon, Litchurch Lane, St Rollox, Stratford, Eastleigh and Horwich, all visited by the society, along with Acton Tube Works.
The second part of the evening began with shots of our 10th anniversary celebrations on the KWVR when we hired the four-wheel railbus M79964. There then followed slides of trips on special trains to Maltby Colliery, West Burton Power Station, Scunthorpe Ore Terminal, Bardney and New Holland Pier. The trip on an excursion from Doncaster to Fort William was shown when there were failures to locomotives 25246 and 25232 in Scotland, resulting in heavy delays and cancellation of the planned destination of Mallaig.
There were also slides of our sales stands at Open Days, members in the snow at Tinsley, trips on open-top buses taking us to depots across London, refreshment stops at pubs (as we did on all our visits) and a visit to the LT skid-pan at Chiswick bus garage, where one of our committee members was actually allowed a drive!
As part of the evening of celebration, members were treated to a buffet, a bumper raffle was held, mugs celebrating our 50th anniversary were sold and a special cake, provided by Andy Barclay, was cut and photographs were taken. A packed evening of entertainment, enjoyed by a capacity audience 😊
On 20th November Jerry Dickinson, who works for Network Rail, presented his show ‘Charters for Charity’. Jerry explained how his first experience of charter trains for charity was when he worked for Waterloo Control and went on a rail-tour, the’ Christmas Pudding Tour’ in 1995, which raised funds for Woking Homes, a residential home for people who worked in the rail industry. Later he would move to York and got involved with the Branch Line Society. Jerry worked with a lady called Charlotte, whose 11-year-old son Luca had been cared for by Martin House Children’s Hospice in Wetherby for most of his life before he passed away. Jerry and colleagues hatched up a plan to run a single charter train to raise funds for the hospice, in memory of Luca. The train would run between Lancaster and Drax, running on branches which people couldn’t normally travel on. And so, the ‘Luca Pezzulo Express’ ran on 20th July 2019 and raised £18,247. The full report of the tour can be found here It was such a success that the following year they decided to do another. This was a two-day affair called ‘The Power of Aire’ from Carnforth into Yorkshire, at one point travelling through Kellingley Colliery behind 3 class 66 locos. In 2021 a 4-day Scottish tour ‘The Primary Colours’ used red, blue and yellow engines. Many challenges included loco failures but this tour raised over £70,000 over the 4 days. In 2022 the decision was taken to do more than one a year and ‘The Merchant of Teeside’ and ‘The Lackenby Looper’ ran. More rail-tours have followed and in 2023 DB Cargo loco 66190 was named Martin House Children’s Hospice, which helps to spread the word nationwide about the work of the hospice. The now regular rail-tours continue to be a great success, involving many organisations such as the Branch Line Society, DB Cargo, Network Rail and many more individuals, all pulling together. The collaboration has now raised over £250,000 for Martin House. This was a really interesting presentation from Jerry and highlighted the fact that the privatised railway can still pull together as a single team. All proceeds from the raffle on the night were donated to the hospice.
OCTOBER 2024 On 2nd October John Law presented his show ‘D is for Don’t Panic! Also Dacre to Dysart’. We have already had shows from John covering A, B and C so this was the fourth in the series of shows which portray stations beginning with the same letter of the alphabet. John includes his own shots plus many researched photos from old postcards etc. Tonight we began at Dacre, near Whitby, and travelled around the UK and also dipped into countries around the world. We visited stations still in use and many now long gone. We travelled to Dagenham East, Danby Whiske, Dandaleith and Darras Hall. At Darwen the platform was full of travellers in their Sunday best clothes, perhaps going to Blackpool for the Fair Holidays in the early 1900s. The impressive rebuilt station at Delft in The Netherlands was included, with shots from both over and underground. A lovely old shot from Denbigh was taken by the late Geoff Warnes, a long time member of our Society. John likes a pint of real ale and some of the station shots included the pubs such as The Phoenix and Firkin at Denmark Hill. Some more long lost stations included Devizes in the snow, Dewsbury Market Place, Doncaster York Road, Dover Marine and Driffield. The audience were wowed yet again by John’s show and his dry sense of humour. We look forward to 'E' being the next instalment. A few of John’s shots are shown below.
On 16th October Roger Senior and John Zabernik double headed a show again. Roger Senior began with his show ‘Train Doctor’. Roger was a Technical Riding Inspector for BR/GNER and in this show he told us about his days working on the Royal Train. His first royal duty was for the Silver Jubilee in 1977, when he ‘slept with the Queen’. He was in the cab of a class 31 which worked the train from Holbeck to a tip near Selby where the train was stabled as a safe place for the Queen to sleep. Roger slept in the cab! He worked royal trains for everyone except Princess Anne. Roger was also the technical rider on the record-breaking run from Newcastle to King’s Cross on 2nd June 1995 when 91110 achieved it's record speed of 154mph. Roger also showed shots of the Mk4 stock undergoing the ‘Mallard’ upgrade at Horbury. John Zabernik took over for the second half of the show. He has previously told us all about the 125 Group and in this show, he brought us up to date. They now have 5 HST power cars, one based at Ruddington and the rest at the Midland Railway Centre. So far, the group have run five mainline tours which brings in much needed revenue to keep the whole project going. The next big project is 43044 which is still at Ruddington, the plan is for this to have an original Valenta engine refitted, to recreate the sound and smell of those long lost HST days. John closed his presentation by showing some shots of CrossCountry HSTs in their last days, and some exported HSTs in their new homes in Mexico and Nigeria! Another interesting show and no doubt we will John and Roger again in the future.
On 30th October Robert Pritchard presented another Zoom show with his ‘Early Digital Memories’. The show took us through Robert’s early days of digital photography, travelling around the country and Europe, many shots were on official visits in his capacity as Today’s Railways Magazine Editor. Another excellent presentation from Robert and we look forward to his next show. A selection of shots from Robert’s show are below.
SEPTEMBER 2024 On 4th September Robin Havenhand presented his show ‘A Blast from the Past’. Robin has travelled to Europe on many occasions and his show was a mix of UK and Germany from the early 2000’s. We began in 2004 in Cologne and Berlin and then moved back to the UK to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway before a trip to Barrow Hill Roundhouse. It was a wet evening visit to Barrow Hill where we saw EM2 loco 27000 and 86213 ‘Lancashire Witch’. Back in Germany Robin showed many shots of Russian built ‘Ludmilla’ locos on Prague trains. On New Years Day 2004 we saw shots in the snow from Ulm and also shots in the snow from January 2005 at Reichenbach and Hof. At Mühlacker between Karlsruhe and Stuttgart we saw a tram train. Back in the UK we were treated to shots of Robin’s favourite loco, the class 50. On a Pathfinder rail tour we saw 50049 and 50031 on the West Highland line with shots taken at Arisaig, Rannoch, Spean Bridge and Fort William. Another tour featured the same locos at Penzance. Another good show from Robin and we look forward to seeing more from his collection in the future.
On 18th September we held our Annual Digital Image Competition in memory of David Bladen. We were pleased to receive 55 entries. The audience judged the entries on the night and all the winning images can be seen here in our Gallery.
AUGUST 2024 On 7th August Andy Barclay presented some more slides from the collections of Alan Lovecy and Peter Fox, together with some from his own collection. He began with slides taken by the late Peter Fox, joint founder of Platform Five Publications. We saw some shots from the last throes of steam at Dore & Totley station, locos on the long gone Bristol Bath Road depot, and DMUs at Sheffield in the days when platforms were busy with BRUTEs. On a snowy day at Dore & Totley station, Peter moved outside to the front of the station to photograph queues of people waiting to get on to the platform, the train being the only available public transport. The slides from the late Alan Lovecy, an RCTS member, included shots from railtours, Southern DEMU 1017 at Portishead in October 1985 and Southern Electric Group Coastaway Express tour at Seaford in January 1988. Also a rare shot of 26025 at Tinsley, and 33003 with a crumpled cab at Eastleigh. Andy’s own collection were digital shots taken more recently. Andy is a well-known HST fan and many images were of HSTs including some at Marylebone and Basingstoke when Paddington was closed, at Dawlish with waves coming over the trains, and the prototype HST at Ruddington. Many of the shots were in the last throes of HSTs working top-link express trains in England. Another entertaining evening, showcasing the collections of two well known local enthusiasts. Andy assures us there are plenty more to follow and we look forward to seeing them in the future.
On 21st August Steve Armitage presented a 3D celebration of Derby, Darlington and Doncaster in steam days. Since retiring, Steve has devoted his time to restoring historic railway photographs and has been given access to many different railway photographer’s collections. The show featured the Stations, Sheds and Works at these great and iconic rail centres including classic images in both colour and black and white, from Victorian days to the end of the steam era. Most of the images were previously unseen. At Derby Works we gasped at pictures of engines lifted on simple jacks; at Darlington we smiled at many workers in the boiler shop posing for a picture, the workers in flat hats and the foreman in a bowler hat; at Doncaster we were privileged to see images from the official GN/LNER Archive which included the first engine built there in 1868, 25 locos on ‘Race Specials’ in the sidings in 1902, many female workers in the plant during the first world war era, and the last steam loco built there in 1957. This was another hugely entertaining and informative evening, the audience appreciating the historic nature of the images, especially the local Doncaster ones. We look forward to Steve returning next year with another great show. An image from each location is shown below for you to enjoy.
JULY 2024 On 3rd July a Zoom show replaced the usual show at Doncaster Town Fields Sports Club due to there being a General Election the next day and the room being used as a Polling Station. David Allen agreed to step in at short notice and presented two shows, one either side of the break, ‘Holyhead to Hull’ and ‘The East Coast Main Line - Doncaster to the Border’. We started at Holyhead with a class 37 loco in Regional Railways Livery running around its train. We called at most stations from Holyhead to Chester with class 40s, 25s, 33s,158s,180s and HSTs, looking closely at the North Wales main line where signalling alterations have reduced the layout from 4 tracks to 2 tracks. We discovered David’s interest in signalling alterations over the years, looking in particular at the signalling alterations at the east end of Chester. Moving on we headed towards Manchester via Warrington, visited Warrington NX panel Signal box, then through Manchester Victoria looking at the Harwich to Glasgow Boat train, the remains of Manchester Exchange station and Miles Platting. We headed towards Diggle and Huddersfield through Leeds and arrived at Hull Paragon to see a Deltic ready to depart to King’s Cross. After the break we saw Doncaster just prior to the 1979 re-signalling, Shaftholme Junction new box (new in 1950s) at Templehurst, we followed the old ECML into Selby looking at the swing bridge and through Riccall towards York, before retracing our steps and following the new (1984) Selby diversion, arriving at Chaloners Whin where we saw an HST side by side a Black 5 approaching York, pre-Tesco. Then we headed north on the ECML through Northallerton, Eryholme and Darlington and saw the Doncaster Works trial train which was regularly an ex works class 50 to Heaton and/or Newcastle. We eventually arrived at the border after seeing Durham with 55012 Crepello departing and Plawsworth in the snow. Each section was illustrated with maps. A very interesting and informative evening and we look forward to David presenting a show again in the future.
On 17th July Pete Sargieson presented the 5th show from a collection of slides belonging to his farmer friend Keith, who again joined Pete for the show. The slides were from the mid-70s to the early 80s, taken by Keith on his travels around the UK, and described with Pete’s wealth of knowledge about engine names and their nameplates. We saw lots of shots of engines in the famous scrap yard at Barry. Many had been painted with slogans from potential owners and looked in a poor state, but perhaps surprisingly, many have since been restored and survive today. We visited Hull where we saw 03112, white from shunting trains through the carriage washer. At Dingwall 26025 was on the platform together with mail vans and mail bags. At Carstairs 24009 was on a mixed freight in ex-works condition and at Old Oak Common we saw Class 47s and a class 50 on the turntable. Pictures of Class 20s at a Toton Open Day with lots of young lads in flared jeans, with Adidas bags over their shoulders, brought back memories for the audience. Also at Toton 44008 was bulled-up for cab rides, with a red name plate that it never carried. A shot of 55016 Gordon Highlander at York in 1977 led to memories of doing rubbings of nameplates and badges with rolls of lining paper while the engines stood on the platforms. A shot of Deltic 55006 at Kings Cross in 1977, Pete explained why the last two letters of the nameplate ‘Fife and Forfar Yeomanry’ appeared silver. The plate had been damaged and had to have the last two letters replaced. With his encyclopaedic knowledge of loco nameplates and his Yorkshire sense of humour Pete is always welcome and we look forward to his return with Keith to do another presentation in the future.
JUNE 2024 On 5th June Andrew Shenton presented his take on the railways of Yorkshire. With Andrew it’s all about the photography, his aim is to make a visually appealing photograph, using railways as the subject. With the images arranged in time order starting just after midnight, Andrew used the weather, seasons, landscape and cityscapes of Yorkshire to present ‘Dawn ‘till Dusk – A Contemporary look at the Railways of Yorkshire’.
Andrew dedicated his show to his father Ian, a long time member of the Society who sadly passed away recently. Ian took Andrew out with him on the railways from a very young age and the interest has stayed with Andrew all his life. The following five images are a snapshot of the ‘day’ and give a real flavour of the care which Andrew takes to capture both the railway subject and the surroundings. This was the first time that Andrew had presented a show to the Society and we very much look forward to his return in next year's timetable.
Great light on the hills above Cornholme accompanies 70810 climbing towards the summit at Copy Pit, the class 70 could be heard long before it came into view with the engine reverberating up the still morning valley.
Just a bit of fun, Andrew said he felt like a stalker pointing the camera at someone’s house, just to catch the Pacer appearing to sit on the garage roof.
A controversy, no they didn’t arrive at the same time, but only moments apart. Using Photoshop to merge two images, the fabulous low December light illuminated the unit approaching, with the sun behind the pantograph of the class 91. Taken at Wortley, Leeds where the Leeds-Doncaster line crosses the Transpennine line to Huddersfield.
November 2020 and welcome return of class 20’s on the Yorkshire RHTT circuit, here caught in lovely low autumn light at Wakefield Kirkgate.
A double headed Class 56 gets underway from Hunslet Station Junction on the approach to Leeds. Just as the cloud of exhaust erupted and the class 56’s burst into life, the truck passed at the perfect moment with the girl holding her ears.
MAY 2024 On 1st May Robin Skinner presented a Zoom show ‘My Favourite Pictures’. This additional Zoom show was our ‘Plan B’ Social Evening option, because the room we normally use at Doncaster Town Fields Sports club was to be used the following day as a Polling Station. Robin’s show consisted of 180 images taken over a period from 100 plus years ago to the present day, some from Pennine Railway events, some from his career on the railway, some from The Pennine Railway Society collection, and some by friends Gavin Morrison, Steve Armitage, Chris Nettleton, Eric Slater, Jack Davis, Robin Patrick, David Bladen, Peter Fox, Les Nixon, John Sanderson and Bob Burden. Trains, Trams, Buses, Trolleybuses, Pennine personalities, even Royalty and the Political elite were all represented, together with some, ‘only some’ mind, by Robin Skinner. A small selection is show below.
On 15th May Geoff Griffiths took the reins to do a presentation at short notice, due to our advertised presenter unfortunately being unwell. Geoff’s show was titled ‘21 years of Digital Photography’ and took us through a selection of slides which had been scanned, together with those taken in more recent years by both digital camera and drone. We began with scanned black and white images of a Class 37 at Manchester Victoria and also 1025 ‘Western Guardsman’ at Westbury. We travelled to the North Wales coast, Llandudno Junction and the Royal Mail terminal at Willesden. In his working life on the railway, Geoff worked on the Royal train, and we saw an image of it on the viaduct at Knaresborough, a picture which also hangs in the travel office at Buckingham Palace. Geoff showed us Class 67s in a variety of different liveries, Pendolinos and Azumas. Pictures of Eurostars coming into Stratford International station, taken through a telephoto lens really accentuated the change in gradient there. Geoff visits many heritage lines and we saw images from Woodthorpe on the GCR where he volunteers, comparing before and after the building of housing estates there. A selection of images are shown below, which gives a snapshot of another excellent show from Geoff. Thank you for standing in and we look forward to the next show.
On 29th May Robin Patrick presented his Zoom show, consisting mainly of his photographic wanderings over the last year, but also including some black and white images taken in 1964. We visited York, Robin’s home city, for a variety of shots of diesel and steam charters, rail head treatment trains, HSTs and Azumas in the area including Colton Junction, Challoners Whin, Beningbrough, Haxby, Dringhouses, Scarborough Bridge, the York Station area, Poppleton Railway Nursery and the National Railway Museum. Further afield we visited Doncaster, Selby, Leeds, Neville Hill Depot home of the LNER 91s, Saltaire, the Stratford Barn Railway, the Great Central Railway, Severn Valley Railway, Beamish and the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. Even further afield we saw shots from Kensington Olympia, Crewe North, Peak Forest, Carlisle, Dawlish and Leamington Spa. We also looked into Robin’s archive of black and white images from around 1964; where we visited Roade to see 10001 running under newly erected wires, Peterborough East, Charwelton on the Great Central, Castlethorpe, Gayton, Hunsbury Hill, Bournemouth, Basingstoke, Swindon, Dundee and shots of the Lickey Bankers at Bromsgrove. We look forward to another Zoom show from Robin in the future. Some of the shots from his show are shown below.
APRIL 2024 On 3rd April Bryan Johnson presented his show ‘ Travels with a Swiss Rail pass 2023 Part 1’. Bryan had taken a holiday specifically to ride the many lines in Switzerland, it had taken a lot of planning to make the most of the 15-day pass. The show was accompanied by maps and also charts comparing the heights of the various Swiss mountains to those in the UK to give the audience a comparison. His presentation took us initially to Paris on Eurostar, and then via Geneva to Nyon, his first Swiss base where he stayed for 3 nights. On day 1 of the pass he took us on the cog railway from Montreux to Rochers-de-Naye through stunning scenery. He also took the GoldenPass MOB train from Montreux to Montbovon and later up to Les Pliades. On day 2 Bryan took the Golden Pass again from Montreux to Zweisimmen. Because of the different track gauges between Montreux and Interlaken the train uses adjustable bogies – we saw pictures of the contraption which shifts the wheel on the axles and lifts them up to fit higher platforms. He continued from there up to Lenk and back, then on to Bern, where we saw trams and a battery trolley bus. Bryan travelled to Olten which he described as ‘a bit like Crewe’ due to being very busy with both passenger and freight trains. From there the high-speed tilting train took him back to Nyon via Morges. Pass day 3 was a transfer to Interlaken for 2 nights and from there travelled on by ship to Brienz before travelling on the Rothorn Bahn, little red carriages and steam locomotives on rack and pinion tracks. It was an hour to the Rothorn summit, unfortunately it was murky with no visibility at the top. Day 4 saw Bryan travel from Interlaken to Grindlewald and Kleine Scheidegg and the rack railway up to the summit of the Jungfraujoch for some more fabulous scenery. Later was a cable car trip from Lauterbrunnen to Grütschalp summit and then the narrow-gauge mountain railway to Mürren before returning to Interlaken where we saw some old stock of the Schynige Platte railway. On day 5 he transferred operations to Luzern, travelling again by boat from there to Alpnachstad and then on the steepest cog railway in the world to Pilatus before the cable cars to Fräkmüntegg and then to Krienz. For day 6 Bryan covered more distance taking the old route through Gotthard Tunnel to Göschenen and on to Brig where we saw the Glacier Express train, to Domodossola in Italy, Locarno and Bellinzona. The return journey was through the Gotthard base tunnel back to Luzern. On day 8 Bryan travelled towards the Italian border to Bellinzona again, then to Chiasso through the Ceneri base tunnel, Lugano and back to Luzern on the old Gotthard route again. He travelled up the Stanserhorn, firstly on the old funicular which was celebrating its 130th anniversary, then on to the CabriO cable car, a much more modern way to travel, where passengers could ride on the open top of the huge gondola. This was a fascinating presentation from Bryan and we look forward to Part 2 covering the remaining days of the Swiss Rail Pass. Some of his images are shown below.
On 17th April Bryan Longbone presented ‘The North Lindsey Light Railway’. At the request of our Chairman Robin, Bryan began with a few shots taken at Rotherham Masbrough in 1974, the year that the Society was founded just over the road at The Prince of Wales pub. Although Bryan himself admitted the shots were not of the highest quality, taken with his Box Brownie, the content featuring Class 20s, 25s, 37s and Peaks on various trains, went down well with the audience. Bryan’s main presentation concentrated on the NLLR and he gave a brief history of the route from its opening in 1906, taken over by the Great Central Railway, then to the LNER and finally BR. He explained that much of the route is now closed, mainly due to the rationalisation of the nearby steelworks at Normanby Park. Many of Bryan’s shots, both historic and more recent, were taken at Dawes Lane Crossing and Crosby Mine Box showing the latter signal box both working and derelict after a fire in 1996. He then showed some more recent shots of Class 37s and 56s on both the Flixborough branch and the ‘still in use’ line to Roxby Gulet. Bryan closed his presentation with some interesting shots of the various industrial steam and diesel engines used on the light railway and the steelworks lines. He was obviously very passionate about the history of the line and we hope he can return with another presentation featuring other lines in North Lincolnshire.
MARCH 2024 On 6th March Paul Chancellor presented ‘An 11th Colour-Rail Journey’. The show was based on the year 1964, and Paul showed every class of loco and unit that a train spotter could have seen in that year, including departmental and industrials. Beginning in the south west at Penzance and moving up country to Scotland, Paul took us on a tour of all the regions. The shots were from many different years but all ‘spottable’ in 1964. Highlights included blue class 22 D6336 at Oxford in 1969; very elusive shunters 01001 and 01002 at Holyhead; a class 129 Cravens parcels unit, one of only two built; DP2 at Barlby; a green TransPennine unit at Bridlington in July 1963; and a battery DMU at Inverurie Works. Paul concluded his show with some shots of classes from 1964 which have survived on heritage railways. As the title suggests this was the eleventh show which Paul has done at the Pennine and the audience were again enthralled by both the quality of the images and Paul's well informed commentary. All the pictures which Paul showed are available to buy from the Colour-Rail website where you can find over 150,000 images - www.colourrail.co.uk
On 20th March, Chris Nettleton of the Gresley Society made a return visit to show us his presentation ‘Flying Scotsman – the locomotive’. Chris gave us a brief but well informed illustrated history of this world famous locomotive from its origins in the 1920s, through its service life with LNER and British Railways and into preservation. We began at The British Empire Exhibition in 1924 when the loco first came to prominence. Chris then explained how the first high speed non-stop London to Edinburgh runs could happen in 1928 with the newly designed corridor tender and covered the 100mph high speed trials in 1934. Chris illustrated the loco with its modifications in British Railways days, such as the double chimney and German type smoke deflectors, explaining how these deflectors although not popular with some enthusiasts, made the driver’s job much easier. Moving on to the preservation era Chris described the colourful era of Alan Peglar’s ownership including the ill fated trip to the USA and Canada. He covered the McAlpine and Marchington eras before closing his presentation with a look at the locomotive under its current NRM ownership. As usual Chris’ presentation was very well received by the audience and we look forward to his return in the future.