Peak Rail / Heritage Shunter Trust

Well last month i was disappointed by a trip to Matlock to find Peak Rail was out of service, but i gave them a second chance last weekend and i'm very glad i did. I travelled on their line up to Rowsley South through the Derbyshire Dales. Then i had a look around their base and had a great tour of the Heritage Shunter Trust's sheds seeing a lot of rare diesel shunter classes for the first time. A great heritage line for sure and always enjoyable to travel behind a Class 14 (of which they have a few on the line). You can see my photos here.

Hidden Euston

At the weekend i went on another Hidden London tour of the Underground's secrets, unlike Aldwych in January this new tour was of an operating (and busy) tube station and included obligatory wearing of hi-viz! The tour was of Euston underground station and involved exploring parts of the station now restricted normally to the general public. The tour was wonderful and included walking along a ventilation tunnel where you could see the platforms (and some passengers) through the grills below! You can see my photos here.

Back to Lapworth

I really enjoyed my first visit to Lapworth last year, a lovely Warwickshire village where the Stratford and Grand Union Canals meet. I returned yesterday this time to walk the Stratford Canal back up in the Birmingham direction (i went the other direction last time).

My walk took in Lapworth Wharf, the Lapworth Lock Flight and made it as far as the cricket club. You can see my photos here. I plan to return to Lapworth later in the year and explore more of the Grand Union which i only briefly visited last time.

The Island Line

When i was a small boy i had a holiday on the Isle of Wight though can barely remember anything about it. I thought it was high time i returned to the island and have a trip along the unique Island Line which is the last remnant of what was once an extensive National railway system before Beeching. What makes the line between Ryde Pier Head and Shanklin unique is that it is operated by ex-London Underground tube stock from the 1930s.

Visiting Portsmouth for Easter i headed over to the Isle of Wight and caught the Class 483 EMU at the pier head. Then headed down to Shanklin before coming back to Smallbrook Junction to catch the Isle of Wight Steam Railway (which will be covered later) and the steam loco hauling the preserved line train was younger than the Island Line electric train stock! You can see my photos from the Island Line here.

Mersey rails

Being half-Scouse i've always enjoy visiting Liverpool though in recent years have not been as much as i'd like... and should. Last Saturday i headed up there again though instead of Liverpool itself i spent most of my time on the Wirral visiting places like New Brighton. The main reason was to travel on Merseyrail's third-rail DC network and their fleet of BR era Class 507 and 508 EMUs. Planning for their replacement has begun so i thought it was time i took some photos of them (though they probably won't be replaced for a good few years yet).

New Brighton was enjoyable too, a great seaside resort though of course a bit bleak in February, a return in the Summer would be a good idea. You can see my Mersey rails photos here.

Back to Stratford (at last!)

There was a time, when i was doing my masters dissertation, i was visiting Stratford-upon-Avon nearly every week but since then my visits have become much less frequent in fact last year i only went to the town once. That was just over a year ago so it was high time i returned to the town as i did today.

I really should visit more often though it is getting harder to see things and do things i haven't done (many) times before. Today though i did cross the Avon using the road bridge which gave me a good view of the boatyard, oddly never been that way before. You can see my photos here.

London rails and boats

As well as the visit to Aldwych tube station, last weekend i was also able to visit a number of London's many stations and take a lot of photographs. I visited Victoria, Clapham Junction, Peckham Rye and London Bridge and you can see my photos here. If thats not enough i also took a few photos along the Thames Embankment and these can be seen here!

Banbury cakes

Being a fan of Eccles and Chorley cakes i thought it was high time i sampled the similar Banbury cake, especially with my roots in Oxfordshire (back 4 centuries blah blah). So i went to Banbury yesterday to get some! I didn't just go there for cakes of course. I also had a nice walk along the frozen towpath of the Oxford Canal and took some photographs in the station too. You can see my canal photographs here.

The cakes are very good by the way and can be ordered from Brown's own website. I think i'll just get some whenever i am in town, which is fairly often.

Back to Worcester

Last year i worked in Worcester for 6 months and have come to really love this beautiful and historic city so it was nice to visit again yesterday, for rail and canal photography natch.

One thing i never did do when i worked there was take a train to Worcester Shrub Hill which is a lovely grand old station though somewhat out of the way compared to Foregate Street which was the station i used when i worked in Worcester. I also walked along the Worcester & Birmingham Canal up to Diglis Basin. Many photos of course, of Shrub Hill here and of the canal and basin here.

Lapworth

I've been meaning to go to Lapworth for some time, having travelled through it a lot on the train. Well finally i stopped off at this North Warwickshire village at the weekend and what a lovely place it is too.

I went mainly for a canal walk, its where the Stratford and Grand Union Canals meet so there are plenty of locks, junctions and other waterway items of interest. You can see my canal photos here, plus some photos taken at the railway station too.

Hereford

At the weekend i paid a visit to Hereford, a lovely medieval town and home to one of the great cathedrals of England of course. This time i did venture inside the cathedral (i didn't on my first visit to Hereford last year) and it is an impressive sight. I didn't take that many photos (or not as many as usual) but you can see the ones i did take here.

More Banbury

Today i paid another visit to Banbury, a place i do like to visit indeed. As usual i took a few photographs of narrowboats and railways. The Oxford Canal was particularly busy though this is peak season of course. You can see my photos here.

Wild flowers

Some wild flowers (or weeds if you like) i encountered this lunch time.

A tale of 2 Risboroughs

Yesterday i headed down to the medieval market town of Princes Risborough. Until now its only been a place i have travelled through so i thought it was high time i got off the station platform and explored the town itself. First however i did take the Aylesbury branch line train but only as far as the adjoining village of Monks Risborough and then walked back through to where i started.

Both places are idyllic and full of lovely (and no doubt expensive!) old houses - quite a few with thatched roofs with the Chiltern hills as a backdrop. You can see the photos i took here.

Walking Wootton Wawen

On a glorious Summer's day there is no better place to be in South Warwickshire, as i was on Saturday in the village of Wootton Wawen and walking along the Stratford Canal. Several years ago (2011 in fact) i walked up from Wilmcote past the Edstone Aqueduct as far as Changeline Footbridge 55 but turned back short of Wootton Wawen. In 2013 i walked up from Wootton Wawen as far as the Yarningale Aqueduct.

But there is a canal stretch South of the village i have not walked yet... well until now of course. I walked as far as Farm Bridge 56 and you can see the canal photos i took here and other photos from the lovely village here.

Walking the Aylesbury Arm

Its been ages since i last visited a new (to me) stretch of canal, in fact we need to go back all the way to last November and my visit to the Nottingham Canal. On Saturday however i visited Aylesbury for the first time and walked a good stretch of the Aylesbury Arm of the mighty Grand Union Canal.

A very nice stretch of canal it is too, very soon you are out of the town and into lovely countryside. Then you can have the somewhat surreal experience of being stared at by an entire herd of cows. You can see my photos here.

Imperial Wharf and Chelsea Dock

I've spent a lot of time over the last couple of years exploring London's waterways, especially the Thames in Eastern London. On Friday i moved West and visited Imperial Wharf in Battersea as well as Chelsea Dock. This is similar to St Katharine Dock which i've visited a few times in the past, a nice little dock full of expensive yachts and river craft, though also a narrowboat! You can see the photos i took here.

Return to Leamington

I like Leamington Spa a lot so returned last weekend to do some more photography at the station as well as a little bit along the canal. You can see my railway photographs here. You may notice that some of them are not square! I have decided to not crop photos taken with my DSLR anymore, its a pain having to crop dozens of photos!

Some of the photos are square but that is because when i got to Leamington i thought the battery in my Nikon DSLR was flat so started taking photos with the iPhone instead, actually it turned out the battery was fine but had got slightly knocked out of alignment in my bag so once the battery was restored to its proper position the photoshoot was finished using the Nikon.

Stafford

After a period of illness i was desperate to visit somewhere, and somewhere new at that. So today i went to Stafford and very nice it is too, you can't fault somewhere that has a windmill at its town centre! Naturally the focus of my visit was railway related and that included one of the class 92s in the new Caledonian Sleeper livery for sleeper trains between London and Scotland. Very nice it looked too though not sure why it was in a siding in Stafford but i wasn't complaining. My railway photos can be seen here.

Penarth Marina

Completing my photo journey through Cardiff, my photos taken at Penarth Marina on the other side of the bay. Very nice it was too, i wish i could have explored Penarth more but by the time i got there my feet were aching!