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.

Back to the EVR

Although the Severn Valley Railway remains my favourite there is something about the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway (EVR) in Derbyshire that also has great appeal. Its on a lot smaller scale than the SVR (though has a decent line length at 14.5 km) and doesn't have the multi-million pound investments in infrastructure. Everything is a lot more simple and friendlier and a bit more approachable. Anyway yesterday i returned to the EVR for their Mixed Traction Event which involved their usual DMUs being hauled by 2 preserved diesel locomotives.


Both locos are proud products of the Midlands in Derby's Class 25 and Birmingham's Class 33. I also had a trip on a short steam line up to the EVR's spur line up to Ravenstor, my first trip in a brake van! That can be crossed off the bucket list. You can see my photos here.

Westland Sea King (Haynes Manual)

To mark its final year of service in the forefront of UK Search & Rescue (SAR) Haynes bought out this manual on the Westland Sea King last year and its a very good edition in the Haynes line. The Sea King is iconic of course, originally a US designed and built helicopter, the UK version built by Westland has served in the Falklands, Gulf Wars, Afghanistan though this book concentrates on the HU5 version used for SAR duties.

The book starts with a short general history of the use of helicopters in rescue operations and then the development of the Westland Sea King. Much of the book is taken up with the Sea King's innards and how to maintain it (as you would expect from a Haynes manual!) What is most interesting here is the more specialised equipment unique to a SAR helicopter and role. The book ends with a few examples of the many rescues and recovery operations the Sea King was involved with during its career.

The end of the Sea King also means the end of Royal Navy involvement in SAR as the role passes to a civilian contractor working for the Maritime & Coastguard Agency, in a way the passing of the Sea King HU5 from service is sad but the new SAR fleet is much more up-to-date and modern which will be welcomed by anyone in trouble! One wonders though if the new service and it's equipment will get immortalised in a Haynes manual one day?

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.

'D' For Diesels : 8 (Booklaw)

As with other titles in this series this book presents a good and varied collection of black & white photos from the early days of British Rail "modern traction", specifically the days before TOPS numbers and the diesels were largely (but not always) green. The photos are accompanied by captions written in a conversational style, often pithy (though sometimes it does fall a bit flat).

This volume mainly features the photos of Gavin Morrison and covers the whole range of BR diesels from lowly shunters to huge main line locomotives. The photos are mainly taken in the 1960s and show a rail network and indeed a Britain before the ravages of standardisation and corporate identities.

Maybe everything was all a bit simpler and more innocent back then but nostalgia, like everything else, is not like it used to be.

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.