Despite starting our journey from relatively close at hand, set out early and arrived in Stratford in time for a stupidly expensive breakfast courtesy of The White Swan. Stratford is, after all, a town designed to fleece passing heritage hungry tourists of their cash - and early on a Saturday morning there are few options but to dig deep. Ate lots to make up for it, and hoped there wouldn't be any queasiness on the bus to Long Marston. Made our way back to the station in time to start the queue for the bus, which despite a lack of information arrived bang on time to meet the train. A short trip through the Warwickshire countryside to the former MOD base, and we were soon queueing to enter Long Marston with it's untold riches of stored locomotives and rolling stock.

Sneezed my way into the site, clearly finding lots of unfamiliar pollen we just don't get down south. Greeted by the site of a single Class 87 reminding us of the purpose of today - to bid a sad farewell to an entire class of West Coast Mainline workhorses which it seemed would just keep going on! However, they sit here in the countryside, miles from the nearest overhead line, awaiting shipment to Bulgaria and a new useful life.

The scale of the site was simply vast. After working our way up and down the lines of stored locos and wagons, we continued to find new things hiding in corners - I can honestly say that few open days have held my attention for so long on the basis of the exhibits alone. Once we'd photographed, noted and discussed all the stock we could, headed for the small platform near the East Gate for the DMU ride around the site to the West Gate and a little beyond. A decent run, around some very tight curves. More stock and wagons spotted on the run. The only things remaining out of sight being a group of 31s we'd seen a while back at Meldon Quarry and the ill-fated Pendolino 390033 which was stored, respectfully out of view given it's recent history.

Mid-afternoon the UK Railtours service arrived on site, with a pair of 66s creeping around the busy area. As the railtour guests swelled the ranks in the site, we decided to consider leaving having had a happy, dry and fruitful day.

The highlight for me was to hear about the possibility of 87002 'Royal Sovreign' working future railtours on classic electric mainline routes. A re-enactment of the Electric Scot Farewell might be fun?

The second day of my unexpected weekend dawned with an early start, and a checkout from my comfortable warm hotel into a drizzly and grey Sheffield Sunday. The pedestrianised plaza rising from the station to the hotel which had been full of students lolling around in the warm evening was now empty. Still, it gave me an opportunity to grab a picture of 'What If?' - the poem installed in huge letters on the side of Sheffield Hallam University, written by none other than Andrew Motion - our current poet laureate. I'm no great fan of Mr Motion usually, but the impressive concept and the rather fine words struck me enough to make me curious - and indeed to spend a few moments thinking on the poem before I pressed onward, towards the station and inevitably, breakfast!

Today's itinerary, from a heavy rail perpsective, was gentle. The first train off Sheffield for Leeds, reversing at Castleford - and involving some required track. Then a dash up to Newcastle on a Transpennine Express service. Started strangely - with an unexpectedly busy service from Sheffield, many of the passengers apparently having not made it home from the previous night. A nagging door fault, resulting in the guard or driver needing to repeatedly kick the unit back into life, didn't delay things much and we rolled into Leeds a few minutes before time after a decent run along the final stretches. After a quick wander around this station which I get to far less often than I'd like, a bit of a platform farce. We were moved over the bridge onto another platform, then back - despite a silent and switched-off Voyager blocking our exit. A few minutes late we reversed, paused, crossed over and took the middle road through the station. More track I suppose, and hardly expected!

On arriving at Newcastle, descended straight onto the Metro, buying my day ticket and making my way via carefully researched escalator-free routes down to the platform. Covering the entire system wasn't a quick proposition - but it promised to be interesting, involving sections of purpose-built track alongside long chunks of former heavy rail routes. Started with a trip out to the Airport, before returning south to cover South Hylton and South Shields. Some freight action on the lines near Pelaw despite being Sunday.

Back under the city next to complete a circle of the coast, via the formerly rather grand stations at Whitley Bay and Tynemouth (home in fact to a rather interesting looking book sale). All that remained was a short stretch into St. James. All but deserted outside matchday, and oddly quiet. Not sorry to get going again to return to Central and surface in the station before checking into my hotel - tired, but pleased to have finally done this trip.

And so the business end of my Lost Weekend comes to a close, a wander around Newcastle - my first in a few years in the City Centre - noting the changes and exploring new parts of the city. Tomorrow I have the fun of a long run back to the south west to look forward to. Maybe I should do this kind of trip more often?

The dearth of decent railtour opportunities this summer has driven me to desperate measures! This weekend, having booked a couple of days of leave and not really planned much, I decided to get away. After wrestling with the trainline website came up with a plan - a trip to Sheffield today, on to Newcastle tomorrow and an epic trek back on Monday. Lots of opportunities to progress my target of covering Light Rail systems in the process and a couple of nights away in areas I don't get to see often. So, in fairly good weather I found myself zooming through familiar territory from recent weeks through the Midlands and Derby. A nice, relaxing trip with no great worry about getting anywhere by any particular time. Had planned my rambles on the Stagecoach Supertram network, but frequencies meant it wasn't desperate if this slipped a bit. Arrived at Sheffield and immediately made my way over the bridge to the tram stop to start my ramble.

I visited Sheffield soon after the tram network opened in 1995, and had a short run from the station to the City Centre. It was busy then with people eager to try the new form of urban transport, and it remained busy today, but seems to have become part of the fairly robust network here - with people happy to make journeys skipping between bus, tram and train as necessary. For someone who works in transport, a joy to see! Started with the southern branches of the network, soaring up into the hilly south west of the city via some impressive gradients and interestingly engineered viaducts. The network appears to cover a fair bit of open country or at least post-industrial land, and makes some quite spirited runs on open track at times. After terminating at Herdings Park, doubled back to cover the longer branch to the strangest name for a terminal station - Halfway.

Back into the city centre with far more people on board, but plenty of space and no feeling of overcrowding. Having not strayed into Sheffield much over the years, good to see a fairly bustling and pleasant central area. Hillsborough too had the feeling of a small town in itself and with the sun shining it was pleasant to wait at the tram stop after making the short run out to Malin Park, for my tram to Middlewood. Another reversal, back through the city and over the triangle of junctions at Ponds Forge. Here, the impressive but much maligned Park Hill flats tower above the line, currently derelict and awaiting regeneration - but still listed buildings despite their modern brutalism. We rose above the city again, passing the tram depot at Nunnery Square and eventually running alongside the freight-only railway which served as the western access to the mammoth Tinsley depot. Now closed, with a small freight terminal on it's site, there is little activity on what must have been an incredibly busy railway.

A final curve brings us to Meadowhall Interchange, where again bus, tram and rail meet at the local mecca for shoppers. Considered a train back, but confusion over ticket validity makes it easier to head for the next tram into the city centre. After a brief wander, time to check into my hotel for the night, relax a bit and enjoy the surroundings. Perhaps these unplanning weekend wanders are no bad thing after all...

There was something nostalgic in the air today. Maybe it was the fantastic weather, or the idea of a simple out-and-back trip to a new branch line - at any rate, I was transported back to the 1990s when I first began tramping around the railway network. An early memory from trips to Sheffield and Newcastle was the sight of the line curving away on a majestic metal bridge at Ambergate Junction. I knew soon after obtaining my first Baker atlas that this was the way to Matlock - but a combination of incredibly bad connections and the need to always be somewhere else had meant it stayed unvisited. I'd actually tried unsuccessfully to work Matlock into the itinerary last week, but I'm glad I didn't because I think this was one I needed to do on my own - for old time's sake if nothing else. So I set off, initially accompanied by my brother-in-law who was heading for Wembley for the Bristol vs. Hull playoff. Changed at a packed, but seemingly well controlled Temple Meads and had time for breakfast before the 0830 rolled in. More nostalgia - in days gone by, this was the first service northbound I could access from Highbridge, and I spent many hours on this service heading for all kinds of places. Once again, I wasn't let down and we sped northwards sticking to time - if somewhat overloaded in Standard Class due to the weather, the bank holiday and the insanity of running this service with a four-coach set!

Changed at Derby, totally unaware of just how bright the day had turned out because of the ongoing roof work, which renders almost all of the station dark and inhospitable. Work progresses on the northern ends of the platforms though, leading to some odd operations and the use of Network Rail wagons as temporary buffer stops! Got coffee and wandered out to the station front to watch the world go by. Decided not to stroll into town, despite having an hour or so to wait for a Matlock train. Passed the time people-watching and wandering around the general area, before boarding the waiting 158777 once the staff had sorted out that it really was going to Matlock and not Stoke-on-Trent as originally stated - much to the annoyance of a train full of people. Soon off, and following a run up the mainline calling at stations I'd always passed before (such as Belper and Duffield) we peeled away to the West at Ambergate, crossing the aforementioned bridge and following the A6 as it wound its way into the Peak District. Some stunning views as we worked our way up the branch, and some interesting station buildings too, which reflected the once far greater status of this line - the Midland's mainline to Manchester. A well-loaded train with lots of daytrippers and family groups which was good to see, many of them heading for Matlock Bath which looked pleasant and busy. Had planned various ways to get back down here to look at a couple of pubs, but not feeling energetic once I looked at the likely walk, so will need to return for that.

On arrival, explored the station a little before walking out to find Peak Rail's station at Matlock Riverside. Was vaguely aware of the saga of the supermarket cutting the line here, and the ongoing plan to restore the link and run heritage trains into one of the Network Rail platforms. Was surprised to see a stretch of well-constructed two track railway leading out of the terminus, and as I followed it's curve beside the new Sainsbury's store, I marvelled at this surprising level of consideration in dealing with a rail link to a preserved line. As I walked over the road bridge though, my heart sank as I saw two pairs of buffer stops and a fence separating the Network Rail and Peak Rail lines just short of the tiny platform at Riverside. I sincerely hope this is resolved, as such a lot of effort seems to have been expended by developers to make it work - for a change. Consoled myself with a wander around the supermarket and over the bridge towards town, before returning to the station and enjoying the sunshine while I waited for the unit to come back up the branch.

After watching the hired-in National Express East Coast HST head north, a swift change at Derby this time, onto a cool and surprisingly quiet 220026 back to Bristol. A quick and smooth journey, a little too early to achieve the tradition of sunset over Cheltenham which would have made me even more nostalgic! Instead, we experienced some 'technical problems' which saw us sit in Cheltenham Spa for 18 minutes - likely causing a fairly lengthy tailback. Soon back under way and into Bristol a few minutes down with a lazy wait in the sunshine for a unit home. Took the opportunity of taking a snap of the Voyager resting under the curve of the roof - if only to show that things have changed more than perhaps I'd admit this past decade!