Up early for a lift up to Bristol, arriving only just in time for the 06:20 departure of D1015 'Western Champion' on Pathfinder's The Western Heights tour. Settled into a slightly cold carriage, and I must confess dozed a little on the first leg of the journey. Woke in time for a quick, reassuringly noisy ascent of Lickey with none of the problems we experienced on D1015's previous outing. Noted the first of many Virgin Thunderbirds during the day at New Street.

Rapid progress via the West Coast Main Line as far as Crewe where a surprisng number of locomotives seemed to be around - including 45960 Leander on a steam tour and several more Thunderbirds. Continued to Preston where D1015 ran around. Stretched legs and took pictures for a while, before exploring the Real Ale Bar on board. Reversing at Preston we headed via Cherry Tree and Blackburn to Hellifield - we had been scheduled a stop at Garsdale, but since a tour hauled by 71000 Duke of Gloucester travelling south had planned the same, an all too brief stop at Hellifield was substituted.

Once underway we proceeded onto the Settle and Carlisle line. D1015 performed flawlessly on the stiff climbs and the views of the loco as we crossed Ribblehead Viaduct were stunning. Warm sunshine meant more sleepiness, and I dozed a little more from Appleby onwards, waking in time to see 47709 and 47355 stabled outside Carlisle with the stock of another tour. Off the train and onto the road bridge to watch D1015 depart for refuelling. Quite a crowd in evidence. Next back into the station, where the pair of 47s passed through light.

After a brief wander into town, and a wait for the loco to return we set off around 13 minutes down. Some fantastically quick running on the WCML saw us make up much of this time, and even an extended stop in Preston couldn't prevent us from getting into New Street early. Change of driver at Birmingham evident by the explosive start, but all our advantage was lost by a bizarre move at Gloucester, where we were signalled onto the wrong line to let a Voyager pass, then held awaiting permission to recross! Finally rolled sleepily into Temple Meads around two minutes early at 22:03.

Once again, a stunning day in the company of D1015.

Woke up feeling groggy after a fairly late night celebrating my last day of work - as ever, only two of us managed to make the distance and now I was suffering a little. Hasty preparations, then down to the station around 06:00 with a fairly big crowd of fellow travellers already waiting. Exactly on time, 67001 and 67016 led the train into Weston. Found seats in a part of Coach G apparently reseved for Westonians, and settled in for the ride to York.

Speedy running throughout, keeping mostly to time with a few early arrivals at pick-up stops. The pair of 67s made short work of the Lickey, and we soon traversed the first bit of new track for the day - the short section between St Andrews Junction and Landor Street Junction which we took in order to avoid Birmingham New Street. Onwards to Derby, where a small line-up of Fragonset locos greeted us. Somewhat bumpy ride from here, with some quite aggressive braking. Turned right for the 'Old Road' at Tapton Junction passing Barrow Hill Roundhouse and a welcome handful of 56s at Ferrybridge.

Soon after arrival, noted the Network Rail New Measurement Train arriving. Having messed up a shot of the front power car, waited at the platform end to get a shot of the whole train. Surprised to find that there was no rear power car on the set! Completely failed to get a picture, such was my confusion!

Headed immediately for the National Railway Museum which I hadn't visited in nearly ten years. Only a short visit as others in our party had been there more recently, but good to see some new exhibits. Short trip into the yard behind shunter 08911 just for fun, then a quick look around new parts of the complex. In the works, noted 4472 Flying Scotsman and the (in my opinion ) far more impressive Duchess of Hamilton. Also noted a complete Class 71 loco surrounded by all kinds of junk in the sort of open archive/store room facility! Good to look in at the NRM again, and I think it may be worthy of another visit soon.

Into the city next, and for me a bit of a trip down memory lane. After a quick bite to eat, explored The Shambles and the bizarrely named but unimpressively tiny Whip-ma-Whop-ma-Gate. Lots of surprising memories of my last visit, which must have been around 1998 by my calculations. Return to the station via the Minster and a welcome pint of Black Sheep at The Maltings - a favourite watering hole when I've been here.

Back at the station, we were taken by surprise when 47197 crept almost silently under the famous roof returning from its earlier outing on 7Z51 hauling scrap wagons from Basford Hall to Tees Yard. Spent the last hour or so in fantastic sunshine watching HSTs and lots of Transpennine 158s coming and going. Also noted 60001 coming off the avoiding line - realising it was the first of the diminshing class 60 fleet I've seen in some time, though it seems some of them are now coming back into traffic.

Away on time from York at 17:22, heading for Doncaster, then once again via the remains of Rotherham Masborough and Barrow Hill to Chesterfield. Feeling extremely sleepy in the evening sunshine. Despite running top and tail with 67001 on the front, braking continued to be quite a lively experience. Held at Tapton Junction for some time, which left us about ten minutes down but we made up most of this north of Birmingham. Amazing sunset over the Malvern Hills and a bottle of Spitfire to round off the trip. Arrived on time at Weston, and headed straight for my bed.

After a day spent doing very little yesterday, decided to go to my parents. Spent a few exhausting but entertaining hours with my nephew. Woke up to amazing sunshine this morning after the first decent sleep in a week. Breakfast, then out to the station. Met the same gent I'd bumped into last week and passed the time until the Torbay Express appeared around the corner.

Much quieter than the King last week, but impressive nonetheless. Later wandered down to Weston station a little early as I'd heard there was a developing farce relating to a failed HST at Highbridge. Watched as a single car 153, the first train in some time arrived and was beseiged by passengers. Much chaos, the station itself being staffed admirably by Wessex guards covering colleagues holidays. Union of South Africa appeared somewhat later than planned, having been caught up in the problems at Highbridge. Noisy and photogenic start, had I been properly equipped.

Returned home to find timings published for next week's York Flyer tour, which includes a trip via Barrow Hill and Ferrybridge. Looking forward to it after a weekend with minimal rail roving.

Decided to try some different locations for getting a picture of 6024 passing on today's Torbay Express. Arrived in Highbridge in pleasant sunshine and found a spot on the road bridge near the station. This location affords a long straight view of the track, with a slight curve in the distance. Chatted briefly to a couple of locals as we waited. Almost bang on time, the King steamed into view. Strangely, as I get to know more about this camera I start to doubt the settings are correct for what I'm doing - and a last second worry cost me what might have been one of my better shots.

Decided to wander over to Weston station this evening, along with about seventy other spectators. A rather late arrival meant darkness had all but descended when 6024 arrived. Time to play around with the camera a bit more, resulting in a curious but not technically very good picture of the King with a Weston sunset reflected in its GWR green paintwork.