Coming hot on the heels of my trip to Glasgow, I was almost entirely unprepared for this weekend's jaunt. This was the first Spitfire trip of the year as their Scottish trips had unfortunately been cancelled. I was so unprepared that I found myself rearranging things yesterday to get to Bristol in time for the journey north, however I'd usefully ended up booking a meeting not far from Temple Meads, and in the end had a fairly smooth journey up. Just like the last of these multi-traction tours it meant a very early start from Birmingham. Joined the train at a surprisingly busy New Street to find the usual contingent already on board. Set off via the Whitacre Junction to Kingsbury Junction diversion, with 57004 and 57601 leading the train. Noted as we sped north that it really wasn't getting much lighter - especially in our coach where the batteries were damaged to the point that we only had light and heat when the train reached a reasonable speed. Things soon warmed up indoors, but as we passed Chesterfield, the rain which had been whipping by the train turned very swiftly into fairly sizeable snowflakes. Arrival at Sheffield was under a surprising carpet of white, as we had a brief break to reverse and I made a dash for better coffee on the concourse!

From here, the tour took the tried and tested route via Hare Park and Crofton to reach the Leeds suburbs, avoiding the station by way of the Whitehall curve. With 20309 and 37409 now leading, we made steady progress towards Skipton passing a succession of electric units. We'd once again discussed the dullness of the Settle and Carlisle route in railtour terms, however it was a little more interesting to see it with snow capping the peaks. As predicted, the usual scrum for a droplight to record the crossing of Ribblehead Viaduct ensued. Stayed in my seat and dozed and chatted my way happily north towards Carlisle.

A brief break here to get food and to stock up at the local shop which sells a good range of local beer. Back to the station for a pleasant chat with some veterans of last year's Highlander trip. Headed over to the platform to see which locos had been turned out for our return, and was greeted with the rather surprising sight of two Class 66's topping 57601 which was sticking around to provide ETH. 66417 and 66418 were to lead the service through the Tyne Valley to Newcastle - a pair of engines which practically no-one would be able to claim. A fairly swift run, and this time a sensible chance to get out and photograph where possible before we once again reversed with 37667 and 37409 leading us back to the Midlands via a similar route. Amazed to find a third railtour in a row producing an on-time arrival, and spent some time chatting to staff before the tour was despatched for the short run back to it's origin at Birmingham International.

Today wasn't about breaking new ground - although I did get a good few engines in the book. No, this was more about meeting up with old pals, drinking too much and enjoying being back into the swing of railtours once again. There are some really exciting events coming up, and I hope to be along for a fair number of them.

Started the day by discovering that First Great Western no longer offer a Day Return fare from Weston to Reading! Set off into the early morning sunshine, recovering from the shock of high ticket costs on a diverted HST. To Reading via Hawkeridge Junction and the Berks and Hants route. Lots of confused passengers wondering why it was taking so long, and where Swindon had gone!

Noted 165136, recently reliveried in connection with the London 2012 Olympic bid. 66603 was also sitting forlornly just west of the station. Brief wander around Reading station. Freezing in the shade, so rebooked and headed south to Basingstoke. Quick change for an Eastleigh bound train - all efforts to catch one of the remaining slam door units failed. Ended up on 444 - my first ride on one of these units. Much better than the 450, a reasonably comfortable and spacious feel, and a smooth ride.

Eastleigh was very quiet compared to my last visit. Decided to try a bit of camera practice on passing units until something happened. Slowly I'm beginning to experiment and improve how I use the camera. Luckily 60032 was out and about, and obliged by passing through the station light engine, and eventually returning southwards on a ballast train, with a great deal of noise and clag!


Decided to head back to Basingstoke. Frustratingly, everytime I took my eyes from the rails, something interesting seemed to pass us at speed. Spent a pleasant hour or so trying to stay in the sun and out of the cold. Spotted the blue liveried VEP 'Gordon Pettit' sandwiched between other slammers. Hopped on a late running Voyager back to Reading, where 180101 finally showed up - after months of being at the opposite end of the line to wherever I was! Back via the same route as this morning. Nice to get home whilst it was still light!

Back to work. All feels very odd. Slipped out to collect laptop. Very relieved to see it. Even more relieved to find RedHat 7.2 still intact after repair. All seems to be working, despite APM still not reporting sensible power information. Set up network with cheap yet nice little Netgear hub. Felt oddly confused and groundless later. Fixed by finally getting hold of a friend on the telephone. Amazed how much I miss people after such a short time.

A very busy day - early meeting, then a hurried lunch, followed by an appointment with Occupational Health in Bristol. Encouraged by this, off to Ikea on an errand. It's worth noting that whilst I'm not great at imagining 'bags of sugar' or whatever, 25kg is pretty heavy to get from Eastville to Temple Meads! Trundled over to Burnham this evening to raid my parents house for excess furnishings as they are soon to move home. Came back with an almost forgotten electric guitar (hero of the Archway Tavern gig and many recordings) and a real, working Rolf Harris Stylophone!