A brief photographic update courtesy of Crosscountry today. Heard yesterday that one of their refurbished power cars was due for release. A swift check today indicated it would work 9V65 12:05 Edinburgh to Plymouth. It duly did so, and I arrived home from work in time to wander down to Springfield Road to watch it blast by!

I think the livery rather suits the power car, and looks surprisingly tasteful for a modern paint'n'vinyl job! Typically, this means that tomorrow's plan to cover two out of the three sets will likely avoid this one entirely!

Decided to head for London today, with the intention of covering one of the shuttle services to Birmingham International which Virgin Trains are providing during the extended blockade on the West Coast Main Line. So, down to the station for the familiar 05:50 departure which was uncharacteristically late. This meant a swift change at Weston, and an ever quicker dash for Mr Spinks who needed to collect tickets from the machines and had expected to have about 20 minutes to do so. On board and in a quiet First Class coach with moments to spare. Surprising amount of activity along the route, with a fair number of locomotives out and about. Having planned to get the 10:00 departure from Euston, no great need to rush or worry about time - so finding the Circle Line closed was no great worry. Onto the Hammersmith and City, and since the entire ticket gate system seemed to be out of action, a free ride to Euston Square. Had a wander around Euston on arriving, with The Chief's Trainset led by 90028 in Platform 17, along with a Thunderbird and the Caledonian Sleeper with 90019 on the front. Network Rail staff proved a bit sniffy on the photography rules, but no major problems.

Joined the pair of Voyagers for the 10:00 with a surprising amount of other passengers. Had heard these services were quiet a couple of weeks back, but certainly didn't seem so today. Virgin, ever trying to turn setbacks into advantages, had provided a clever little leaflet entitled 'Where are we going?' which explained the reasons for the diversion, why the train was different, and gave a fairly full description of the route onto the Chiltern Line. People seemed to respond fairly positively to the efforts to keep them informed by the staff, and we received the usual Virgin good service. A shame there were no Advance fares for these trains though, as the full First Class service was on offer! Soon off, with little of the extended stopping which had been mentioned in previous weeks. Slow running certainly, as we took the line to Acton Wells Junction, then onto the Great Western Main Line where we'd come into London. Then, via Greenford and a short section of the Wycombe Single to South Ruislip where we joined the Chiltern route proper. A mixture of comfortable running and crawling behind local units, but no delays and no outright stops as such. Decent weather seemed to be the order of the day as we progressed north, taking the line via Kenilworth to reach our destination at Birmingham International.

A swift change onto a Glasgow-bound Pendolino here, missing a passing Class 92 hauled freight in my efforts to check we weren't going to scoot directly up the WCML to Preston or something! Would dearly love to have stayed on board for a longer trip, but today it was just a short hop to New Street and a fairly quick change for a Stafford-bound semi-fast service passing Bescot and calling at Walsall. Bescot now appears to be little more than a dumping ground for a host of aging locomotives. However, a bit of activity with a Class 08 with a cut-down cab, and a gaggle of 66s at the north end of the depot. At Walsall, got confused by the horrible shopping centre on top of the platform, and ended up missing the train to Wolverhampton. This meant an hour long fester in Walsall. Not a happy moment for me as I trudged through the town feeling gloomy, getting annoyed at the locals and finally settling for a fairly good pint of Banks' while I waited patiently for the next service.

The reason for the wait when I could of course very easily gone back to New Street, was the need to cover the curve back to Pleck Junction which I'm certain I've never done - a combination of 170 and 153 turned up and duly covered the required track, arriving at a rather windy Wolverhampton a few minutes later. Since we had some time to spare, and since Mr Spinks had yet to cover the Midland Metro line to Snow Hill, we decided to take the tram back to Birmingham. Passed a bunch of youngsters beating the crap out of each other one the way to the tram terminus at St. Georges, as a reminder that we were in the West Midlands. Nice. Not sorry to leave Wolverhampton and Walsall, having had memories stirred of a very miserable long wait for the cancelled Electric Scot Farewell tour back in December!

Had a camera disaster resulting in the dingy image above, and generally began to write my day off as not one of the best, despite some interesting journeys. Mr. Spinks however insisted it was his lucky day, and things did seem to start working out rather surprisingly well on arrival back at Birmingham. After a wander down to New Street, noted that 1V63 was about 40 late from Newcastle and showing as cancelled south of Birmingham. However the screens said 'On Time', and a curious train had appeared on the Live Departure Boards timed a few minutes later than the 16:40 and marked 'Starts Here'. The crew turned up, and were equally surprised to see an empty Voyager set roll in. Soon away, the only passengers in First Class on a replacement unit - with the rest of 1V63 still somewhere north of Derby as we sped south down the Lickey! The strange turn of events continued as we arrived back in the south west. We laughingly speculated about a delay meaning we could grab the 17:53 instead of waiting for the 18:53. On checking, indeed it did seem to be delayed by a few minutes. On arrival though, things were going very badly for most folks at Temple Meads. Lineside equipment failure had knocked back all the Severn Tunnel traffic, and our train was 40 minutes down at least. We chatted over various possibilities for recovering the service, including First Great Western's latest favourite tricks, turning the service at Weston (bad for us) or running fast to Weston (possibly better!). In the end, in a rather surprising move, the train ran around 50 late with the first stop at Highbridge. Tried not to grin too much as we wandered past disgruntled Westonians and boarded the unit, meeting a gent who'd been on the first train out with us for what we dubbed 'The Highbridge Express'.

The driver took full advantage of a non-stop run, and by a rough calculation we covered the 27 miles or so in around 26 minutes, averaging close to 60mph in the rather lively 143621! So, a strange and varied days with some unusual turns of luck. A good trip, an interesting route and a quick ride home.

Summer begins, as ever here, with a wet Sunday morning and a steam train. Noticeable crowds out for the first Torbay Express of the season, with the station appearing very busy. It'll get busier too, as people realise that the train is running again and come out to watch the annual spectacle over the next few weeks. Wandered down to an old favourite spot and found a familiar face from previous years. Chatted as we waited for the somewhat delayed train, finally getting a message that it had passed Uphill Junction and was minutes away.

So, with 6024 and 71000 out of action - it may not be the only time we see Tangmere over the coming weeks. Not displeased myself, since today was the first time I've ever managed to get a half-decent photograph of the loco. Last year's effort turning into little more than a ball of smoke with coaches attached. It can't just be the coal though, as she was smoking like fury again today!

Here's to more impressive performances and smoky Sunday mornings!

It dawned on me at about 05:35 as I was walking to the station that I ought to go to bed earlier on Friday nights these days! Another early start, and another gala to visit as the curious summer of few interesting tours continues. This time it's the turn of the East Lancashire Railway. I'd visited briefly before, but had only enjoyed a ride behind a steam loco. Also, as the previous visit occurred on a weekday, I didn't get to complete the trip as far as Heywood. So the plan was to head for Bristol, catch the direct train to Manchester and then the tram to Bury for a few trips during the weekend of the ELR's 9 day Diesel Gala marathon. As it still seemed like a good idea, despite being so early - pressed on for the station. The journey up went surprisingly smoothly. After breakfast in Bristol, onto the 07:30 and settled in for the ride up to Manchester. Noted 'Tangmere' at Barton Hill ready for tomorrow's first Torbay Express trip, and also surprised to note the two Colas Rail 47s lurking in the sidings at Bristol Parkway. Otherwise, quite a quiet run up to Piccadilly, with only the noise of one of the hired-in HST sets heading for the south west at Birmingham to wake me up.

Straight onto the tram, and a fiddle for change which I should have anticipated. Had I done so, could have managed a slightly different set of turns on the ELR. Finally got a Bury tram and noted the improved ride quality on the former heavy rail tracks once out of the city centre. Arrived at the impressively preserved Bolton Street station and parted with a painfully large sum in time for a quick wander around, some shots of 50015 and then soon after, 45041 down to Heywood. This was the important bit, as it meant new track too. The weather was strange - fairly bright but with the threat of a downpour ever present. This occurred on our arrival back at Bury, with a damp dash out to get a shot of D1023 which arrived on the next platform heading the way we'd just arrived from.

At Bury there was a brief break for a loco swap as 45041 returned to the depot and 47402 'Gateshead' joined the train. I've always rather liked this loco, but it's remained elusive - hiding behind it's own sales stand at Crewe Works in 2005, and remaining resolutely on-shed during my last ELR visit. Sounding impressive, 47402 took us North into improving conditions and eventually to the terminus at Rawtenstall, passing 31108 on the way - a loco I'd very much have like to get a ride behind. Time for pictures on the run-around, and to grab another coffee before boarding for the run back down to Bury. Noted 20087 lurking too, having worked a short trip to Ramsbottom. We too waited there, as 37901 and 906 - stars of the recent Merehead gala - were a little late in arriving at the passing point. A brief delay meant an explosive start though - and once the train passed us, we shot away at what I'm sure was far more than the permitted speed. A spirited and very claggy run down to Bury.

Here it was time to leave - albeit very reluctantly as I'd like to have stayed for a few more runs. Perhaps next time I'll arrange to stay locally and enjoy a couple of days of entertainment on this fine railway. Today though, a swift walk to the Tram Interchange and back to Manchester to buy provisions and board the 16:24 back to Bristol. Another simple and pleasant journey into darkening skies, before a change in Bristol and an arrival home to a rain-lashed Highbridge and deciding not to go out again tonight. A cracking day out despite the weather, with some fine old engines.