Woke early, just as some of the noiser inhabitants of the Travellodge were going to bed. A rather damp and dreary Warrington scene outside the window. The plan was to get the first service northwards to Preston to pick up the tour from its start. It would mean a few more miles, and because I was scheduled to board at Warrington, a seat in a very quiet carriage for a little while. Varied the route of my increasingly familiar cross-town walk and arrived at Bank Quay in good time for the 0645 Glasgow service. Boarded, and was pleased to find the buffet open. Sipped coffee and enjoyed the view whilst listening to the gossip of the on-train staff.

Preston was a little busier, with a fairly high number of cranks already in evidence. Most of them seemed to be engaged in hoovering up breakfast items from the food concessions on the station. Elbowed my way into the queue and secured my own share. Back onto the platform and almost immediately heard the tell-tale sound of 'choppers' as the train crept into the platform with all three locomotives at the front. Dashed up for a quick shot before retiring to watch the locos run around - happy to see all three would lead.

Boarded the entirely empty carriage and settled in to eat breakfast and relax for the run down the West Coast. Started, and stopped almost immediately with a coffee-spilling lurch. Noted my own coach hadn't really left the platform, and as passing rumours about cancellations and failures drifted past, wondered how to record the distance for haulage purposes? Soon enough however, we were back on our way and snaking across to the Up Fast line. Later discovered that a TPWS fault on the middle loco had been the problem. Made excellent progress between our pick-up stops, and by the time we reached Birmingham the train was almost entirely full.

From here, the route became more interesting with several rather unusual freight-only branches to be visited. Noted we were doing the route in reverse of the original plan, which meant not getting to travel between Whitacre Junction and Kingsbury Junction - but with plenty more going on, not a great loss. Started out of Birmingham noisily and took the line towards Bescot. Once through the expanse of yards, swung south and east at Ryecroft Junction onto the Sutton Park Line - the first of today's treats. In fairness, its a bit of pretty ordinary suburban railway which now lacks a passenger service. Lots of rows of low but pleasant little houses, followed by expanses of parkland. Rejoined the mainline a little west of Water Orton, heading towards Nuneaton. Following the line on a neighbour's 1990 edition Quail noticed how much had changed. Not least at Nuneaton where we took the flyover, pausing briefly at the new high-level platforms. Pressing on eastwards, at South Wigston we took the very rare south curve, joining the Midland Mainline for a quick run in to Kettering where a break was scheduled.

We set out northwards from Kettering, traversing the Corby line. This has been used for diversions for years, but I've almost never been around at the right time. My early start began to catch up with me here, and a lack of detailed recollections from this part of the journey means a 'power-nap' might well have been taken. Didn't see the site of Corby station, resurrected briefly in the 1990s with Local Authority support but soon abandoned leaving Corby the largest settlement in Europe without a railway link. Came to my senses somewhere near Syston where we were due to take the Up & Down Slow passing Leicester. Already a few minutes down here, we lost a little longer as the driver queried our route. Once past the junction noted a Central stopper at Syston occupying the line we would have taken. Some talk of a crossing at Humberstone Lane, but we finally took the station avoiding line at Leicester North and it appears the signaller promptly forgot about us entirely for a while. Much to the amusement of the passengers waiting at the station who thought some sort of error had marooned us in the yard. When we did move off we were inexplicably crossed onto the Down Main where we waited for endless trains to pass before being switched into Knighton Loop. More waiting here whilst the locos ran around once again for our reverse.

On leaving Knighton we crossed onto the final significant line of the day. Older editions of Baker show a number of proposed stations on the line, at sizable settlements like Coalville, Ashby-de-la-Zouch and Moira, and its possible to imagine a fairly useful service operating. Chatted about this around the table, and no-one really seemed to remember when the Ivanhoe Line plans disappeared. Already around 40 late, we made fairly slow progress on the rather uneven track here. Had more than a few close encounters with trackside foliage too, which seemed determined to come in from the cold. Noted that FM Rail are already starting to make use of their facilities at Mantle Lane, with a couple of 56s and a fair selection of coaching stock already at the Coalville site.

Soon enough, the cooling towers of the abandoned Drakelow 'B' power station appeared, and we joined the mainline just south of Burton at Birmingham Curve Junction. After a short run past Bombardier's 'Central Rivers' depot, swung west again and onto the Lichfield City line at Wichnor. Our train must have been a fairly startling sight to locals waiting for their stopping EMU to New Street! Had thought about continuing to Crewe for the mileage, but now we were running fairly late decided to cut my losses and bail at Birmingham. Up to the front of the train to listen to the amazing sound of three 'choppers' emerging from under the roof at New Street. Retired happy to my lodgings for the night. Some interesting and rare new track covered, in remarkable style!

A second attempt at Pathfinder's Rutland Renegade tour means another night in Warrington. Straight from work onto the train, and a fairly uneventful journey up - especially considering it was the start of a bank holiday weekend. Disembarked from the Voyager in a gloomy but not yet dark Warrington, and set off for the now familiar cross-town trek to the Travelodge. Varied my route a bit - getting closer to the town centre than usual, but still I don't think I met another soul the entire way. Checked in, disturbing a strange situation where the receptionist seemed to be illicitly distributing frozen ready meals to a favoured guest. Dumped my things, made a few calls, and headed out to find food - with the smell of molten plastic and cheap gravy from the ready meals still haunting the entrance!

Set out for The Blue Bell where I knew I'd find a fairly good pint from my last visit. Misjudged the extent of work on the new shopping centre, and had to take a torturous route alongside the main road, and out as far as Central Station to get into town. After a quick but fairly good pint of Youngs Special - not a favourite beer of mine, but welcome nonetheless - I headed back towards the town. Straying further into the centre than usual I discovered the carnage of a Friday night already in full effect, with ambulances and nightclub bouncers apparently in league - a case of "I'm about to give someone a kicking, can you park there and scrape him up when I've finished?"! Dodged the discarded kebabs and found a Subway, where I managed to get food and had a surprisingly engaging conversation about 'The Wicker Man' and films in general. Slunk back to my hotel to wait for morning, avoiding the centre of town as far as possible. Another Friday night in Warrington!

Finally did something I've considered doing for years - wandered down my road, through the site cleared for our new Asda, and onto Springfield Road foot crossing. I've watched people taking pictures of the Torbay Express here, when I've been up on the bridge by the station for the past couple of years and always wondered how accessible the location was.

Because no one ever seems to tire of steam pictures, and because it turned out rather well, here's yet another shot of 6024 thundering past Highbridge, taken from Springfield road. I wonder whether this shot will be possible when the new supermarket is built?

Another week of strange ups and downs, with a general feeling that we're making progress. So another weekend where I want to get out and about, but feel like sleeping all the way! Today's trip was another track bash in the South East. Since First Great Western introduced the Firstminute fares, its been possible to get fairly good prices for longer trips via-London. There was a sense of urgency about today however, as the section of the North London Line from West Ham to North Woolwich is scheduled for abandonment during September as the DLR now duplicates the route to a fair extent. I've used the NLL a lot over the years, but quite never made it to North Woolwich. So, despite feeling like I needed to sleep, another early start on 2M02. Minor trouble at Temple Meads requiring us to swap sets with five minutes to spare, as the doors stubbornly refused to release on the original HST. Out about five late on 1A07 , but still achieved an on-time arrival at Paddington. It took forever to crawl around to Tower Hill on the Circle line for some reason. There seemed to be some big gaps in the Circle service today, which were still pretty bad on my return trip.

Made it to Fenchurch Street with only a few minutes to spare before departure for West Ham at 10:30. I could have done this part of the journey entirely on the District Line, but I really enjoy setting out from here over the City - with Hawksmoor churches towering out of clusters of rather drab housing blocks in Shadwell, Ratcliff and Limehouse. A fairly short margin in my change at West Ham. I forgot what a hike it was to the North London Line platforms, and set out at a dash to make it on time. The service from Richmond appeared dead on time, and whilst not full there were still a fair number of passengers on board for the last leg of the journey down to North Woolwich.

The line here runs alongside industrial roads and through some fairly bleak landscape. Occasionally, a curious streetcorner pub would appear between the warehouses and new-built industrial units - still apparently open, and I imagine supported entirely by local workers. A plunge into tunnel under the docks, resurfacing in Silvertown. A strange frontier-town feel to Albert Road which seemed long since abandoned. A fair traffic of passengers off the train though, indicating that people still live here braving the curious smells of the Sugar Refinery filling the air when the wind is in the right direction, with an occasional but strong hit of the massive sewage works at Beckton. Finally the train snaked into North Woolwich with its impressive station building - now a museum, which perhaps as expected was closed. Took a short walk - thought about the ferry, but that's for another trip. Back on the train to West Ham.

Arrived in a heavy rainstorm and watched the fairly well-loaded trains come and go for awhile. My own train, the 11:38 to Shoeburyness via Laindon was equally busy, and as we sped through the flat marshy land on the border of the estuary in warm and thundery conditions, I confess to snoozing for a while. By the time I woke, the sun was making a showing, and I enjoyed the wide empty views with occasional glimpses of the river - even if traitorous placenames like 'Leigh-on-Sea' tried to claim otherwise! I did this trip many years back - just as far as Southend Central, and I don't remember much except the aging rolling stock and the accents of the locals boarding and alighting. At least they have new rolling stock!

With the train almost empty at Southend, pressed on to Shoeburyness - the curiously named end-of-the-line settlement which seems little more than a dormitory for Southenders. Crossed the ambitiously named High Street and followed a path beside the crossing gates into a park on the seafront. Followed the railway line for a little way, but soon gave up - I'm not sure what remains at the MOD site at Pigs Bay now the slam-door stock is all scrapped, but I didn't have long before the planned train back to Pitsea and wasn't sure how far it was - or indeed how close it was possible to get, given the owners of the site and the current security situation. The whole place was eerily quiet. I found food in a newsagent and retreated to the station. It was an uneasy sort of place - not at all like I imagined it.

As soon as we set off, and began our all-stops journey back towards the capital I remembered it was the first weekend of the premiership football season. The preponderance of West Ham United shirts was not a good sign. A single four-car unit, already fairly full on leaving Southend was getting increasingly busy. I was pleased to escape from this service at Pitsea and make a cross-platform move onto the service going via Tilbury. I wasn't sure of the exact route - whether we'd travel via Rainham or take the single line through Ockenden wasn't clear. It was all new track for me, but I had a preference for the former. More scrubby marshland and estuary views as we passed through Stanford le Hope and on towards Tilbury. Noted a curious settlement which looked like industrial units converted into dwellings near East Tilbury. After Grays we swung off the mainline, meaning we were heading for Chafford Hundred and that bizarre temple to consumerism - Lakeside. Here the train disgorged its cargo of teenagers repeating Little Britain sketches and chattering in a hybrid of estuary English and misappropriated yardie patois. However we also collected a load of young families with masses of bags, boxes and packages. New stuff everywhere. People screeching into brand new mobile 'phones, already carrying their next model in a Carphone Warehouse bag.

I was relieved to get back to Fenchurch Street. Most of the other passengers bailed at West Ham, onto the tube - probably off to Bluewater for the afternoon session? Out into the strange quiet of a commuter station on a day off. Felt like a walk to shake the Essex dust off my shoes, so set out along Fenchurch Street beyond Aldgate pump and got the Circle line northbound from here. This meant I hadn't quite completed a full Circle today - but that was the least of my concerns. With the Circle still erratic, boarded a Metropolitan train for Uxbridge which had clearly been stabled for a fair while. Startled a pigeon which flapped around inside the train, making me look ridiculous as I ducked and swerved to avoid the skyrat! Passed hordes of passengers waiting for a Circle train at every station. Lazily changed at Great Portland Street to avoid the stairs at Baker Street, and caught a following Hammersmith and City train which unknowing passengers had clearly flagged too! Time for a relaxing coffee at Paddington before heading for my train back to Highbridge.