Two locos that are still with us are the Caledonian single No. 123 and the NRM's Drummond T9 4-4-0 No. 120 with the former stuffed and mounted in a Glasgow museum and the latter languishing on the Bluebell railway.

On 15th Septmeber 1963 they worked in unison on the Blue Belle railtour from Victoria to Brighton and collected the return working at haywards Heath. Here we see them storming into Purley Oaks station on the outward leg.

Drummond M7 30053 had a short stay at the Yeovil Steam Centre in either 1997 or '98 in conjunction with their final steam weekend which was a great success. The loco hauled trips from Yeovil to Castle Cary and return with this one, late in the day, being captured on the approach to the base of Sparkford Hill on an outward leg.

Drummond M7 30053 again but this time in 1992 during what was referred to as 'The Salisbury bash'. She makes for a splendid sight at West Grimstead as she passes the camera with two Queen Mary brake vans in the consist on the morning of June 28th on her way to salisbury where she dispensed brake van rides around the Laverstock triangle.

Rebuilt Bulleid light pacific 34016 Bodmin storms through Sherborne with a down Cathedrals Express but the date of this working escapes me.

I can't recall the year but I do remember being one of many who had journeyed to the Mid-hants Railway's gala in order to see Bulleid pacific 34105 Swanage in service again but she'd failed before ever leaving the shed environs. A serious conflab is obviously under way at Ropley yard in that regard.

35005 Canadian Pacific in blue livery has just passed Thingley Jct. and is on the line to Corsham,

March 25th, 2000 sees Bulled Merchant Navy pacific 35028 Clan Line nearing Wilton whilst in charge of the Mendip Merchant railtour.

The Watercress Line's Ivatt 2-6-2T 4131 hauled a loaded test train on 17/4/99 from Clapham Jct. to Alton and is depicted here at what I think was somewhere in the Egham area.

This outing for Gresley's A3 pacific 4472 Flying Scotsman had the unlikely starting point of Yeovil Pen Mill. The Centenarian on its westward journey had to climb Honiton's notorious bank and I'd thought it might be a good vantage point near the summit as I have several archive negatives that suggested as much. I was appalled at just how overgrown and unkempt the lineside was and found this to be the only clear spot in the last few hundred metres before the summit.

The weekend of June 3rd/4th 1967 saw Gresley's by then preserved A4 namesake 4498 make two forays into Southern territory. I think this was probably taken on the Friday evening prior to those trips and shows her resting inside Nine Elms shed.

At the time of writing this I'm surprised to note that the sixbellsjunction site has no mention of this tour which I snapped near Taunton and then, as seen here, on the disappointing climb to Dainton summit. The locos are the paired Stanier Black 5's 45110 and 45407 and the tour date was 15th August 1999.

4936 Kinlet Hall and 5029 Nunney Castle snapped just after dawn at Bishop's Lydeard prior to taking their suupport coach to Taunton where they took charge of The Double Duchy railtour on April 7th, 2001.

I later photographed the departure at Silk Mills crossing but couldn't use the adjacent field as a vantage point because foot and mouth restrictions were still in place.

5029 Nunney Castle near Keinton Mandeville bears a Torbay Castle headboard on 4/8/01.

Collett 2-8-0T 5224 at Loughborough on 5-6-94.

6024 King Edward 1 is firmly on SR territory whilst rushing through East Dean 'twixt Salisbury and Romsey whilst hauling The Wessex Royale tour on 13/11/99. The scorched smokebox door is indicative of the problems the crew faced that day and saw the beginning of a two month layoff from railtour duties whilst those problems were sorted out.

6024 King Edward 1 approaches Queen Camel with Sparkford Hill as the backdrop but which tour this was isn't recorded.

The location is Barwick and we see Gresley's V2 60800 Green Arrow reversing from Yeovil to Weymouth before attachment to the return leg of The Dorset Arrow on 7/8/99.

Open weekend at Ashford in 1971 with SER O1 No. 65, SECR C 592, a couple of Pullman cars and a decidedly dodgy looking SECR birdcage coach in view.

Gresley N2 69523 has more than had her fill at Loughborough on 5/6/94 during the summer gala weekend.

During the West Somerset (WSR) Railways's S&D gala weekend in March 1996 the Watercress Line's Standard 5MT 4-6-0 No. 73096 was temporarily renumbered 73052 and is seen here climbing past Castle Hill.

Taken during one of the Salisbury Bashes in June 1992 we see smartly turned out BR Standard 4MT 75069 passing West Grimstead between Romsey and Salisbury.

July 1998 produced what, at times, was a spectacular occasion down at Merehead quarry in Somerset. On the quieter side was Collett 0-6-0PT 7760 simmering away with a very nice rake of wagons.

For a change I have a record of the date, 21/6/92, but can't recall the location although I'm pretty sure it was between Tisbury and Wilton where, in rapidly fading light, we see N15 777 Sir Lamiel with the return working of the trip she'd made to Exeter.

March 21st, 1999 was the occasion of the Avonmouth shuttles and here we see 80079 mercifully not blanketed in exhaust emissions as is the case with the rest of this sequence of shots.

BR Standard 4MT 2-6-4T shows off its elegant lines south of Corfe Castle. The milk tanker adds interest which is somewhat blemished by the bilious green of the Mk 1 attached to it that clashes horribly with the verdant surroundings,

One of the guest locomotives at the Yeovil steam weekend was Maunsell S15 4-6-0 828 in its lurid and incorrect green livery but that didn't stop it looking a treat. The view here is from the road bridge on Sparkford Hill whilst the Cary-Yeo trip is heading southwards towards Yeovil.

March 3rd, 1995 saw the recommissioning of Holden B12 8572/61572 following extensive overhaul at the Meiningen locomotive works in the former East Germany. All was not well however and I was fortunate to capture on film the tragic burst or leaking main steam pipe incident a coupe of days later at Weybourne.

Merehead in July 1998 again and the main reason for the mass of visitors was the pairing of BR 9F 2-10-0's, 92212 and 92203, double heading allegedly a 1000 tonnes load of ARC hopper wagons. There's a varied diet of railway interest in the background as well.

Maunsell Schools 4-4-0 928 Stowe spent many a year lodged with a trio of Pullman cars at Lord Montague of Beaulieu's pile. I was fortunate to see the ensemble shortly after a nice glossy coat of paint had been recently applied in, I think, 1968.

Also on display at Merehead in July 1998 was a variety of modern traction which included this Warship example D821 Greyhound.

It looks as if steam specials are a thing of the past through my local station of Dorchester South but I've captured a few recent experiences thereof on film. Maunsell 4-6-0 850 Lord Nelson southbound on May 19th, 2007.

BR 8P 4-6-2 71000 Duke of Gloucester paid Dorchester a few visits and here we see her (or should it be him?) reversing away from Dorchester West station towards its servicing point at Yeovil Junction on July 9th, 2005.

June 17th, 1990 was the launch day for the book Once Upon A Line Pt 3 which was centred on the station are at Haven Street. Free rides were the order of the day for invited guests and so I took the trip to Wootton where we see here our motive power in the form of a Stroudley terrier in Isle of Wight Central Railway lined black livery appropriately named Wootton and numbered 11.

Mytholmes on the KWVR in August 1969. The Ivatt 2-6-2T looks surprisingly good in the lurid red livery.

For one weekend in October 1991 the Cambridge - Kings Lynn line saw a host of steam specials hauled by 4472, 34027 and 70000. Here we see BR Standard pacific 70000 Britannia moving northwards past the semaphore by the level crossing at the splendidly named Queen Adelaide.

Resplendent in lined black livery is Stanier Jubilee 4-6-0 5552 Silver Jubilee, aka 45593 Kolhapur, at Loughborough on June 5th, 1994.

1968 saw a plethora of movements of locos set aside for preservation that moved from various locations in the south of England to just such a vriety of locations north of the Thames. Stewarts Lane was the staging post for such movements and that's the location for this shot of J17 0-6-0 1217E en route for Bressingham.

Both 6024 and 5080 were used on a series of Easter weekend Shakespeare Expresses between Birmingham and Stratford-upon-Avon in mid-April 1990. This is Castle 5080 Defiant on one of those workings to Stratford and is captured on film just after passing under the Bearley aqueduct.

The cramped surroundings of the erstwhile Hereford Steam Centre play host to Churchward 4-4-0 3440 City of Truro top-and-tailing 6201 Princess Elizabeth in this 1991 view from the footbridge.

The KWVR had a way with liveries didn't it? USA 0-6-0T 72 approaches Mytholmes viaduct in August 1969.

A shot similar to this one was published in Railway magazine about 12 years ago and I was astounded to receive a letter (via RM) from the gentleman who owned the VW Beetle in the background. This was Carnforth as many of us remember it with freedom to roam and do pretty much whatever one wanted to do. Fairburn 2-6-4T (4)2073 looks smart in LNWR blackberry black livery as she leaves the turntable.

Collett 0-4-2T 1466 was an early preservation candidate and was already in GWS ownership when this shot was taken on the Wallingford branch back in '66 when the GWS had taken over the branch for a day. The autocoach completes the picture nicely.

Stanier Black 5 44871 has a new lick of paint to show off for the assembled photographers at Carnforth but whether or not the restoration was purely cosmetic I know not. And nor do I know why the smokebox number plate has a red ground.

The last outward leg of the Cambridge - King's Lynn shuttles in October 1991 brings Standard 7MT 70000 Britannia to the fairly steep climb from Queen Adelaide.

All Fools Day 1995 provided an outing for Sir Lamiel and Maunsell S15 828 which encompassed Salisbury, Southampton and Portsmouth with, for the most part, glorious weather. 828 is seen here near Titchfield on the Southampton - Portsmouth leg of the trip.

An interesting but incongruous combination of tender-to tender Bulleid pacifics during the WSR's 1996 S&D gala where we see 34105 Swanage and 34039 Boscastle descending the bank somewhat gingerly at Castle Hill.

A fortuitous visit to Dawsholm shed by myself and 12 year old brother on an August Saturday in 1959 found a press call about to start. It's hard to believe in today's safety obsessed environment that nobody questioned our presence that i recall. The occasion was the unveiling of the newly restored NBR D34 4-4-0 Glen Douglas which looks splendid in this Kodachrome shot.

On an unrecalled date in 1973 the GWS took over the lines from Maidenhead to Bourne End and thence to Marlow where 1466 chugged up and down the branch all day with an autotrain. The 'main line' was worked by 6998 Burton Agnes Hall and prairie tank 6106 which is captured here passing Cookham signal box.

Known as 'The Fire Engine', Ivatt Mickey Mouse 6441 was newly outshopped in that red livery when this picture was taken at Carnforth.

US Army S160 2-8-0 WD701 looks splendid in Longmoor style blue livery at Alton on the Watercress line.