Becoming a bit of a habit this, another Saturday lunchtime spent at one of my favourite locations.

A trip to photograph Summer Saturday HSTs at Bromsgrove. Collection also includes 170s, 66s and a 220.

Trams in various locations around Eastern Europe.

A day in Bratislava, followed by the journey to Budapest and then onwards to Miskolc. A week in Miskolc was followed by the return journey to Bratislava.

My first trip out of the year, to a very dull, windy and sometimes wet Doncaster. Plenty of freight action, albeit all class 66 hauled. My first pictures of the interim National Express East Coast livery and other shots can all be found here.

After travelling out of Waterloo International on the last day of operation and before return to St. Pancras International on the first day of revenue earning services, some time was spent photographing in Ghent and Brussels.

Earlier in the year I read that the first day of planned profit earning Eurostar services into the new St. Pancras International station would be the 14th November. What a great idea I thought, travel out of Waterloo International on the last day of operation and return to St. Pancras International on the first day of its operation.
So as the day arrived myself, friends and colleagues boarded the 1043 departure from Waterloo International and across the 'classic' line towards Fawkenham Junction. Here we joined the section of HS1 that had already opened and then onwards through the tunnel to Brussels. After staying the night at Ghent, we returned on the 14th on the 1159 ex Brussels bound for St. Pancras.
We were looking forward to the 1 hour 59 minute run, but were outdone by industrial action instigated by SNCF at Lille Europe. Our Train Manager stating that protestors were trespassing on the tracks at Lille Europe and that we were waiting for the police to clear them.
After passing through the tunnel however we were greeted with the breath-taking high speed run along the entirety of HS1. How surreal to be travelling at such speeds for such distance within the UK, we marvelled at the engineering feat nonetheless.
And St. Pancras ... well St. Pancras was just magnificent. Enjoy the pictures.

On 3rd November 2007, Pathfinder Tours ran the first of two Silverlink Swansong tours. The tours were run to mark the end of the long running Silverlink franchises, which were terminated on 11th November 2007. The tours aimed to take in as much of the networks two sectors of the business (Metro and County) as was possible. Silverlink no longer existed after the 11th November and the business was split between London Midland and London Overground.
On this, the first of the tours, the traction was provided by EWS' 37410 and 37417. The real treat being a run though the shed at Wembley depot. Many Thanks go to The Chief (he of Palace of Engineering fame) for securing my place on this tour.

On this day in October, I ventured to two locations north of Rugby that I had been meaning to visit for some time. Ansty and Cathiron are located on the Trent Valley Line between Rugby and Nuneaton. A variety of traffic can be seen here.
Amongst the items of intrerest were top and tailed class 47s working an empty coaching stock and 86101 running light engine.

The Chasewater Railway is located in the Chasewater Country Park in Staffordshire. The line running from Brownhills West to Chasetown (Church Street). These pictures were taken at the railway's diesel gala.

Even before the unfortunate events of the summer, the popular Severn Valley Railway Diesel Gala was set to make a return this Autumn.
However as a result of the severe flooding which severed the line, the event was cut back to just two days. Also as a result of the landslip at Northwood, services were only running between Kidderminster and Bewdley. However as an interesting addition, a rake of two coaches, with top and tailed shunt engines were running a shuttle north a mile and a half from Bewdley, to a point prior to the landslip.
The engine roster consisted of the resident diesel locomotives, plus those on hire to assist with the railway's re-building. Visiting steam engine Golden Arrow ran a diagram on the Saturday.
Hopefully next year will see a full return to this special event, which over the years has produced some fantastic weekends.

A few pictures taken at the Severn Valley Railway Steam Gala in September 2007. The highlights of this gala included mainline runs from Birmingham Snow Hill to Bewdley and the guest appearance of Green Arrow from the National Railway Museum at York.

Green Arrow, a resident of the National Railway Museum at York, arrived at the Severn Valley Railway on 19th September 2007. This celebrity engine was sent by low-loader to the railway's Kidderminster site, in time for their Autumn Steam Gala.
This collection shows the engine's arrival and piecing together with its tender.

The last summer Saturday of August 2007 and the penultimate weekend of hired-in HSTs on Cross Country services. This collection, taken at Dawlish, was done so in glorious weather, which made a long overdue appearance

A small collection of pictures taken on the Midland Metro tram route, that runs from Birmingham Snow Hill to Wolverhampton St. George's.

For all pictures that don't fit into a theme, or too few to create a collection for.

A visit to the viewing terrace at Schipol, en route back to the UK from a railtour in the Netherlands.

On 6th July 2007, I departed Waterloo by Eurostar bound for Brussels. On arrival there I festered around the main stations of Brussels in between leaping the afternnon peak trains. The first part of this collection records what was seen.
That evening I moved on to Holland in readiness for Mercia Charters' 'That Which Survives' railtour of the 7th July. The tour took a circular route from Rotterdam to Rotterdam around much of the Netherlands, including running the length of the preserved Veluwsche Stoomtrein Maatschappij (VSM) railway. The traction on the tour was an ex-BR class 58 (now 5814), an ex-SNCB 62 (now 6703) and ex-NS 1251. All three of these engines have found a home with Dutch freight operator ACTS.
Along the VSM line ex-NS Engligh Electric built 0-6-0 661 hauled us to Beekbergen where a short visit of the shed was permitted.
To conclude this collection, I have included several pictures taken at Den Haag and Rotterdam from the 8th July.