Lancaster: Northern Belle excursions run to unusual 'destinations'. 57601 heads a Christmas Lunch train from Huddersfield and Manchester to Harrisons Sidings at Shap (for a 20 minute pause) on 21 December 2021. The train is seen slowing at platform 3 for a crew change. On the left a southbound Avanti service pulls into platform 4. The return train reached Huddersfield via the Copy Pit route.

Shrewsbury Abbey: The former Shrewsbury Abbey station and platform, seen here on the afternoon of Saturday, 11th December 2021. A delightful surprise as I had no idea there were any remains, indeed I had gone to look at the Abbey itself. Opened by the Potteries, Shrewsbury & North Wales Railway in August 1866, it reached neither the Potteries nor North Wales but ran from here to Llanymynech on the Cambrian Railway's main line south of Oswestry, with a branch from Kinnerley to Criggion stone quarries but the line went bankrupt and closed in 1881. It lay derelict until Col. Holman F. Stephens rebuilt it under the Light Railways Act of 1896 and it reopened in April 1911 as The Shropshire & Montgomeryshire Light Railway. Stephens died in 1931 and passenger services ceased in 1933 although Criggion stone traffic continued. In 1941, the line was taken over by the War Department to serve new ammunition depots in the area. Public passenger services were not re-introduced but workmen's trains ran to the depots and the line was the busiest it had ever been. After WWII, however, the depots began to close and stone traffic from Criggion ceased in December 1959. Dismantling of the line began in 1960 although a link from the Welsh Marches line was put in to Shrewsbury Abbey goods yard, which became an oil depot. Surprisingly, this remained open until 1988 when the last remnant of the S & MLR was abandoned. The building is now a railway bookshop and the platform is used as a footpath to surrounding housing estates but the tracks and the yards have now disappeared beneath a vast car park.

Haverthwaite: Fairburn 2-6-4T 42085 about to depart from Haverthwaite in the summer of 2006.

Polmadie Shed: Jubilee 45697 'Achilles' at Polmadie on the evening of 16th July 1966. The locomotive had worked through from Leeds on the Saturdays only 6.40am Birmingham to Glasgow.

Inverness Airport: Network Rail has released a series of images which show progress on the early stages of the development of the new Inverness Airport station. [View east to the former Dalcross station, Nairn and Aberdeen. The airport is off to the left. -RS]

Inverness Airport: Network Rail has released a series of images which show progress on the early stages of the development of the new Inverness Airport station. Work got underway on the new £14m station in October and early activity has seen the site set up, groundworks and the creation of embankments at the location adjacent to the airport. [View west to Inverness. -RS]

Newcastleton: On 13th June 1964, A3 Pacific 60077 'The White Knight' came to the rescue of Peak D27, which caught fire north of Newcastleton whilst heading the up 'Waverley'. The diesel can be seen here deposited at Newcastleton station, with the A3 returning to the train to take it onwards tender first to Carlisle. What happened to the northbound freight, from which the Pacific had presumably been commandeered, is not recorded in the photographer's notes on the back of the print.

Ashton Swing Bridge (Preston): Lookalike Preston Dock Tank 'Courageous' brings up the rear of an RSR Santa Special, passing the sand drag that protects the swing bridge on a misty 19th December 2021.

Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal: As an update to my earlier photograph of this Daventry bridge (see image [[76553]]), I notice it is now possible to drive an excavator across it; which implies some useful progress on the solum.

Lartington: Looking north in October 2021 from the B6277 Lartington Lane across to the upper section of the former Lartington station house on the closed Barnard Castle to Kirkby Stephen line. The platforms were on this side of the house.

Paddington: Stanier Black 5 44871, dating from 1948, just arrived in platform 1 at Paddington with the return RTC railtour from Shrewsbury, 10 minutes late at 23.10 on 11th December 2021.

Rosslyn Castle: Leaving Rosslyn Castle station (immediately behind the camera) on the Penicuik branch the line swung south east past the goods yard. Nowadays the trackbed forms part of a popular walkway and the site of the goods yard incorporates a picnic area. View is south in January 2020, with the Pentland Hills on the horizon. For the view back from the far end of the yard see image [[72238]].

Finsbury Park: 717015, with an all stations Great Northern Suburban service from Moorgate to Welwyn Garden City calling at Finsbury Park station, on the damp murky morning of Sunday, 5th December 2021.