What's New!

Date	Update
22 July 2008	In the big clean up of my website going on, I've added some pictures taken 20 February 2004 at a night shoot at Didcot Railway Centre. Now despite its fanaticism for all things copper-capped, its not actually a bad place at all. In fact, its pretty damn good. As I remember, this was a blustery night with strong winds driving the smoke and steam around, so on the face of it, not ideal for night photography. Despite all that, I was (and still am!) very pleased with the pics from that night. It must have been a success, several of the pics in this Gallery made it into Steam railway over the years. To see the pictures, click here...
21 June 2008	More pictures from our recent Cyprus trip! This time the village of Polemi where we're having a villa built. Polemi is a delightful village, half way from the sea at Paphos the the Troodos mountains. Click here to see pictures...
21 June 2008	More pictures from our recent Cyprus trip! This time added pictures of the deserted village of Vretsia. There's a number of totally deserted villages in paphos Region. A legacy of the war in 1974, the Turkish-Cypriots left their villages in what had become the Greek-Cypriot part of the island. Their houses remain against the day they may return. Click here to see pictures...
16 June 2008	More new Cyprus pictures from our recent visit! The hidden Venetian bridges in Paphos Forest are testimony to the Venetians rule from 1489-1571. The bridges formed part of the old camel trail, built to aid the extraction of anything valuable the Venetians could find on the island, for example copper from Pera pedi. Recently the Department of Forests has opened up a trail from Vretsia to the Elia Bridge and beyond. Its a great walk or 4x4 drive. It's also used as a Special Stage for the Rally of Cyprus! Click here to see pictures...
16 June 2008	Added some pictures to the Cyprus 'Rusting Hulks' Gallery. Cypriots just don't seem to like chucking anything away. And that goes for their vehicles as well! Given the temperate climate, things tend not to rust much either, so you can find all sorts of things that have become rare everywhere else. And then be fascinated by the uses they've been put to. Best yet is the 1960s Ford Cortina that's now serving as a garden shed in Polemi! Click here to see pictures...
15 June 2008	Added a bunch of pictures from our recent Cyprus trip. This Gallery (North of Paphos, Coral Bay and Agios Georgios) has pictures of Emba including the large and interesting Panayia Khryseleousa church, and the topical (and welcoming) 'Big Brother' Taverna. Click here to see pictures...
15 June 2008	More pictures from our recent Cyprus trip. This Gallery (Hill Villages of Paphos District) includes pictures from many of the villages in the hills north east of Paphos. Much of it miles and years from the tourist trail, this is the real Cyprus away from the holidaymakers. Click here to see pictures...
15 June 2008	More pictures from our recent Cyprus trip. This Gallery (Monasteries) includes pictures of the fascinating and deserted Panayia tou Sindi monastery. Situated in the valley of the River Potamos, it can only be reached along unmade tracks. A challenge to find, but well worth the effort. Click here to see pictures...
18 May 2008	Added a Landscape Gallery - Turvey, Bedfordshire. Another stroll with the kids and the dog! Spring is just the best! Click here to see pictures...
17 May 2007	Added a Landscape Gallery - Three Shire Wood, Lavendon, Buckinghamshire. Another family walk, this time to see the bluebells in Three Shire Wood. Also picked off some spring flowers along Castle Lane. Click here to see pictures...
9 May 2008	Added a Landscape Gallery - How Wood, Stagsden, Bedfordshire. Taken on a family walk, this gallery majors on the bluebells growing in How Wood. Also, those oil seed rape fields are just too good to walk past...! Click here to see pictures...
4 May 2008	Did a Russ Hillier Charter at the Great Central Railway with 30777 'Sir Lamiel'. A totally crap day from a weather perspective - but as always a real laugh. As the weather was so awful, I took the opportunity to work on pans and blurs and moody monochrome. Click here to see pictures...
3 May 2008	Added two Landscape Galleries - Mount Pleasant Farm, Stagsden Bedfordshire and Turvey Estate, Turvey, Bedfordshire. I really like the countryside at this time of year. Everything is coming to life after the winter, and the bright yellow oil seed rape fields always look stunning. A lucky addition at Mount Pleasant farm was to find some rusting agricultural machinery. Click here to see pictures from Stagsden. Turvey Estate has spring written all over it. Click here to see pictures from Turvey.
12 April 2008	At last! My first charter of the year! Did a 'Compo Club' charter on the Severn Valley with 45110 - a particular favourite of mine. Started out typical charter weather - in short hosing it down. But as the morning progressed we got some blue bits - and ended up with cracking sunshine. And of course the transition from wet to sun meant a period of my favourite 'edge' weather - moody skies and rasping sunshine! Thanks Simon - a really good day! Click here to see pictures...
5 April 2008	Added new Gallery 'London Transport District Line, Epping to Ongar Section' to the Railway Archive menu. Some scans of old slides of this lamented and amazing rural anachronism. Click here to see pictures...
5 April 2008	Added some more pictures of Class 52 'Westerns' to 'Summer of 76' Gallery in Railway Archive shots. Click here to see pictures...
5 April 2008	Added some pictures to 'Northamptonshire Gallery' in Landscapes. Click here to see pictures...
16 March 2008	Added a bunch of scans of transparencies shot in 1981. Four new galleries to be found in the Archive section of my railway pictures. A bit sad - at the time I'd decided that cheap colour film was just as good as the branded stuff. And it just hasn't stood the test of time. Despite the pictorial quality not being that I'd aspire to, the pics show the corporate blue period and include a number of types long since gone. Click here to go to the Archive Gallery - there are four new choices, Eastern Region, London Midland Region, Southern Region and Western Region.
25 February 2008	Added my tongue in cheek 'trip report' of our recent visit to China. Don't expect long lists of numbers, but a light hearted look at the realities of gricing in China. Click here to read...
2 February 2008	The fourth and final batch of pictures from my recent China trip - this time the coal railway system at Nanpiao. Some diesels - but more than enough steam activity to keep me busy! Click here to see pictures...
1 February 2008	The third batch of pictures from my recent China trip - this gallery featuring the Jixi system. An intensive service, loads of SYs pottering about, lots of human interest against a harshly industrial backdrop. Click here to see pictures...
26 January 2008	The next batch of pictures from my revent China trip - this time the Huanan Coal Railway. Rural China at its best - even including an ox cart! Click here to see pictures...
20 January 2008	First pictures from my recent trip to China. Two days spent in and around the massive open cast coal mine at Zhalai Nuer. A feast of glints and golden light - enjoy - I suffered temperatures down to minus 30 degrees C to get these! Truly an awesome sight. Click here to see pictures...
4 January 2007	Gossip page updated with a real treasure e-mailed to me today. Click here to see... There's going to be no updates now until mid-January - I'm off to freeze my nuts off in China on the trail of real steam in 2008. Come back then to see the results of the trip!
29 December 2007	Did a Charter yesterday at the Chinnor & Princes Risborough railway organised by Russ Hillier using Pannier 9682 disguised as classmate 9789. Weather was variable becoming lousy - but some OK pics came out of it. Click here to see pictures... Added some thoughts about creating monochrome images on the Gossip page, Click here to read...
24 December 2007	Had a brief session at Wolverton Station yesterday afternoon whilst Pam finished Christmas shopping. Pretty awful weather - cold and foggy. Some more 'Silverlink' shots in the bag! Click here to see pictures... (Scroll down to 'Wolverton' - locations are arranged south to north).
22 December 2007	Added some more scans of old slides - this time dating from 1980. Taken around London and Essex, lots of corporate blue and grey! Click here to see pictures...
17 December 2007	Using up the last days of holiday for 2007, so of course when there's a chance to get out the sun only put in the most fleeting of glimpses. No point in going far from home, so went back to check out the Weedon location (not bad, but would have been better on the other side of the line at least an hour earlier) and then the Ashton location. Amazingly had some variety from endless Pendolinos - got a 90 on a van train and a Voyager to break up the repetition! Click here to see pictures... (Scroll down to 'Ashton' and then 'Weedon' - locations are arranged south to noth)
5 December 2007	Added pictures from Russ Hillier's Charter on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway with lookalike WD 2-8-0 no. '90733' on 3 December 2007. A day of extremes - fierce and low winter sun in the morning - equally fierce rain and hail in the afternoon. During a brief visit to Oxenhope for water the platform was white over with hailstones... And yes, I did miss the rainbow shot! Click here to see pictures... Added a description of the Charter to the Gossip page. Click here to read...
18 November 2007	Added 'The Right of Reply' to my ramblings on the Gossip page. First up is Simon Hopkins... Click here to read...
15 November 2007	Added pictures from Russ Hillier's Charter at Barrow Hill on 9 November 2007. An LNER shaped event, it featured 506 'Butler Henderson', 1306 'Mayflower', 4771 'Green Arrow', 60532 'Blue Peter', 61264, 61994 'The Great Marquess', 62005 and 65462. Click here to see pictures...
28 October 2007	Added new ramblings to 'Gossip' page. Click here to read...
20 October 2007	Added pictures from Russ Hillier's Charter at the Great Central Railway with 0-6-2T no 5643 visting from it's normal home on the Lakeside & Haverthwaite railway. Click here to see pictures...
5 October 2007	Added new pictures taken today at Bow Brickhill on the Bedford to Bletchley line and Soulbury and Wolverton on the WCML. > For Soulbury and Wolverton the WCML, click here... > For Bow Brickhill on the Bedford to Bletchley line, click here...
25 September 2007	Added Railway Galleries > UK Heritage Railways with Diesel Locomotives > Foxfield Railway with Class 25 no. D7629. A Jason Cross photo charter with a green 'Rat' at loose on the Foxfield Railway. The sound effects on Foxfield bank were spectacular! Click here to see pictures...
19 September 2007	Updated Cyprus Galleries > Paphos and Kato Paphos. Updated gallery including new pics from our recent visit to Cyprus. See the Djami Kabir Mosque - there large as life but stunningly absent from most street maps and guides. A casualty of the island's troubled past. Click here to see pictures... Also an interesting question for you all posted on the Gossip page
12 September 2007	Added Cyprus Galleries > Akamas - Lara. New gallery including many pics from our recent visit to Cyprus. Lara beach is in the protected Akamas and only accessible with a 4x4. That makes it a million miles from the crowds at Paphos and Coral Bay - enjoy! Click here to see pictures...
9 September 2007	Added Railway Galleries > UK Heritage Railways with Steam > Chasewater Railway Wimblebury. A Russ Hillier Charter with a gloriously blue sky and an Austerity tank. Click here to see... Added Railway Galleries > UK Contemporary > London to Birmingham via Oxford > Didcot. I set out in the sunshine but it clouded over - ha! Despite this added a few more Virgin Voyager shots. Click here to see... Created 'Graffiti' Gallery in Landscapes. OK, so graffiti isn't a landscape, but it seems the most logical place to put it for me. I'm fascinated by the colourful graffiti the 'yoof' of today seem determined to paint onto anything. These are some of may favourites - and they say a great deal about the values of the creators. Click here to see...
25 August 2007	Added Railway Galleries > From the Archive > Barry Scrapyard 1980. A series of shots taken just after the last two locos were broken up in August 1980. Click here to see... Added Railway Galleries > From the Archive > Summer of 76. A collection of shots of Peaks and Hoovers in their heyday, the last rumblings of the Westerns and a glimpse of a brand new HST. Click here to see...
18 August 2007	Yesterday did a charter at the North Norfolk Railway with the N7. For the pics, click here. For the update to the gossip page, click here.
13 August 2007	Caught up after the weekend! Saturday was a trip to the Thames Valley between Heyford and Oxford to catch the Virgin Voyagers before they get re-liveried with the forthcoming franchise change later this year. It's an area I used to know well - but all a lot of a hassle now because of the way the trees have grown up in the last 30 years. Despite that, the Voyagers didn't escape the Nikon treatment,and it was a lovely summer's day for a bit of country walking! Click here to see...
12 August 2007	Major updates to UK Contemporary Railways section. Now organised by route and location. New material in London to Carlisle (Ansty, Blisworth, Milton Malsor and Northampton), Bedford to Bletchley (Lidlington, Aspley Guise) - yes the sun's been out at last!. Click here to see... Landscape Galleries > Abstracts updated. Click here to see...
4 August 2007	Updated Railways > UK Contemporary > Blisworth 3-4 August 2007. An evening of slow shutters speeds and blurs! Click here to see... Updated Railways > UK Heritage Railways with Steam Locomotives > Leighton Buzzard Narrow Gauge Railway. With special thanks to my old mates from the Oxfordshire Railway Society for a great afternoon out! Click here to see... On the way home I stopped at Milton Malsor to watch the diverted 'Pendolinos' taking the Northampton line. Click here to see...
1 August 2007	Added Railways > UK Contemporary > Hanslope 1 August 2007. Harassed by cows but got the shot! Click here to see...
30 July 2007	Added Railways > From the Archive > North West Scene 1970-1971. Lots of green and blue diesels and electrics! Click here to see... Added Railways > From the Archive > West Cumberland Industrials 1970-1971. Hanging on into the seventies, Whitehaven Docks & Harbour Board and NCB industrial steam. Click here to see... Added Railways > International > USA > Cumbres & Toltec Railroad. A day's chase from Antonito to Chama. Click here to see... Augmented > Landscapes > Abstracts. Click here to see...
28 July 2007	Added Railways > UK Contemporary > Wellingborough 28 July 2007. Bumped into the bunch from the EMRPS waiting for a 47. Click here to see...
23 July 2007	Various navigation improvements throughout the site Added Railways > From the Archive > British Gypsum, Cocklakes, Cumbria. Dating from 1969 these pictures were scanned from slightly discoloured original 35mm slides. Definitely time to get scanning those older slides and negatives before they become irrevocable! Click here to see...
14 July 2007	Added Railways > UK Heritage Railways > Barrow Hill 12 July 2007 Gallery. A feast of Class 20s. Click here to see...
10 July 2007	Added Landscape Galleries for 2003 up to date Click here to see...
3 July 2007	Added Links page Click here to see... Added 'Gossip and tips from the wild side of the lineside' page. All completely true. Click here to see...
1 July 2007	Added Railways > UK Heritage Railways > Snibston Colliery 30 June 2007 Gallery. June? Ha! More like winter! Click here to see...
30 June 2007	Cyprus Galleries augmented with new June 2007 material. Changed menu structure in Cyprus Galleries. Added Landscape Galleries for 2002.
23 June 2007	Cyprus Galleries augmented with additional 2005 and 2006 material
9 June 2007	Added Railway Galleries for 2005
8 June 2007	Added Quotations page
5 June 2007	Added Cyprus Galleries. Added Railways > UK Contemporary > Radwell 4 June 2007 Gallery. Shots of Midland Mainline Meridians. Click here to see...
2 June 2007	Added Railway Galleries for 2006. Changed menu structure in Railway Galleries. Polemi Wine Gallery now in colour - by popular request
28 May 2007	Initial publication. Railway Galleries for 2007. Cyprus Polemi Wine Galley.

What's New!

Date

Update