Class 55 Deltic 55009 ‘Alycidon’ stands at Horsted Keynes Railway Station during the DPS’s 40th Anniversary event at The Bluebell Railway, 7th October 2017. Courtesy of S Roebuck

Welcome to my website which contains railway related images and videos shot from the 1980’s through to the current day.

All the images and videos have been taken by myself over the years unless otherwise stated. I don’t consider myself to be a professional photographer, and some early work reflects both that and the limited technology available at that time.
I became interested in railways around the age of 10 when a friend’s Father used to take us to York Station or Pilmoor on the ECML on a Sunday afternoon/ evening. Growing up in North Yorkshire gave us good access to the East Coast Mainline which at the time was pre HST and electrification work, and still a Deltic stronghold.
English Electric Class 55 Deltics soon became a firm favourite, and I was lucky enough to see all 22 production versions in BR service before their eventual demise in 1982. I have been a member of The Deltic Preservation Society ever since.

Class 55 Deltic’s 55009 ‘Alycidon’, 55019 ‘Royal Highland Fusilier’ and 55002 ‘Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry’ stand at Horsted Keynes Railway Station during the DPS’s 40th Anniversary event at The Bluebell Railway, 6th October 2017. Courtesy of S Roebuck.

Regrettably cameras were a luxury for me in those early days, so much of my early recollections as a rail enthusiast were not recorded. An instamatic camera bought in the late 1970’s yielded poor quality results and it wasn’t until I got my first ‘hand-me-down’ 35mm SLR Camera in 1982 (a Russian built Zenit – E) that my railway exploits were pictorially recorded. Holidays in Colwyn Bay and on the North Wales Coast in the 70’s watching the Class 40’s etc. work was lost to just my memories. Recollections of Class 55 Deltic 55017 expiring on a level crossing in front of our school trip bus to Northumberland in 1979 were lost to history.
Moving into an old station masters house in 1984 did nothing to dampen the train enthusiasm – an active railway line within a foot of the living room was an excellent opportunity! A new camera (Pentax Super A) with a great 70mm- 210mm zoom lens came along in 1985, and as our own transport became available and my first car was purchased in 1987 - regular visits were paid to local places like York, Tinsley, Barrow Hill, Shirebrook and BREL Doncaster Works.

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Class 50 50003 ‘Temeraire’ during refurbishment at BREL Doncaster Works on 21st April 1985.

Over the last few years, I have been slowly digitalising my 35mm negatives recovered from the garage using a desktop scanner – a lengthy process. Its amazing to think now how a one finger touch on a screen today can capture a high-resolution image along with time, date and even location. I came from an era when you took what you thought was a good picture but then had to wait a week or so before the results came back from the local chemist etc. to see that a shot was ruined. No chance to retake, reposition or shout at somebody to get out of the way!

Unknown Diesel Class 45 passes northbound at Pilmoor in late 1986

From cycling to Pilmoor on the ECML during the school holidays to organised trips round the various BREL works with RESL – I think I have captured the transition from the withdrawal of the engines brought in from the 1950’s Diesel modernisation plan through to the new generation of dull trains that we see today.

Class 45 45133 seen at March TMD in October 1987.

There are links to some of my favourite engines/ events/ places from this page, along with a search engine which will allow you to search for a particular engine by number, class or name, along with a location and date search. Of course, pre digital cameras relied upon you capturing your data in a journal of some description – which I did. Regrettably this book has now ‘disappeared’ during a number of house moves, but with the aid of the internet and a little memory – most details are captured. Any dates with a * are approximate and any help filling in the blanks would be gratefully received.

I hope my work will refresh your memories and perhaps bring back a flavour of British Rail in the 1980’s/ 90’s prior to privatisation as many of the engines and indeed locations are no longer present today.

All images and videos are copyrighted and should not be reproduced or copied in any way without the owner’s permission. In the future I may consider adding an option to purchase images for a small donation to cover web hosting costs.
New images and videos will be added regularly.