37002 & 37023 growl past Ratcliffe-on-Soar on 1 July 1985 with the 6E40 10:23 Corby to Lackenby steel coil empties. Unfortunately it was a dull day, but I wasn't going to miss the chance of a pair of blue 37s, especially as I have got very few pictures of this particular working. On the plus side, it did brighten up later in the day in time for the loaded southbound train behind 37193 & 37071.

37003 stands at Leeming Bar on 5 September 2004, shortly after arrival on the Wensleydale Railway, but before it was put into regular use on the line. It was withdrawn from mainline service in 1998 and initially moved to the East Anglian Railway Museum for restoration. It then moved to the Wensleydale Railway in January 2004.

After working a few test trains during 2004, 37003 finally entered passenger service on the Wensleydale Railway on 14 May 2005. It seen here passing Mudfields Farm, Crakehall, with its inaugural run - the 16:45 Leeming Bar to Redmire. The loco looks great in its BR blue livery (which would have looked even better in the sun that was out just before the train came), but I'm not too sure about the brilliant red livery of the coaches!

In the last of the evening light, 37003 rounds the sharp curve into Bedale station on 14 May 2005 with the 18:10 Redmire to Leeming Bar service, on the loco's inaugural day of passenger usage on the Wensleydale Railway. The 1875 built North Eastern Railway signal box dominates the scene of what is a potential road traffic bottleneck. The level crossing is on the main A684 Northallerton to Sedburgh road.

I think this is possibly one of my finest railway pictures. The ideal combination of stunning early morning lighting with dark clouds in the background, an identifiable location, classic traction and an interesting train make this hard to beat. With Didcot Power Station in the background, 37010 approaches Culham with the 6Z23 Thameshaven to Littlemore oil train on 15 May 1997. This was the first oil train to run to Littlemore for many years, but sadly this resurgence in traffic didn't last long. In the still morning air the train could be heard coming all the way from Didcot, three miles away, giving me several minutes warning of its approach. Unfortunately the 6x7 slide of this picture seems to have gone missing after being published, so this is from a 35mm Fujichrome Sensia slide.

37010 reverses into Littlemore Oil Depot (just visible through the trees on the right) with the 6Z23 oil train from Thameshaven on 15 May 1997. This was the first train to run to Littlemore for a number of years. I had seen the train a little earlier in stunning light at Culham, but by the time it negotiated the Morris Cowley Branch the sun had disappeared. Oil traffic ceased a few years later, and the site has now been redeveloped.

37019 passes Winwick on 28 July 1992 with the 6K85 11:00 Carlisle to Crewe Basford Hall MoD stores train. This traffic would formerly have traveling via the Speedlink network, but after the wagonload network was abandoned in 1991 a small dedicated MoD service was established, based largely on the old Speedlink workings. As can be seen here, the trunk workings could be very well loaded. Presumably the four vintage VEA vans near the front of the train are carrying explosives, hence the barrier wagons either side.

37025 Inverness TMD finds a little patch of weak sunshine amidst the dark clouds as it rolls past Rhyl with the 6F11 11:03 Penmaenmawr to Warrington Arpley ballast on 26 August 1996. This loco is wearing a kind of intermediate livery, based on the large logo colour scheme, although clearly it has no BR logos at all. Otherwise the extended yellow around the cabs with black window surrounds and larger numbers is the same format as the large logo livery. 37025 was withdrawn in 1999, but has since found a home at the Bo'ness & Kinneil Railway.

A slightly wider than normal view of the remains of Challow station on 29 October 1992, to show the work being done to relay the relief lines from here to Wantage Road. 37031 & 37026 Shapfell growl past the worksite with the 4L65 06:25 Pengam to Felixstowe freightliner. The new trailing point has already been installed (just visible in the background), but as yet there is no sign of any other track laying. The remains of the former down platform have just been cleared away, but the up platform is still extant. Not only would this last remnant of the station soon be swept away, but the two locomotives pictured here would not survive either.

D6732 (37032) Mirage passes High Kelling on the North Norfolk Railway with the 15:00 Sheringham to Holt service on 2 May 1998. 37032 was withdrawn from Tinsley depot in March 1994, although it had been in store unserviceable for over a year. Tinsley had unofficially named it Mirage in 1992, so this was perpetuated in preservation with cast plates in place of the previously painted ones. A cab full of volunteers enjoying some English Electric traction here!

Super power for the 7A13 05:55 Westbury to Appleford ARC stone train on 21 April 1997. 37038, 37203 & 37255 are seen approaching Circourt Bridge, Denchworth. I'm not sure if all three locos were under power, but it certainly sounded like it! Unfortunately not only are the locos filthy (especially 37038), but the head on lighting (this is taken at 07:35!) prevents this being anything other than a record shot.

A preserved loco to the rescue! Privately owned 37038 was helping out Freightliner on 16 July 2001, when it was employed on the 4M55 10:17 Millbrook to Lawley Street freightliner. It is seen here pulling away from Basingstoke. Far from a one off, 37038 appeared on a number of freightliners around this time, much to the delight of photographers.

37038 & 37197 pass Pontrilas with the 1Z48 08:50 Manchester Piccadilly to Cardiff Central football special on 2 March 2003. This was for the Worthington Cup Final played between Liverpool and Manchester United at the Millennium Stadium, which incidentally, Liverpool won 2-0. Pontrilas station closed in 1964, but the signal box and loop remains, along with a fine collection of semaphore signals. Considering the amount of cloud all around, I was lucky to get this one in the sun!

37038 passes Hinksey Yard (near Oxford) towing 87022 Cock o' the North as the 0Z87 11:46 Oxley to Wembley on 2 January 2008. The 87 is being returned to its home depot after the withdrawal of the remaining class members at the end of 2007, therefore making this one of its last mainline outings in this country. Luckily this working was running 23 minutes early. The shadows from the line of parked wagons in the yard on the left has already reached the wheels and if it had been running to time I would have had to have searched for an alternative location!

Miserable lighting conditions at Gossington on 13 December 2010 as 37038 & 37601 Class 37-'Fifty' pass by with the 6M56 12:41 Berkeley to Crewe nuclear flask. Unfortunately the DRS dark blue livery (both old and new version represented here) looks very drab in dull light, but nowadays any Class 37 working on the mainline is worth recording.

With a wave from the driver, 37040 weaves across from the down relief to the down main at Foxhall Junction, Didcot on 20 May 1992 whilst working the 6V99 13:53 Hamworthy to Cardiff Tidal steel train, Such is the unpredictability of freight, it is running one hour late and on the wrong day! There was a sudden burst of Class 37 activity here on this day, as 37213 was waiting for 37040 to complete its manouever before it could continue heading east.

37042 arrives at Bargoed station on 26 June 1999 with the 2F13 08:15 Rhymney to Cardiff Central Cardiff Railway Company service. At the time this was normally a unit operated service, but loco haulage was substituted in connection with the inaugural rugby match at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff (Wales v South Africa, appropriately won by Wales).

37043 passes a long since disused permanent way hut and the remains of a former footbridge as it passes Achallader on the West Highland Line with the 6Y45 06:36 Mossend to Fort William Enterprise service on 28 April 1998. For once it was a pleasant wait in the sunshine at this remote spot as the infamous Scottish midges that become unbearable later in the summer had yet to make an appearance. Also at this time of year the landscape shows a varied mixture of colours from green through brown almost to purple.

37044 & 37091 pass Hodge Hill Farm, on the eastern edge of Kidderminster, with the Hertfordshire Railtours 1Z37 07:30 Finsbury Park to Bridgnorth 'Independent' (US Independence Day - 4 July) railtour on a slightly hazy 4 July 1987. Nice to see that at least 37044 appears to have specially cleaned for the occasion. The 37s would hand over to Western haulage on the Severn Valley Railway. D1062 Western Courier outward and D1013 Western Ranger return, The tour later visited the Great Central Railway, where haulage was courtesy of 40106 Atlantic Conveyor & LNER B1 Class 4-6-0 1306 Mayflower.

37045 & 37235 pass Goring with the 4M99 17:14 Southampton to Trafford Park freightliner on 27 May 1992. During 1992 there were several freightliners in the Didcot area booked for Class 37 haulage, both from the south as here, and via the Swindon line from Wales. Luckily this train was booked to run along the relief line, which offers much better photographic opportunities in the low evening light.

37047 accelerates away from Wraysbury, returning from Windsor & Eaton Riverside, with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z91 'Buffer Puffer - The Return!' railtour on 20 March 2004. With so few Class 37s left in service with EWS at the time, it must have been quite an achievement to get two Mainline blue locos for the tour - 37203 was on the rear working top'n'tail. The train is just approaching a footpath crossing, and although not apparent here, the whole area on both sides of the line consists largely of lakes.

37047 & 37109 approach Cam & Dursley with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z37 06:28 Crewe to Whatley  'Industrial Invader' railtour on 18 September 2004. The tour was heading for Sharpness - the first of a number of freight only branches traversed during the day. Photographed in terrible light, at least at this point the tour was running exactly to time - a situation that was not to last!

Mass vegetation clearance at Kemble (on the Gloucester to Swindon line), has resulted in this previously impossible view from above the tunnel being opened up. Despite this new location, I was the only person there to witness 37047 & 37109 accelerate out of Kemble station with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z37 06:28 Crewe to Whatley 'Industrial Invader' railtour on 18 September 2004.

After a fruitless attempt to find a decent photographic location alongside the River Avon in the Sea Mills and Shirehampton area of Bristol, for the final shot of the day of the Pathfinder Tours 'Industrial Invader' railtour on 18 September 2004, I ended up at the tried and tested location of Hallen Marsh Junction, deep in the Avonmouth industrial complex. Catching the last rays of the setting sun 37047 & 37109 take the Filton line now running as the 1Z38 (15:21 booked, 16:37 actual) Whatley to Crewe. Despite the 76 minute late departure from Whatley, the tour had managed to make up a lot of time, and luckily in view of the rapidly failing light is pictured here running only 21 minutes down.

On 24 June 1995, 37048 propels the stock of the Pathfinder Tours 1Z37 08:56 Bristol Temple Meads to Marchwood 'Logistician' railtour from the down line into the up platform at Andover, prior to working down the Ludgershall Branch (on the left) to visit the Army Depot. As can be seen by the heaving platform, all passengers were required to detrain while this shunt manoeuvre was being performed. 37371 waits to attach the rear of the train. The main attraction of this tour was visiting two Army Depots in one day (Ludgershall and Marchwood). Although it looks like 37048 has had some degree of cleaning for this tour (note the painted cab steps) it was in fact a replacement for the original tour locomotive (37098), which had failed at Didcot.

37051 heads east past the site of Shrivenham station on 1 November 1994 with a lengthy train of ballast empties. 37051 had for a long time been a Scottish locomotive, and at this time had only just been moved south to take up infrastructure duties. It would later become one of the first locomotives to receive the EWS red and gold livery.

37051 & 37717 Berwick Middle School, Railsafe Trophy Winners 1998 pass through a very wet Worplesdon station with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z27 06:00 Gloucester to Salisbury 'Moon Raker' railtour on 13 December 2003. The blue van only parked in the nearest corner of the car park just before the train came, and then promptly left again. He wasn't even a photographer!

37051 & 37717 round the curve between Laverstock South and Tunnel Junctions at Salisbury with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z27 06:00 Gloucester to Salisbury 'Moon Raker' railtour in pouring rain on 13 December 2003. The line in the background is the Laverstock North to South chord, which had just witnessed the passage of Southern Railway 4-6-2 34067 Tangmere, which of course I was not in a position to photograph from this bridge!

37055 approaches Althorne (near Burnham-on-Crouch) on 22 July 1993 with the 7L72 09:46 Willesden to Southminster nuclear flask. This train served Bradwell Power Station, which was an operational nuclear plant between 1962 and 2002. This train only ran on Thursdays, and such was the intensity of service on the branch (or more to the point, the limited capacity caused by the long sections of single track), that one of the daily passengers trains was cancelled on a Thursday to accommodate it!

Immaculate ex-works 37057 Viking & 37051 Merehead (at the time the only two Class 37s in the then new EWS livery) approach Clink (near Frome) on 21 June 1996 with the 1Z56 09:30 Euston to Cranmore special conveying guests to a double Foster Yeoman Class 59 naming ceremony. As well as the repaints, 37051 had been named Merehead especially for the event, which ironically could not take place at Merehead Quarry due to space and safety constraints. The East Somerset Railway's station at Cranmore was chosen instead..

37059 brings up the rear of the 1Q13 Tyseley to Tyseley Network Rail test train at Wolvercote on 2 August 2011. 37038 is the lead locomotive. Just visible in the background under the bright is the signal for the Cotswold Line, showing amber along with the 'feathers'. I do not normally take going away shots, but as I was unable to get out in time for the southbound working, and as I specifically wanted to be at this location for 1Z57, I relented. For some reason there doesn't appear to be any red tail light showing, which is a bonus. And no, I have not Photshopped it out!

I only just got this one in the sun! 37065 finds its only little patch of sunshine as it leaves Didcot Yard and approaches Didcot North Junction with a train of spoil wagons for the nearby Appleford civil engineers tip. The date is 2 July 1997, and although the Mainline livery looks fresh here, it was already obsolete, and would soon be swept aside in a sea of EWS red.

37068 Grainflow & 37108 pass Briton Ferry on 2 October 1993 with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z16 05:20 Preston to Cwmgwrach 'Neath Navigator' railtour, passing lines of stored wagons, including well over a hundred redundant HBA domestic coal hoppers. In the foreground, on the left, initial preparation work is taking place for the construction of Briton Ferry station, which opened the following summer.

Golden late evening lighting at Tackley on 23 May 2009 as 37069 & 37602 head northwards with the Spitfire Railtours 1Z45 16:36 Weymouth to Crewe 'Wessexman' railtour. Although running exactly to time at Didcot the train was five minutes early at Tackley which implies some very fast running through Oxford. In the still air the pair of tractors could easily be heard approaching from several miles away.

After an entire day of dreadful light and intermittent rain, the sun finally made a very brief appearance on 3 December 1994, as 37072 & 37264 commenced their journey back to London after visiting various branch lines in the Swindon and Bristol area with the Hertfordshire Railtours 1Z60 'Westerleigh Wizard' railtour. It is seen here rounding the curve from Hallen Marsh Junction onto the freight only line to Filton, glinting nicely in the late afternoon sun. 47705 can be seen on the rear of the train. The tour had already visited Didcot Power Station, the remains of the Highworth Branch at Swindon, and Avonmouth. However, the tour was not quite over, as on the way back it would visit the Westerleigh Branch.

Superb evening light at Ribblehead Viaduct on 20 July 1996, as 37087 & 37095 head north with the 6M90 16:48 Gascoigne Wood to Carlisle British Fuels containerised coal. For a time in the late 1990s this was the top freight working over the Settle & Carlisle line. The combination of bright red boxes and classic traction (either pairs of 37s or a 56) was hard to beat. On this occasion my usual bad luck with the S&C weather was replaced by probably the best lighting conditions I have ever seen on the line.

With dark clouds threatening rain hanging over the Cotswold Hills in the background, 37087 Keighley & Worth Valley Railway & 37194 power away from Cheltenham and pass Up Hatherley with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z57 05:40 Tame Bridge Parkway to Par Harbour 'Curnow Irrupter' railtour on 28 May 2011. 66135 is hiding under the bridge at the rear of the train.

37098 ambles along the as yet to be commissioned new up relief line at Denchworth (Circourt Bridge) on 16 March 1994 with a short engineers train. On the left, the new down relief line is already in use. Note the recently planted trees at the far end of the field behind the train. These have subsequently grown into a fully fledged wood, blocking out the view of the buildings in the background.

37099 stands in the yard at Weybourne on 2 May 1998. The locomotive only spent a year at the North Norfolk Railway, before being moved to the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway, where it was restored to operation as 37324. Introduced in 1962 as D6799, the loco became 37099 with the advent of TOPS. It was renumbered 37324 in 1986, before reverting to 37099 in 1989.

37100 & 37074 slowly approach Berkeley Road on 1 July 1990 with a returning mini-railtour from Sharpness, one of a number of Pathfinder Tours specials run in connection with the Gloucester Rail Day. Note the modified front end of this former split headcode box locomotive.

37108 & 37416 make a fine sight (and sound!) as they pass Great Rocks on 9 August 1995 with the 7F50 16:24 Tunstead to Oakleigh stone train. The retention of these vintage pre-war bogie hoppers insured that classic traction with the necessary vacuum brakes worked these trains right to the wagon's final replacement in 1997.

With a storm brewing in the background, 37109 passes Fairburn on 25 September 1999 with the Tractor Tours 1Z37 06:12 Finsbury Park to Hull 'Last Chance' railtour. The tour's name refers to the anticipated final opportunity to travel behind an unfreburbished Class 37/0, which turned out to be a slightly pessimistic assumption!

37109 passes Heap Bridge on 7 March 2010 with the 2J64 10:06 Rawtenstall to Heywood service, during the East Lancashire Railway's Diesel Gala. The two maroon coaches slightly spoil the early 1980s effect, although if the 37 wasn't carrying TOPS numbers and had working headcodes, it would certainly fit with the late 1960s / early 1970s period.

37109 passes Heap Bridge on 7 March 2010 with the 2J81 13:55 Heywood to Rawtenstall service, during the East Lancashire Railway's Diesel Gala. Three hours earlier I had photographed 37109 at the same location but coming the other way. This proves how far the sun moves round if you stay at one location long enough!

37109 storms past Burrs on 7 March 2010 with the 2J81 13:55 Heywood to Rawtenstall service, during the East Lancashire Railway's Diesel Gala. This just shows how easy it is to chase trains on a preserved line. Despite having a long walk back to the car after photographing 37109 at Heap Bridge, and an even longer walk to get to this location, there was still plenty of time to find the ideal photographic spot. Even then it was a while before the characteristic English Electric racket heralded the arrival of the train.

37113 passes under the combined footbridge and aqueduct, just after emerging from Wickwar Tunnel on 10 August 1985, as it heads south with the 1V32 10:32 York to Penzance relief. Definitely not ideal lighting conditions, with the sun virtually head on, but I certainly wasn't going to miss taking a picture of a split box 37 working that long gone sign of summer in the west - the Saturday holiday relief train. Even as late as 1985, all kinds of unusual traction could turn up on these trains.

37113 Radio Highland & 37235 disturb the peace of the Vale of White Horse as they pass Compton Beauchamp with the 4L65 06:25 Pengam to Felixstowe freightliner on 24 July 1992. This working was allocated Class 37 haulage for a couple of years, and I photographed it as often as work commitments would allow, which in retrospect was not enough! There was certainly no problem in knowing when it was coming, as it could usually be heard leaving Swindon several miles away!

After the failure of 37023 at Tulloch, classmate 37114 City of Worcester was left to carry on single handed over the West Highland and Oban lines with the Mercia Railtours 'Tiberius Kirk' railtour on 24 July 1999. Help eventually arrived in the shape of 37116 which was attached at Crianlarich. After its mammoth struggle with the severe West Highland gradients, 37114 is pictured crossing Achallader Viaduct in typically grim weather. The racket of a single 37 lifting a twelve coach train up the ferocious gradient out of Oban must have been truly impressive, a feat made even more impressive by the predictable West Highland rain that was falling at the time!

37116 (unofficially named Comet) & 37272 thrash through Culham on 13 May 1992 with the 4M99 17:14 Southampton to Trafford Park freightliner. This working often seemed to be lead by 37116 during 1992, but in an era of Railfreight sector liveries, the large logo colour scheme and original front end configuration was a welcome change.

37116 Sister Dora approaches Muir of Ord with the Sundays only 6H58 18:35 Inverness to Georgemas Junction Enterprise service on 23 May 1999. Just two tanker containers on this exceedingly unusual freight working, unusual in that it ran on a Sunday on a line that had no other booked freight, and that the featherweight load traveled such a huge distance to a spot in the middle of nowhere, which at the time was the UK's furthest north freight destination. There was plenty of warning of 37116's approach, not just the inevitable Class 37 growl that can be heard for miles, but also because I heard it leaving Inverness on the scanner via the RETB system.

37116 puts on the power as it passes Bledlow Cricket Club on 21 April 2013 with the 2T11 12:45 Chinnor to Thame Junction service during the Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway's Diesel Gala. The 'livery' is a mixture of BR blue and various shades of primer! Note the milky clouds in the background, heralding an approaching front, which would soon kill off the morning's sunshine.

37116 passes Bledlow on 21 April 2013 with the 2C12 13:14 Thame Junction to Chinnor service, during the Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway's Diesel Gala. The high cloud of an approaching front has just reached the sun, and although the light is not as crisp as just a few minutes before, it would get a whole lot worse during the next five minutes! I had correctly guessed that I might just get the 37 in sun before the Met Office's predicted cloud reached me.

37128 & 37068 Grainflow storm the through the disused Wantage Road station on 29 July 1992 with the 4L65 06:25 Pengam to Felixstowe freightliner. Still only two tracks, but just visible on the original 35mm Fujichrome slide is some freshly deposited sleepers by the bridge in the background, indicating the imminent reinstatement of the relief lines.

37138 slowly approaches Jersey Marine South Junction on 28 July 1991 with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z81 06:28 Liverpool Lime Street to Onllwyn 'Vulcan Valley Venturer' railtour. Hiding under the bridge are 20106 & 20113, which would shortly be taking the tour up into the valleys. The train is on line from Dynevor Junction, and has just passed under the M4 motorway. Just out of sight to the left of the pond is the line that will take it back north to Onllwyn, and further over still is the other chord from Jersey Marine South Junction, linking (appropriately) to Jersey Marine North Junction, only a short distance west of Dynevor Junction, where this train diverged. I hope you're following this!

37140 approaches the level crossing at Knodishall Green on 18 April 1996 with the 7L20 09:08 Willesden to Leiston nuclear flask. Note the very unusual feature of the line at this point for a UK railway - no lineside fencing on one side of the track. As I suspected, the Health and Safety Gestapo wouldn't let this highly dangerous situation continue, and on a subsequent visit I noticed that a fence had been installed to protect the local population (such as it is) from the extreme of danger of a single weekly train traveling at 20 mph!

9400hp in one picture, although some of it is going in the opposite direction! 37142 pilots 50015 Valiant & 50008 Thunderer through Totnes on 23 November 1991 with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z37 00:30 Manchester Piccadilly to Newquay 'Valiant Thunderer' (what else!) railtour. The 37 was attached at Newton Abbot and worked through to Plymouth, as 50015 had a defective speedometer. They are seen here passing the 09:25 Penzance to Edinburgh 'Cornishman'.

A welcome surprise at the end of a warm summer evening at Wolvercote Junction. In the mid 1980s the standard traction on MGR coal trains to Didcot Power Station was Class 58s, with occasional Class 56s. Therefore I was very surprised to see 37147 heading north with MGR empties, just as the sun was setting on 6 July 1987. Presumably this is the 6M61 20:00 Didcot Power Station to Toton. With just the very last glimmers of the sun giving a slight pink tinge to the ballast and the A34 bridge, the light was so low that 1/250 sec was all that was available with the lens wide open on good old grainy Kodachrome 200. Despite this, I wasn't going to miss getting a picture of a 37, complete with original skirts and round buffers, hauling a rake of HAAs.

Time for a teak break at Uffington on 1 August 1993. 37158 & 37092 wait with the Redland self-discharge train while there is a general lull in activity during a Sunday track laying possession. New ballast has been laid onto the plastic membrane on the down line, and the train has now reversed back into position ready for a second pass.

37170 arrives at Crianlarich with the 7D54 11:54 Fort William to Coatbridge aluminuim ingots on 28 April 1998. The bright silver coloured ten tonne blocks of aluminium can clearly be seen on the open wagons. These are the products of the Alcan smelter at Fort William which produces around 40,000 tonnes of these ingots each year using the 85 megawatts of power generated by a hydro electric power station fed from Loch Treig. The train is just approaching the junction with the Oban line, which can be seen heading off to the left.

With the ISO cranked up to 1600, and the lens virtually wide open (hence the lack of depth of field with a long lens), 37174 passes Bucknell on 3 April 2004 with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z50 05:37 Worcester Shrub Hill to Canterbury 'County of Kent' railtour. With such atrocious light I wouldn't normally bother if it was going to be yet another 37/4, but a single 37/0 is always worth recording.

The sheep take no notice as 37174 & 37109 pass Lamington with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z35 06:14 Swindon to Inverness 'Lord of the Isles' railtour on 9 April 2004. The bridge in the background carries the B7055 road across the infant River Clyde. Note also some recent deforestation on the hill in the background.

By the time the Pathfinder Tours 1Z35 06:14 Swindon to Inverness 'Lord of the Isles' railtour arrived in the Perth area on 9 April 2004, it was nearly dark. With the camera cranked up to ISO 1600, 37174 & 37109 pass Lindores in the gathering gloom.

37174 & 37109 pass Killiecrankie on the Highland main line with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z18 08:15 Inverness to Swindon returning 'Lord of the Isles' railtour on 12 April 2004. The road is the old A9, now thankfully bypassed and free of traffic at this point, which saved any explanations as to why I was standing on a stepladder next to a wall in the middle of nowhere! As the weather was so poor, instead of the usual highland picture, I decided to try something different, using the wall and the old footbridge as a frame for the locos.

37174 & 37109 pass a slightly misty Forteviot with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z18 08:15 Inverness to Swindon returning 'Lord of the Isles' railtour on 12 April 2004. The 25 minute stop at Perth had easily let me get ahead of the train after seeing it at Killiecrankie. In fact I had overtaken it almost a soon as I got back on the A9!

37174 (unofficially named The Angel of the North) passes Yarnton on 2 June 2004 with the 6M65 18:16 Didcot to Carlisle Enterprise, which is effectively a MoD service. This was one of the 37174's final revenue earning workings, as it was moved into the WNTR tactical reserve pool at the end of the month and then withdrawn. As late as 2004 it was still possible to see a couple of freight trains hauled by heritage traction heading northwards in the Oxford area in the evening. Such was the case on this evening, as five minutes after this train passed, 37667 followed with the 6M28 18:28 Didcot to Bescot departmental working. Both these trains were booked for Class 66s and although other traction did turn up, to get two 37s and in sunshine was definitely a bonus!

37178 & 47238 Bescot Yard pass Kings Sutton with the 6M79 14:36 Eastleigh to Crewe Basford Hall MoD stores train on 20 July 1993. The ideal combination of a sweeping curve with an impressive background and a location where northbound trains can be photographed with the sun on the nose in the evening ensures that Kings Sutton remains a popular spot for photographers, with the bridge often getting very crowded. As with various other well known spots I have noticed that the number of photographers increases as the years go by, while the variety of traction steadily dwindles!

A welcome surprise at Baulking on 3 May 1985. 37180 Sir Dyfed / County of Dyfed glints in the evening sunshine as it heads towards the capital with a Cardiff Central to Paddington relief, variously reported as being either a 16:30 or 17:15 departure. As it passed me at 18:30, the latter seems more likely. This picture would be impossible today, as not only is the concept of a relief train totally alien to the privatised railway, but also there is a lot more than the few clumps of cowslips seen here now growing on the cutting side. In fact, both sides of this cutting are now virtually covered in uncontrolled brambles, bushes and small trees.

Rail workers are engaged in manual point greasing at Foxhall Junction, Didcot on 31 July 1986, as 37182 weaves across from the relief to the main line with Bristol civil engineers inspection saloon DW80975. The large water tower directly above the junction in the background is part of the Great Western Society's former GWR Didcot steam depot.

37190 finds a lucky patch of sun amid the trees, as it approaches Bewdley on 2 October 2004 with the 12:00 Kidderminster to Bridgnorth service, during the Severn Valley Railway's Diesel Gala. In the late 1980s this locomotive was renumbered 37314 and used was exclusively for steel traffic from Motherwell depot. It has since reverted to this number in preservation.

37193 & 37071 pass Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station with the 6M47 10:50 Lackenby to Corby rolled coil steel train on 1 July 1985. How times change, I think I was the only photographer on this bridge all day, and of course there was a procession of freight trains all with classic traction. If this scene was to be repeated today (it can't as there are no Network Rail registered blue Class 37s) virtually every railway photographer in the country would be after it!

In the pouring rain DRS 37194 & 37229 pass Codsall Wood (between Wolverhampton and Telford) with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z20 05:37 Swindon to Preston 'Yo-Ho-Ho' railtour on 29 December 2006. It was running 5 minutes early at this point, which meant I could get back in the car and out of the rain earlier than expected. The miserable weather hasn't deterred a couple of 'bellowers'!

37197 & 37158 arrive at Llandrindod Wells on 26 May 1996 with the diverted 06:49 Margam to Llanwern steel train. This was one of a number of steel trains diverted over the Central Wales Line over the Bank Holiday weekend due to engineering works in South Wales. An amazing diversion considering the short distance over basically level track between Margam and Llanwern had been changed into a tremendous detour via a reversal at Craven Arms, over a single track line with some fearsome gradients!

37197 passes Wistanstow on 25 May 2002 with the 1Z37 09:50 Crewe to Cardiff Central rugby special. Unfortunately this corresponded with a period of high cloud. The rather strange Riley & Sons livery also tends to blend in with the late spring green foliage.

37197, wearing its short lived Riley & Sons two tone green livery, emerges from the bushes at Nant-y-Derry with the 1Z77 09:13 Crewe to Cardiff Central rugby special on 23 August 2003. This loco has certainly had its fair share of liveries since privatisation, as since this picture was taken it has appeared in WCRC maroon for working the Royal Scotsman, and then DRS blue.

37198 passes Wolvercote Junction on 23 August 1999 with the 8X10 09:25 Horbury Prorail to Didcot Yard LUL refurbished Piccadilly Line tube stock move, unfortunately running late and with the light all but gone. It would travel onwards from Didcot the following morning. The single track Cotswold Line can be seen heading off to the left.