One of the few decent pictures I managed to get of a Class 46 in service was on the slightly premature farewell railtour! 46026 Leicestershire and Derbyshire Yeomanry (or Lady as she was known) passes Micheldever at speed with the Pleasure Rail 'Class 46 Tribute' railtour on 17 June 1984. This loco, the only named member of the class, managed to survive until the remainder of the class were withdrawn in November 1984, being broken up at Doncaster the following year.

D172 Ixion passes the site of Cullompton station on 23 September 1995 with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z46 05:30 Coventry to Penzance 'Cornishman' railtour. At the time the old down platform was an ideal spot to photograph southbound trains. However, this picture would be impossible to recreate today, as the whole station site has now be redeveloped as a motorway service station.

D172 Ixion passes Aisgill with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z91 13:15 Carlisle to Salisbury 'Cumbrian Mountain Express' railtour on 20 July 1996. A ban on steam haulage on the Settle & Carlisle line resulted in the 'Peak' substituting for LMS 4-6-2 46229 'Duchess of Hamilton'. Although a little hazy in the distance, I shouldn't really complain, as most of my visits to the S&C usually involve rain or snow, and not the bright sunshine seen here!

D172 Ixion pulls out of Rhyl station on 26 August 1996 with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z46 07:10 Swindon to Holyhead 'North Wales Coast Explorer' railtour. If you think the clouds in the background herald a change in the weather, you are dead right! Within ten minutes the sun had gone and the rain had arrived. Despite this, I stayed on to see 37417 pass in a monsoon!

Viewed from high above Fairburn Tunnel, D172 Ixion heads east along the Castleford to Milford Junction freight line with the Past Time Rail 1Z54 07:28 Euston to Scarborough 'Napier & Sulzer Pioneer' railtour on 5 July 1997. Unfortunately the small patch of very weak sun has just managed to miss the locomotive! The lakes in the background form part of the Fairburn Ings RSPB nature reserve, an important winter refuge for numerous species of wildfowl.

In connection with the inaugural rugby match at the new Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on Sunday 26 June 1999, the 1V77 08:33 Manchester Piccadilly to Cardiff Central service was due to be worked by preserved Class 37 37029 instead of the normal Sprinter unit. In the event 37029 only worked as far as Crewe, where it was removed after suffering low power. D172 Ixion then worked the train on towards Cardiff and is seen here passing Cwmbran. I doubt if many of the rugby fans appreciated their train having two different heritage locos at the front!

D172 Ixion crosses the River Weaver at Frodsham with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z63 02:24 Cardiff Central to Edinburgh Waverley 'Royal Edinburgh' railtour on 10 July 1999. Not quite the perfect reflection I was hoping for, principally caused by someone in a power boat going up and down the river at intervals!

46035 passes Walton Well Road, Oxford on 23 February 2002 with the Pathfinder Tours 'Western Pathfinder' railtour. Ordinarily a blue 'Peak' would be the highlight of any tour, but as the tour's name suggests, something even better was to work the next leg of the tour - a Class 52 'Western', making a return to the mainline after 25 years. The tour is here running as the 1Z46 06:28 Crewe to Paddington. Typically the sun vanished at the critical moment, but at least it was out for the 'Western'!

D182 slogs up the gradient at Heap Bridge on 3 July 2011 with the 2H60 09:06 Bury to Heywood service, during the East Lancashire Railway's Diesel Gala. Bury can be seen spread out over the hillside in the background. This was the only train of the day that started from Bury, rather than either Rawtenstall or Ramsbottom.