47701 looks slightly out of place wearing ScotRail livery as it leaves Oxford with the 09:55 Network SouthEast departure for Paddington on a dull and drizzly 17 March 1991. Admittedly the ScotRail branding has been painted out in a different shade of grey, but the colour scheme still doesn't match the NSE colours on the coaches! The loco had recently been transferred from Scotland to augment the Class 47/7s already working the Thames Valley services, following the demise of the Class 50s in the area. Along with several other former Scottish machines it spent several months in traffic wearing its former operator's livery before being repainted into NSE colours.

After photographing 47840 light engine at Uffington on 9 February 2007, I nipped round to the next bridge at Baulking to see 47703 Hermes on the 5Z80 11:30 East Ham to Gloucester Blue Pullman ECS. Unfortunately there was even less snow at this location. Note the green signal on the up line, which had just cleared for a Avonmouth to Didcot coal train which could easily have blocked off this shot.

Although the ScotRail branding has been removed, 47706's faded Scotrail livery is hardy appropriate here as it passes Fenny Bridges (near Honiton) with the 1V11 11:00 Waterloo to Exeter St Davids Network SouthEast service on 20 November 1991. The former Edinburgh to Glasgow stalwart continued to work West of England trains in this tatty condition for a number of months. The loco was broken up in 1995, although bizarrely not officially withdrawn until a year later! Presumably the S reg Ford Transit camper van in this view has also been cut up by now! The shutter was deliberately  fired a little earlier than normal here, not only to avoid the shadows across the track, but also to show off the rural scene to advantage.

47710 passes Radley at high speed with the 16:00 Oxford to Paddington Network SouthEast service on 14 March 1991. At the time these trains were branded as 'Network Express' services and generally only stopped en-route at Reading. 47710 had moved from Eastfield to Old Oak Common during the previous year in order to take over from the Class 50s on these Thames Valley services. These ex Scottish machines were not generally welcomed by enthusiasts at the time, as they were replacing the hugely popular 50s. Time however has since moderated this viewpoint!

Network SouthEast liveried 47711 County of Hertfordshire was unusual motive power for the 7M53 14:23 Bridgwater to Sellafield nuclear flasks on 11 September 1997.  A Class 37 was more usual motive power with Class 31s being a possibility, but this was certainly different! The final container has just being loaded and the loco will shortly move forward the short distance into Bridgwater station, before running round and then heading north. 47711 was one of the original Scottish push pull conversions, in which guise it was named Greyfriars Bobby. It was later transferred to NSE and worked on the West of England Line and on Paddington to Oxford services, until displaced by units in the early 1990s.

47736 Cambridge Traction & Rolling Stock Depot passes Saxilby on 25 August 1996 with the diverted 1A10 10:40 Leeds to Kings Cross GNER service. Work on the East Coast Mainline required all normally electrically hauled services to be dragged by diesel locos between Doncaster and Newark, via Gainsborough. The fine station building at Saxilby is now used as offices (although the windows appear to be boarded up in this view) and the station is now totally unmanned. As can be seen from the virtually 100% cloud cover, I was very lucky to get the sun with this picture.

47773 approaches Goring with the Vintage Trains 1Z57 06:26 Birmingham Moor Street to Portsmouth Harbour 'Pompey Vectis Explorer' railtour on 12 April 2008. Not only did this run unexpectedly on the relief line, resulting a very head on picture, but also the lighting was the worst of all possible combinations - sun out in the background, but not on the train. Not a very good picture, but included for the novelty of seeing a two tone green 47 with TDM cables on the front! Hidden on the rear of this train is 37248.

The hawthorn is in blossom as 47773 (D1755) slowly approaches Oxford with the Vintage Trains 1Z44 06:26 Birmingham Moor Street to Weymouth 'Purbeck & Weymouth Explorer' railtour on 10 May 2008. 50049 Defiance can just be seen on the rear of the train. As the train was running a few minutes early, it was approaching a red signal, as the 08:30 Oxford to Paddington First Great Western 'Turbo' unit had only just pulled into the station from the carriage sidings. Although the sun came out later, unfortunately the day started with very dull and misty conditions.

47787 approaches Linlithgow with the Royal Scotsman 1H85 13:32 Edinburgh to Spean Bridge 'Western Tour' on 5 October 2007. The West Coast Railways loco is one of a number of locos painted maroon to match the Royal Scotsman stock, which is surely much more fitting for this prestige train than the EWS liveried locos that operated it a few years ago. Both Forth Bridges can just be seen in the background.

47787 accelerates away from Bo'Ness Junction and passes Lathallan with the Royal Scotsman 1H85 13:32 Edinburgh to Spean Bridge 'Western Tour' on 5 October 2007. The train had waited in the loop at Bo'Ness Junction for 35 minutes, enabling me to easily get this second picture after seeing it at Linlithgow.

47787 passes Fort William Junction on 6 October 2007 with the Royal Scotsman 1H86 08:23 Spean Bridge to Fort William 'Western Tour'. It was still virtually dark and drizzling with rain, requiring ISO1600 for this picture, in complete contrast to the previous day's sunshine!

47790 worked the 6Z50 08:00 York Works to Reading RHTT tanks on 14 November 2007. It was fairly sunny when I set out, so I decided to go to the footpath crossing near Kings Sutton, which would be one of the few locations between Banbury and Oxford that would be clear of shadows. Of course what happens when the train turned up (half an hour early), a cloud passes in front of the sun at the crucial moment! Although the roadbridge in the background was in partial sun, the foreground definitely wasn't. Normally exposing for the train would have resulted in a completely burnt out sky, so the whole scene was underexposed and with the magic of Photoshop layers the result was corrected, although I resisted the temptation to give it the artificial sun look!