59001 Yeoman Endeavour ambles along the down relief line at Waltham St Lawrence with the 6A11 10:05 Acton to Merehead Foster Yeoman stone empties on 5 March 1988. To modern eyes the mix of up to date high performance locomotive and vintage 4 wheel PGA hopper wagons looks a little out of place, but a large proportion of the Foster Yeoman stone trains used these wagons for a number of years after the introduction of the Class 59s.

59001 Yeoman Endeavour & 59103 Village of Mells pull away from Dawlish station with the 1Z96 07:52 Bristol Temple Meads to Paignton Mendip Rail 'English Riviera Special' railtour on Bank Holiday Monday 3 May 1999. This was the annual railtour for Mendip Rail staff. With 6,600hp and 227,100lb of tractive effort available there were no problems with haulage capacity here, as an eleven coach load is a modest load for even a single Class 59.

59001 Yeoman Endeavour passes Dauntsey on 16 March 2000 with the 7C67 Wootton Bassett to Merehead Mendip Rail stone empties. As was quite common at the time it was running very early, passing me at 09:55 a full hour before it should leave Wootton Bassett!

59001 Yeoman Endeavour pulls slowly out of Woodborough loop with the 7A09 07:05 Merehead to Acton Yard 'jumbo' stone train on 27 October 2003. The three portions of this 3000 tonne train can clearly be seen, with different wagon types indicating the destination, Crawley (front), Purfleet (middle), & Brentford (rear). Although most of the day was sunny, this morning started misty, and although the sun had been out while the 59 was sat in the loop, there was only a trace of brightness when the train departed.

59001 Yeoman Endeavour passes Fairwood on 11 September 2007 with the 7A17 10:55 Merehead to Acton Yeoman 'jumbo' stone train, although as can be plainly seen, it is not quite so 'jumbo' on this occasion! Note the first signs of autumn on the right - ripening hawthorn berries.

Running over two hours late, 59001 Yeoman Endeavour & 59202 Vale of White Horse pass Wootton Rivers on 24 April 2009 with the 7C31 09:45 Theale to Merehead Mendip Rail stone empties. The delay was caused by a tree falling across the line near Midgham. 59202 was under test after its failure the previous week.

59001 Yeoman Endeavour passes the site of Patney & Chirton station on 11 May 2009 with the 7A09 07:12 Merehead to Acton Mendip Rail stone train. Not so long ago this was the morning 'Jumbo' train with three lengthy portions. The recession in the construction industry means it isn't quite as 'Jumbo' in 2009!

59001 Yeoman Endeavour approaches Little Bedwyn on 25 June 2010 with the 7A09 07:12 Merehead to Acton 'jumbo' stone train. Although when I saw the same train three days previously at Wootton Rivers I mentioned that it was always very reliable, I should now add that the train's length isn't always so reliable! I had deliberately chosen this spot to show the train snaking round the curve, only for it to appear in truncated form!

59002 Yeoman Enterprise slowly negotiates Hallen Marsh Junction on 25 June 1993 with the 6C31 10:15 Henbury to Merehead stone empties. This temporary flow was in connection with the  construction of the approach roads to the second Severn Bridge. The end of the original Severn Bridge can just be seen in the extreme left of the picture. Note the mixed rake of Foster Yeoman and ARC hoppers. Unfortunately the forest of semaphore signals at this location had been removed a few years previously.

59002 Yeoman Enterprise works wrong line past Brentry on the Avonmouth to Filton line, with the 6C31 11:34 Henbury to Merehead stone empties on 25 June 1993. This short term contract was to bring stone in from the Mendips for the construction of the approach roads to the new Severn Road Bridge, which was opened three years later.

59002 Yeoman Enterprise & 56054 British Steel Llanwern arrive at a rain soaked Salisbury station on 12 December 1993 with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z60 09:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Newhaven Marine 'Southern Mariner' railtour. Obviously a Class 59 is more than capable of handling such a train on its own, and indeed the Class 56 apparently contributed very little and was effectively 'going along for the ride'.

Newly named 59002 Alan J Day & 59004 Paul A Hammond stand at Cranmore on the East Somerset Railway on 21 June 1996 after having just been unveiled by their namesakes from Foster Yeoman. After all the guests had all gone to a special lunch, I managed to get this uninterrupted view of the two newly renamed locos. This is a very rare picture of 59002, as it shows it with the nameplate and cast number plate in opposite corners to the standard position. This was a temporary measure in order that both locomotive's nameplates would be adjacent for the unveiling. Foster Yeoman's fitters were just about to reverse the position of the plates prior to the locos working the special train of invited guests back to Euston.

On 21 June 1996, newly named 59002 Alan J Day & 59004 Paul A Hammond catch the evening sun at Little Bedwyn as they head back to Euston from Cranmore with the specially invited guests from the double naming ceremony on the East Somerset Railway. Foster Yeoman had chosen to rename the locos (formerly Yeoman Enterprise & Yeoman Challenger respectively) after company members, although this came as a surprise to those involved at the ceremony, as it wasn't their own names they were expecting to see when they pulled the chord!

This is what passes for a smoky exhaust on a Class 59! 59002 Yeoman Enterprise powers past Waltham St Lawrence on 27 July 2007 with the 7C77 12:40 Acton to Merehead Mendip Rail stone empties. The succession of bridges at this location isn't quite as impressive as this, as a 200mm lens has been used here, compressing the perspective somewhat.

59002 Yeoman Enterprise passes Shrivenham with the 7C48 12:38 Appleford to Whatley stone empties on 17 December 2007. Unfortunately this was just as the sun disappeared behind a cloud, although luckily it was only thin and there is still some light. This location is getting progressively more difficult, as the lineside bushes on the right now cast shadows over the line in the winter.

59002 Alan J Day passes Ruscombe in gloomy conditions on 17 April 2008 with the 7A09 07:12 Merehead to Acton 'Jumbo' Yeoman stone train. Although selected trees have been left, the cutting sides here have recently been largely cleared of trees and bushes, opening up the view a little.

59002 Yeoman Enterprise passes Fairwood in superb light on 14 October 2009 with the 7V64 12:57 Bow to Merehead stone empties. This is returning from the site of the Olympic stadium construction site, which we have been faithfully promised by our politicians (they wouldn't lie, would they?), will be ready in time for the games in 2012. I will update this caption nearer the time!

Less than a month after the commencement of Foster Yeoman Class 59 operations in this country, the as yet unnamed 59003 passes Fairwood Junction with the 10:03 Merehead to Eastleigh stone train on 11 March 1986. Unthinkable politically in the 1960s, the purchase of US designed locomotives in preference to British built designs was to gain momentum, resulting in the situation twenty years later, when virtually all freight locos in the UK were foreign built. The tracks in the foreground are the Westbury avoiding lines, while the train is on the original main line, as it will run round in Westbury Yard, in order to gain the former Southern Railway route via Salisbury. A very misty day, with the fog not long cleared and the trees in the distance only just visible in the murk.

59003 Yeoman Highlander glints in the early morning sunshine as it rounds the curve at Crofton on 15 January 1991 with the 6A09 09:20 Theale to Merehead Foster Yeoman stone empties. Crofton Pumping Station, which supplies water to the nearby Kennett & Avon Canal, can just be seen in the background, on the left. Although sunny, this was a bitterly cold morning, as can be seen by the frost still lingering in the shadows.

59003 Yeoman Highlander finds a brief patch of weak sunshine as it passes East Grimstead (between Salisbury and Romsey) on 19 March 1992 with 1800 tonnes of stone on the 6O52 Merehead to Eastleigh Foster Yeoman service. The Orenstein & Koppel built JHA bogie hopper wagons had only recently been introduced into the Foster Yeoman fleet and replaced the four wheel PGA wagons with which the Class 59s were initially associated with when introduced in 1986.

59003 Yeoman Highlander runs alongside the A36 Salisbury to Southampton road at Alderbury on 19 August 1992 with the 6O52 Merehead to Eastleigh Foster Yeoman stone train. The trees between the road and the railway have grown considerably since this picture was taken!

59004 Yeoman Challenger passes Fairwood on 30 January 1995 with the 7O38 10:04 Merehead to Fareham Mendip Rail stone train. This was at the time we were all getting used to seeing ARC wagons being hauled by Yeoman locomotives, and vice versa. This train will run round at Westbury in order to take the route via Salisbury.

With nameplates covered, 59004 & 59002 stand at Cranmore on the East Somerset Railway on 21 June 1996 waiting for the guests to arrive prior to be renamed Paul A Hammond & Alan J Day respectively. They were formally named Yeoman Challenger & Yeoman Enterprise. Note that the nameplate on 59002 has been temporarily applied to the 'wrong' end in order to have both loco's plates next to each other for the unveiling.

A perfect spring day at Great Cheverell on 9 April 1999, as 59004 Paul A Hammond rounds the curve with the 7C75 12:50 Acton to Whatley Mendip Rail stone empties. It looks like the loco has recently been on South Wales iron ore duties, judging by the red staining on the roof.

59004 Paul A Hammond passes Manningford Bruce with the 7C77 12:40 Acton Yard to Merehead empty 'jumbo' stone train on 12 April 2007. This is an ideal location for photographing westbound trains in the afternoon, but totally useless for anything coming the other way due to overhead wires close to the bridge and lineside trees and bushes.

59004 Paul A Hammond approaches Hungerford with the 7A09 07:12 Merehead to Acton Yard Yeoman 'jumbo' stone train on 30 July 2007. This was a very lucky picture, as not only was it in a very short sunny spell (note the clouds building up in the background), but a Class 180 unit on a down working which would have blocked the shot had only just disappeared around the corner!

59004 Paul A Hammond is pictured near Crofton with the 6A74 09:22 Whatley to Theale Hanson stone train on 24 July 2008. The Crofton Pumping Station and its tall brick chimney can be seen in the distance. Built to supply water to the Kennett & Avon Canal, it houses two magnificent Cornish beam engines, one of which (an 1812 Boulton and Watt) is the oldest working beam engine in the world still in its original engine house and capable of actually doing the job for which it was installed.

59004 Paul A Hammond passes the autumnal tints at Woodborough on 10 November 2010, as it heads west with the 7C77 12:40 Acton to Merehead Mendip Rail stone empties. This illustrates the problems of photography in the autumn and winter. Although the lighting is much better than in the summer, even the smallest cutting shades the line as the sun is so low. Here, just a tiny bank covered with brambles is enough to start shading the track, and with the shadows reaching the wheels, it would soon be time to switch to a longer lens.

59004 Paul A Hammond ambles along the down relief line at Denchworth (Circourt Bridge) on 18 October 2011 with the 7C54 13:06 Oxford Banbury Road to Whatley stone empties. It was following right behind 66412, which must have only just regained the mainline at Challow, a mile further on.

59005 Kenneth J Painter heads west past Iver on 22 February 1990 with the 7A22 14:47 Acton to Merehead Foster Yeoman stone empties. Iver station can be seen in the background. This is the first substantial area of countryside that the Great Western Mainline passes through on its way out of London, although even this is brief, as Slough is not far away! 59005 was delivered later than the other four Yeoman 59s, after the company identified a need for a fifth loco, and was convinced of their reliability. The loco arrived in the UK in June 1989, and this is my first picture of it.

The now disused Westbury Cement Works is still in full production here, as 59005 Kenneth J Painter approaches Fairwood on 30 January 1995 with the 7C29 05:40 Acton to Merehead Mendip Rail stone empties. The cement works closed in 2009 after 47 years of production.

59005 Kenneth J Painter passes Kintbury on 2 April 2007 with the 6V18 12:43 Hither Green to Whatley stone empties. The location is next to the Kennett & Avon Canal, and is an excellent spot to observe westbound trains in the afternoon.

59005 Kenneth J Painter passes Waltham St Lawrence with the 7A09 07:12 Merehead to Acton Yard Yeoman 'jumbo' stone train on 27 July 2007. You can clearly see the three portions on this train, which will be split to serve different destinations once the train reaches Acton. While watching the 59 approach, I could hear an HST approaching from behind, which while not completely blocking the shot would certainly ruin the picture. Luckily as the 59 was moving so slowly and the HST was going so fast, it has turned a  near disaster into a pleasant passing shot.

59005 Kenneth J Painter passes Crofton on 20 October with the 7A17 10:31 Merehead to Acton Mendip Rail stone train. Only one portion on this occasion, which means the whole train just fits in the gap. Despite it being a virtually completely sunny day where I was, it doesn't look quite so good to the west!

As the sun sinks slowly in the west, 59005 Kenneth J Painter approaches Woodborough on 10 November 2010 with the 6Z18 Hither Green to Westbury stone empties, running just eleven minutes behind 6V18 on an identical route. Earlier in the day 59005 had worked up to Hither Green with the 6Y98 empties from Hothfield.

59005 Kenneth J Painter ambles along the Great Western Mainline on 28 April 2011, passing the abundant hawthorn blossom near the site of Ashbury Crossing at Shrivenham. It is working the late running 7C54 13:06 Oxford Banbury Road to Whatley Mendip Rail stone empties. Although I shouldn't complain, as for once the weather was far better than forecast, but the late running had meant that the sun was getting rather head on at this location.

59005 Kenneth J Painter rounds the curve by Crofton Pumping Station on 30 September 2011 with the 6Z17 10:59 Whatley to Hayes Mendip Rail stone train. Considering I had very little time to find a location after taking a picture of 37601 coming the other way, I am really pleased with the composition of this picture. The perfect juxtaposition of the narrowboat Gorgeous Grace and the overhanging tree branches more than makes up for the fact that the sun is not on the front of 59005.