With South Anston church just visible on the horizon, 59201 Vale of York passes Dinnington with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z59 05:27 Bristol Temple Meads to Sudforth Lane 'G.M. Gyrator' railtour on 4 January 1997. It is just approaching Dinnington Colliery Junction on the Shireoaks to Doncaster freight line. Given the appalling freezing weather conditions, it is surprising that the tour was only running 20 minutes late at this point, and even more surprising that it managed to recover this lost time later on in the itinerary.

Luckily 59201 Vale of York is only moving very slowly here, as it passes Milford Junction on 16 November 1999 with a rake of ex National Power hoppers. With the weather being so dull, a shutter speed of 1/125sec was all that was available using Fujichrome 100. As this is one of the few pictures I took of a Class 59/2 in EWS ownership in Yorkshire, it is included here for its historic interest.

59202 Vale of White Horse passes through the newly completed Ashchurch station with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z45 06:38 Sheffield to Llandrindod Wells 'Central Wales Navigator' railtour on 26 May 1997. The tour was 20 minutes late leaving Sheffield, and had not managed to recover any time at this point, and in fact the late running persisted all day. The station opened the following week, and was built on the site of the much more extensive junction station that closed in 1963.

59202 Vale of White Horse crosses Knucklas Viaduct on 26 May 1997 with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z45 16:25 Llandrindod Wells to Sheffield 'Central Wales Navigator' railtour. It seems that the viaduct is receiving some much needed maintenance. Unfortunately the weather had deteriorate, since the morning, when I saw the tour pass through Ashchurch.

59202 Vale of White Horse approaches Copyhold Junction with the ill fated Pathfinder Tours 1Z56 'Aggregated Syphons' railtour on 12 March 2005. 37427 can just be seen on the rear of the train. The object of the tour was to traverse the Ardingly branch, seen here on the right, but due to the unbelievable farce of not having the correct paperwork, the tour headed back from whence it came after a lengthy delay.

59202 Vale of White Horse passes Fairwood (near Westbury) with the 6V07 09:21 Chichester to Merehead stone empties on 11 September 2007. The name of the loco might seem appropriate here, but it does not in fact refer to Westbury's white horse which can be seen in the background, but to the one at Uffington, which predates the Westbury horse by at least 3000 years!

59202 Vale of White Horse passes the site of Patney & Chirton station on 11 May 2009 with the 7C31 09:45 Theale to Merehead Mendip Rail stone empties. Recent vegetation clearance work here (not quite right up to the bridge in the background unfortunately) has opened up the view in both directions considerably.

59202 Vale of White Horse in the Vale of White Horse! Passing Compton Beauchamp in the vale that it is named after, 59202 Vale of White Horse heads east with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z59 Bristol Temple Meads to Newtown 'Powys Chugger' railtour on 5 June 2010. Apart from being named at Didcot Power Station on 28 September 1996, 59202 never came anywhere near the area while it was owned by National Power, and only once it became an EWS loco did it regularly travel through the vale. Indeed here it is only just over two miles away from the 3,000 year old Uffington White Horse hill figure, which gives its name to the area.

A highly appropriate location for a picture of 59202 Vale of White Horse. It is seen here passing Uffington with the 6B33 12:12 Theale to Margam Murco oil empties on 18 September 2010. Uffington White Horse is a prehistoric hill carving on the downs above the village, which of course gives the vale (and this locomotive) its name. This is just about the closest point on the railway to the monument. A Class 59 on this working is certainly a novelty, and in this case was caused by the failure of 60084. Ironically, as is often the case on a Saturday, this reduced load would actually be within the modest haulage capabilities of a Class 66!

Unusually running on a Saturday, 59202 Vale of White Horse passes the site of Ashbury Crossing at Shrivenham on 11 February 2012 with the 7C48 Appleford to Whatley Mendip Rail stone empties. Not only is it running at the weekend, but also considerably earlier than the usual booked time, pictured here one and a half hours before its normal departure time of 13:30! At least the locomotive is highly appropriate for the location. There had been a reasonably heavy snowfall the previous day, but although still bitingly cold, it has unfortunately mostly disappeared from the fields at this location.

59203 Vale of Pickering leans into the curve at Kintbury on 2 April 2007 with the 6A21 13:24 Whatley to Acton stone train. No mistaking which member of the class this is, with its additional extra large front end numbers! After a generally sunny day, the light was now getting weak has a hazy veil started to diffuse the sun.

59203 Vale of Pickering passes Froxfield with the 7A17 10:30 Merehead to Acton Mendip Rail stone train on 24 July 2008, running nearly an hour early. Note the use of wagons hired in from Freightliner at the head of the train. Unusually on this day the normally very reliable 7A09 07:12 Merehead to Acton 'Jumbo' stone train had been cancelled due to lack of a loco! Unfortunately Froxfield is another location where the growth of lineside bushes is ruining the picture. Various viewpoints around the Kennett & Avon Canal lock (just visible on the left) used to be possible.

59203 Vale of Pickering approaches the site of Wantage Road station on 2 February 2012 with the early running 7C48 13:30 Appleford to Whatley Mendip Rail stone empties. Even in this 'train in the landscape' view the huge are of rust along the upper bodyside is clearly evident. It is quite obvious that this is a DBS owned 59, rather than a Mendip Rail one!

A meagre load for a Class 59! With Didcot Power Station dominating the background, 59203 Vale of Pickering has just ten autoballasters in tow as it passes Steventon on 3 March 2012 with the 6W24 Hinksey to East Somerset Junction. With a convenient gap between HST services, it has no need of the loop here, although it would later be put inside at Wantage Road, for a run down the relief line to Challow.

Diverted away from its usual route due to a fatality at Ufton Nervet, 59203 Vale of Pickering passes Baulking on 22 May 2012 with the 6V18 12:39 Hither Green to Whatley Mendip Rail stone empties. Presumably soon to be repainted into DBS red, and not a moment too soon judging by the large patches of rust.

National Power 59204 passes Burton Salmon with the 6D92 11:30 Drax to Ferrybridge limestone empties on 25 October 1995. After witnessing the success of Class 59s in service with Foster Yeoman and ARC, National Power ordered a slightly modified locomotive in 1994, followed by a further five locos the following year. All were initially painted in the striking National Power blue livery, although it is questionable whether white was the best colour choice for the underframes of a heavy freight loco. However when clean (as here) the sub-class certainly looked impressive.

An exceedingly rare location for a National Power Class 59. On a dull misty 16 November 1996, just as it was getting dark, 59204 passes through Barry station en-route from Yorkshire to Aberthaw Power Station, where it would be named Vale of Glamorgan by the then Welsh Secretary, William Hague MP. The choice of location was ideal, as not only is it an immediately identifiable location with the added bonus of semaphore signalling, but also in view of the grim weather the train's slow speed through the station meant I was able to take this picture in colour as well as the more appropriate to the conditions black & white. However the exposure was only 1/125sec with the lens wide open!

59204 Vale of Glamorgan passes Crofton on the Berks & Hants line with the 7A09 06:56 Merehead to Acton Mendip Rail "jumbo" stone train on 21 November 2006. The last of the autumn leaves on the trees and the hawthorn berries show up well in the early morning light. Unfortunately the Class 59/2s now looking similar to their inferior Class 66 cousins since being repainted into EWS livery, although of course no way could a Class 66 handle a train of this length and weight, half of which is still around the corner behind the bushes.

59204 Vale of Glamorgan runs alongside the frozen Kennet & Avon Canal near Crofton on 11 February 2012 with the UK Railtours 1Z78 07:48 Paddington to Cranmore 'Angel of Bedlam' railtour. There is a need for some canal maintenance here, as the reeds are encroaching rapidly into the channel, narrowing it considerably. The canal was much clearer in 2001 when I photographed 47205 passing this spot.

59205 L Keith McNair slowly negotiates the Blaenau Ffestiniog to Trawsfyndd branch on 18 April 1998 with the Herfordshire Railtours 1T54 07:56 Euston to Trawsfyndd 'Roman Nose' railtour. The location is Bethania, just south of Blaenau Ffestiniog. I had looked out this position as being a good spot to show the train against the typically imposed welsh background. My main memory of this occasion is of a local farmer who started ranting at another photographer who was in his field (just to my left) and having to listen to this increasingly bitter exchange as the train slowly appeared around the corner and hoping that it wouldn't involve me!

59205 L Keith McNair approaches Maentwrog Road on 18 April 1998 with the Herfordshire Railtours 1T54 07:56 Euston to Trawsfyndd 'Roman Nose' railtour. The inclusion of the snow capped mountain in the picture is slightly compromised by the one limitation of the Pentax 6x7 when using a telephoto lens - unbelievably shallow depth of field.

59205 L Keith McNair has just passed underneath the East Coast Mainline at Heck Ings on 6 September 1999, as it heads towards Drax Power Station with another load of coal from Gascoigne Wood. EWS were quick to repaint the locomotives into their uninspiring livery when they took over National Power's assets, but obviously the wagons were considered less important!

59205 L Keith McNair passes Kelvedon with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z42 14:35 Lowestoft to Crewe 'Freightliner Phoenix' railtour on 12 May 2001. This tour, which had started out as the 1Z41 03:58 Crewe to Lowestoft did not actually use any Freightliner traction at all, so was slightly misnamed! At this point the tour was running 75 minutes late, but at least that meant that the angle of the sun had improved, resulting in near perfect lighting when it eventually did appear.

59205 L Keith McNair passes Kintbury on 2 April 2007 with the 6C74 13:15 Theale to Westbury Hanson stone empties. Note the red backed nameplate, which is contrast to the black plates of the 'Vale' named locos of the 59/2 sub-class.

59205 L Keith McNair passes Uffington on 20 January 2011 with the 6B33 13:30 Theale to Robeston Murco oil empties. After pairs of 37s, 60s, pairs of 66s, and then back to 60s, we now have Class 59s on this long standing mega tank train. Although it looks like a completely sunny day here, there was in fact a large bank of cloud across the sun shortly before it came. However, I knew that the train's long stand in Challow loop to allow four HSTs to pass would allow time for the cloud to move away to the south.

59205 L Keith McNair ambles along the Great Western Mainline at Baulking on 4 March 2011 with the 7C54 13:06 Oxford Banbury Road to Whatley Mendip Rail stone empties. It is now getting back into stride after being looped at Challow to allow an HST to pass. This is obvious from how quickly it followed the HST, however, for trains traveling in the opposite direction, the signal on the left of this gantry will start flashing amber to indicate that they are about to be looped.

With plenty of power available, 59206 Pride of Ferrybridge makes light work of Tackley Bank (between Oxford and Banbury) with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z37 05:40 Reading to Preston 'Multi Coloured Swap Shop' railtour on Bank Holiday Monday 30 May 2005. At 06:26 you can get the sun on the nose for a northbound shot! The tour was running exactly to time here, but a little further north, at Leamington Spa, the tour came to a stand for 45 minutes due to the farcical situation of neither the driver or the pilotman signing the road!

59206 Pride of Ferrybridge approaches the site of Wantage Road station, near Grove with the 6C53 12:59 Oxford Banbury Road (Kidlington) to Whatley Mendip Rail empty stone train on 26 March 2007. Pride of Ferrybridge is hardly an suitable name, now that the loco is based in the south of England, rather than Yorkshire. 59202 Vale of White Horse would have been much more appropriate traction for this location!

59206 Pride of Ferrybridge passes Mannigford Bruce with the 6V18 12:43 Hither Green to Whatley Hanson stone empties on 12 April 2007. 59206 is pictured here in the drab EWS livery, which is in marked contrast to its former National Power blue livery, and indeed its later DB Schenker 'dayglow' red colour scheme. The overall drabness is not helped by the fact that it hasn't seen the washing plant for a while either!

The new DB Schenker livery is certainly not the most tasteful design to be applied to the Class 59s (or anything else for that matter!), but it definitely shows up, even when severely backlit as here. 59206 John F. Yeoman Rail Pioneer plods slowly past the site of Patney & Chirton station on 11 May 2009 with the 6A13 Whatley to West Drayton Mendip Rail stone train.

A very rare passenger working for a DB Schenker Class 59/2. 59206 John F. Yeoman Rail Pioneer passes Baulking on 13 June 2009 with the UK Railtours 1Z58 07:08 Paddington to Carmarthen 'Thames-Towy' railtour. Classmate 59205 can just be seen on the rear of the train. The weather forecaster's promised cloudy start would have been welcome here, instead the sun decided to come out resulting in virtually impossible lighting conditions, with the sun directly behind the train. Much careful use of layers in Photoshop has turned a near silhouette into a reasonable picture.

59206 John F. Yeoman Rail Pioneer passes Little Bedwyn with the not quite so jumbo 7A09 07:12 Merehead to Acton Mendip Rail 'Jumbo' stone train on 8 October 2009. A fraction of its normal length, for once the whole train is visible under the bridge. Note the hedge to the right of the lock, which has all but ruined the shot looking the other way from the bridge in the background, and is hardly improving this picture, with the shadows reaching the wagons.

Sensible traction has returned to the 6B13 05:05 Robeston to Westerleigh Murco oil train, after the ridiculous use of pairs of Class 66s in early 2010. With the Cotswold Hills in the background, 59206 John F. Yeoman Rail Pioneer approaches the footpath crossing at Frocester on 2 August 2010 in a very well timed patch of sun.

59206 John F. Yeoman Rail Pioneer passes Broughton Gifford on 6 November 2010 with the 6W36 Didcot to Swindon (via the Berks & Hants line) engineers train. Originally this train was booked to run from Westbury to Swindon. Despite the awful weather, the chance to photograph a Class 59 on a departmental train was not to be missed. It was fortunate that the DBS liveried loco was allocated, as its dayglo livery certainly helps compensate for the miserable weather. The train is conveying materials for the engineering possession between Swindon and Didcot.

Westbury likes its solitary DB Schenker liveried Class 59, and always seems to keep it in immaculate condition, unfortunately in marked contrast to the other 59/2s. On 29 September 2011, 59206 John F. Yeoman Rail Pioneer passes Uffington with the 7C54 13:06 Oxford Banbury Road to Whatley Mendip Rail stone empties. The radio mast in the background marks the site of Uffington station, junction for the former Faringdon branch.

59206 John F. Yeoman Rail Pioneer passes the site of Ashbury Crossing near Shrivenham on 23 February 2012 with the 7C54 13:06 Oxford Banbury Road to Whatley Mendip Rail stone empties. I had moved to this location from Compton Beauchamp as it looked like the sun was starting to come out. Naturally as soon as I had done this it went back in again!

59206 John F. Yeoman Rail Pioneer & 59005 Kenneth J Painter pass Baulking on 22 May 2012 with the diverted 7C77 12:40 Acton to Merehead Mendip Rail stone train (supposedly returning empties, but look at the first few wagons!). I had visited this location the previous day, and I wouldn't normally visit the same spot two days running, but I arrived at Denchworth just as this was going under the bridge, so had to make a brisk drive here to get the shot. The train was re-routed from the Berks & Hants line due to a fatality at Ufton Nervet, which closed the line for most of the day