A4 4-6-2 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley passes through Goole on 28 September 1997 with the Hull to Kings Cross 'Capitals Express' railtour. A slightly unbalanced composition with the train on the far left of the picture, but necessary in order to include Goole's famous 1926 built water tower. Unfortunately at that time the option to take the picture from the opposite side, thereby easily including the water tower was not available due to extensive bush growth around Potters Grange Junction (on the left).

A4 4-6-2 60009 Union of South Africa makes light work of Sapperton Bank as it crosses Frampton Mansell Viaduct with the Worcester to Ealing Broadway 'Capital Streak' railtour on 27 October 1994. Unfortunately this view is no longer possible due to tree growth. The viaduct can just be glimpsed through the vegetation in one or two places now!

A4 4-6-2 60019 Bittern drifts down the gradient from Medstead & Four Marks with the 11:55 Alton to Alresford service on the Mid Hants Railway, and approaches Soldridge on 9 February 2008. A little incongruous perhaps for an A4 with just five coaches in Southern Railways green, but not as out of character as when it came back later running tender first!

A4 4-6-2 60019 Bittern storms past Frinkley Lane (near Grantham) with the Transport Trust 1Z51 16:55 York to Kings Cross railtour on 25 July 2009. The route is definitely correct for an A4, but the 'Brighton Belle' headboard certainly isn't! Note the two tenders.

A4 4-6-2 60019 Bittern (masquerading as 4492 Dominion of New Zealand) passes Uffington in a surprising (but very welcome) brief spell of dramatic lighting, whilst working the Steam Dreams 1Z86 08:45 Victoria to Cardiff Central 'Cathedrals Express' railtour on 7 July 2011. I really didn't think that this was going to be anything more than a record shot, as when I left home the prospect of any sunshine seemed extremely limited. It just goes to show, it doesn't always go wrong!

A contrast in motive power at Barnes Bridge station on 27 November 1999. A3 4-6-2 4472 Flying Scotsman passes through with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z94 08:33 Yeovil Junction to Victoria 'Capital Scotsman' railtour, while Class 455 5712 works the 12:54 Waterloo to Hounslow South West Trains service. Although it does make an interesting comparison in traction, and of course it could have been much worse if the unit had actually arrived slightly later and blocked the view, it does mean unfortunately that the EMU more or less completely obscures the bridge over the River Thames in the background, which gives the station its name and was my reason for choosing the location in the first place!

A3 4-6-2 4472 Flying Scotsman passes Circourt Bridge, Denchworth on 28 April 2001 with the 1Z90 Bournemouth to Worcester Shrub Hill excursion, which it had taken over at Didcot. It had been raining heavily and I thought this picture was going to be a write off, as the cloud cover was almost total. Luckily however it just started to clear as the train came into view, resulting in this perfect lighting, with the exhaust showing up well against the dark clouds. Note that it is still in cloud at the bridge in the distance - it was that close to being a ruined shot!

A3 Class 4-6-2 4472 Flying Scotsman passes Hinksey South (near Oxford) with the 1Z65 11:30 Solihull to Didcot Vintage Trains Ltd Roast Lunch Special on 16 October 2005. The tracks on the left lead into Hinksey Yard, built during the war, and now after years of decline used extensively for the marshalling of permanent way trains. The loco is not exactly authentic, sporting as it does LNER apple green livery along with BR style smoke deflectors.

Designed in 1948 but built in 2008, A1 4-6-2 60163 Tornado is the first new mainline steam locomotive built in Britain since 1960. It is pictured here passing Tollerton with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z33 06:16 Cardiff Central to Newcastle 'Tyne Tornado' railtour on 12 March 2009. The tour had been Class 67 diesel hauled up until York. Unfortunately this was just about the worst possible lighting for this particular train, with the sun virtually directly behind the train. Although the sun wasn't out when the train passed, the phenomenal contrast between the largely bright sky and the dark foreground led to a virtual silhouette image straight off the camera. However, some serious work in Photoshop has resulted in a full range of tones with no loss of detail in the sky.

With St Andrew's church at Churcham dominating the background, A1 4-6-2 60163 Tornado heads towards Wales with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z27 06:42 Bristol Temple Meads to Cardiff Central 'Severn Coast Express' railtour on 30 May 2009. Tornado had taken over the train at Gloucester and was running nearly half an hour late at this point. This is possibly the worst time of year for photography in the countryside, with virtually everything being the same shade of green. This is why I chose this location, so that there was something else other than the train in the picture to break up the monotony of green. St Andrew's church tower is not as old as it looks, for although the main body of the church is eleventh century the tower was rebuilt in the German style in 1878.

A1 4-6-2 60163 Tornado climbs out of the Severn Tunnel and passes Pilning on 30 May 2009 with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z28 12:41 Cardiff Central to Gloucester 'Severn Coast Express' railtour. Despite the 1 in 100 gradient the sweltering heat has resulted in virtually no visible exhaust, although a small plume of steam from the chime whistle can be seen - no doubt acknowledging the gallery of photographers on the bridge. 67002 can be just seen on the rear of the train. This loco would work the train back to Gloucester from Bristol Temple Meads.

A1 4-6-2 60163 Tornado passes Compton Beauchamp in weak sunshine on 7 November 2009 with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z28 11:42 Gloucester to Victoria 'Thames Tornado' railtour. Cloud was gradually approaching from the west, which adds to the background here. It was far enough away not to affect the sun until some time after the train had passed. Much more serious however was the HST rapidly approaching from the other direction. Literally a few seconds after I took this picture the view was completely blocked, which would not have been appreciated by the large crowd of  photographers gathered on the bridge! Incidentally the largest number of photographers I have ever seen at this location.

A1 4-6-2 60163 Tornado approaches the site of Knighton Crossing (between Didcot and Swindon) with the Steam Dreams 1Z88 08:45 Victoria to Swansea 'St. David's Day Cathedrals Express' railtour on 1 March 2010. I had deliberately chosen this location, as not only would the sun be on the front, but I thought the low viewpoint would ensure that the exhaust would not be blowing down across the train. As there was virtually no wind, I was slightly surprised that the exhaust very nearly did ruin the shot by covering up the coaches. However, looking at the mixed rake of stock with no less than four different liveries, perhaps that would have been no bad thing!

A1 4-6-2 60163 Tornado passes Knighton (between Didcot and Swindon) with the Steam Dreams 1Z88 08:45 Victoria to Swansea 'St. David's Day Cathedrals Express' railtour on 1 March 2010. Note the two Welsh flags fluttering in front of the smokebox. I do not normally bother with more than one picture of any individual train (not counting a six frame per second burst to make sure I've got it in the prime spot!), and certainly don't bother with a series of shots of the train getting gradually closer. However, after taking the conventional view of Tornado approaching, I couldn't resist this broadside view showing off this fine locomotive in close up.

Swathed in swirling exhaust, A1 4-6-2 60163 Tornado bursts out from underneath the road bridge that marks the site of Uffington Junction station, as it heads west on 26 November 2011 with the Steam Dreams 1Z31 08:06 Paddington to Shrewsbury 'Cathedrals Express' railtour. Instead of the promised sunny morning, there was thick cloud with atrocious light levels. So, instead of using my usual location in the field next to the line, I went for a normally impossible shot on the north side of the line from the footpath crossing. This would show off the autumn colours in the trees. These same trees would, I thought, create some shelter from the strong wind, and prevent the exhaust being blown down onto my side of the train. This only worked up to a point!

My first photographic outing of 2011 was in atrocious light, and so was the last! A1 4-6-2 60163 Tornado emerges from Ardley Tunnel into the drizzle on 30 December 2011 with the UK Railtours 1Z27 08:03 Paddington to Stratford-upon-Avon 'William Shakespeare' railtour. Nobody else had bothered to walk to this location on such a gloomy day, but then again this spot is no use at all if there is any chance of sun.

A2 4-6-2 60532 Blue Peter pictured coasting to a halt at Hasland with an overheated big end during its main line test run on 27 February 1992. After stopping a short distance up the line, there was much scratching of heads and looking under the locomotive, before it was allowed to proceed southwards at very slow speed. Apologies for the poor technical quality, but this is yet another Kodachrome 200 image, a film not noted for its fine grain!

Great Central Railway Robinson Class 11F (later LNER Class D11) 4-4-0 62660 Butler Henderson passes Woodthorpe on the (very appropriate) Great Central Railway with the 'Butler Henderson Farewell Special' on 24 February 1992. This was the last day of the loco's boiler ticket and the smokebox carries the suitably poignant 'Bye Bye Great Central' chalked inscription. A number of specially invited National Railway guests were enjoying a last ride behind what would soon be their locomotive.

Great Central Railway O4 Class 2-8-0 63601 whistles as it arrives at Quorn & Woodhouse on 12 September 2009. Despite it being the Great Central Railway's Diesel Gala, this was the token steam working of the day - the 1A25 13:15 Loughborough to Leicester North service. This Robinson designed loco was built at Gorton Works, Manchester, in 1911.

J94 Austerity 0-6-0ST 68011 Errol Lonsdale is pictured near Staverton on 14 April 1995 with the South Devon Railway's 15:00 Totnes to Buckfastleigh service. This loco is an imposter, as the real 68011 was scrapped in the late 1960s. As this one was built in 1953 as War Department WD196, it shouldn't really be in this LNER section. However, it is identical to the LNER built examples.