N15 4-6-0 30777 Sir Lamiel passes Knighton (between Didcot and Swindon) with the Steam Dreams 1Z82 09:10 Waterloo to Gloucester 'Cathedrals Express' railtour on 11 October 2008. The train is just about to pass the site of Knighton Crossing signal box, which was intermediate between Uffington and Ashbury Crossing (Shrivenham). The former level crossing at Knighton was abolished in the late 1960s and replaced by a road underbridge, which is just to the left of the picture.

Definitely not very good photographic lighting, and a picture that has required a humungous amount of Photoshop manipulation to salvage an image from a 'soot and whitewash' no-hoper. However, I wanted a picture taken from this spot at Bletchingdon, before the long closed Shipton-on-Cherwell cement works in the background finally succumbs to the bulldozers. N15 4-6-0 30777 Sir Lamiel (disguised as 39453 King Arthur) heads north with the Steam Dreams 1Z97 08:45 Victoria to Stratford-upon-Avon 'Cathedrals Express' railtour on 23 April 2010.

Putting out a serious amount of thick black smoke, N15 4-6-0 30777 Sir Lamiel (masquerading as 39453 King Arthur) passes Great Bourton on 23 April 2010 with the Steam Dreams 1Z99 18:10 Stratford-upon-Avon to Clapham Junction 'Cathedrals Express' railtour. Unfortunately the light had all but faded out just a few minutes before the train was due.

S15 Class 4-6-0 828 is watched by an appreciative group of locals as well as the inevitable railway photographers as it leaves Andover station on 15 May 1994. It was working a Waterloo to Salisbury charter, outward via Andover and returning via Southampton. There is still plenty of trackwork at Andover, although judging from the colour of the rails on the right a lot of it sees very little use. The lines on the left are still in use, serving the Army depot at Ludgershall.

S15 4-6-0 828 passes through Crewkerne station on 8 October 1994 with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z62 07:10 Wolverhampton to Exeter St Davids 'Exe-Parrett' railtour. The steam loco took over the tour at Bristol Temple Meads, working a circular route via Westbury and Yeovil and then back via Taunton. Personally I don't believe this tour is an 'Exe-Parrett', I think it just pining for the fjords!

Just after dawn on 22 November 1997, U Class 2-6-0 31625 & Class 33 D6593 approach Culham with the 'Pines Express' Guildford to Crewer railtour. Normally pictures taken in these kind of conditions are not worth showing, but I think the result here is very atmospheric. With a little colour in the sky, mist rolling across the fields and the rising sun just highlighting the sides of the coaches and the steam locomotive's smoke deflectors, it makes an interesting picture, and of course with Didcot Power Station in the background, there is no mistaking the location!

London Brighton & South Coast Railway 0-6-2T 32473 drifts into Horsted Keynes station on 20 January 2007 with the 13:55 Kingscote to Sheffield Park service. Unbelievably this was my first visit to the railway since 1972 when I was at school in the area! Of course in those days trains only ran to the south of here from Horsted Keynes to Sheffield Park

One of the star exhibits at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway's 25th anniversary 'Cotswold Festival of Steam' was A1X 0-6-0T 662, which is seen here working the 09:00 Toddington to Cheltenham Racecourse brakevan special past Didbrook on 24 May 2009. It then spent the day at Cheltenham giving brake van rides. The diminutive locomotive is dwarfed by the Southern Railway 'Queen Mary' brake van. Although from the same railway company it does look that the little loco was deliberately paired with the biggest brake van available just for contrast!

West Country Class 4-6-2 34016 Bodmin passes Bishopton (near Stratford-upon-Avon) with the Daylight Railtours 1Z97 16:35 Stratford-upon-Avon to Alton 'Classical Connection' railtour on 8 September 2001. The tour had traveled to Stratford in the morning via High Wycombe, but would return via Oxford. Pity about the chocolate and cream Pullman coach spoiling the otherwise perfect Southern Railway train!

Battle of Britain Class 4-6-2 34027 Taw Valley heads west at Stoford (near Yeovil) with the Flying Scotsman Services Waterloo to Exeter 'Atlantic Coast Express' railtour on 21 June 1992. There is no mistaking the loco is on home ground with that concrete PW hut (a product of Exmouth Junction Concrete Works) in the foreground.

West Country 4-6-2 34027 Taw Valley passes Chilson with the Didcot to Worcester 'Cotswold Venturer' railtour on 29 August 1993. A warm summer day is hardly conducive to good steam photography, and although Taw Valley is working hard there is virtually no trace of exhaust.  Unfortunately this Cotswold Line location is now virtually useless for photography, as the bushes have grown considerably since this picture was taken. This is a pity as it was a very useful location for northbound trains as the line runs south west here for a few miles resulting in ideal lighting during the middle of the day.

On a very misty 6 April 1996, West Country Class 4-6-2 34027 Taw Valley passes St Athan with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z63 06:28 Crewe to Swansea 'Tawe Taw Tourer' (easier to type than to say!) railtour, which the steam loco had taken over at Bristol Temple Meads. Initially I was with all the other photographers on the bridge in the background, but I decided to venture down the field to a footpath crossing so as to be at a lower level and hopefully not get the exhaust covering the train. A good plan, as the picture taken by those on the bridge was nothing like as good!

Battle of Britain Class 4-6-2 34067 Tangmere runs alongside the Kennet & Avon Canal on the approach to Crofton with the Steam Dreams 1Z84 08:45 Victoria to Bristol Temple Meads 'Cathedrals Express' railtour on 8 October 2009. Although I suppose it could have been worse, this is definitely not the result I was expecting, with the smoke blowing down over the coaches.

Does the exhaust of Battle of Britain Class 4-6-2 34067 Tangmere always blow down and partly obscure the train? It certainly seems so, as this is the second time this year I have suffered this problem with this loco. It is seem here pulling out of Didcot Parkway station on 10 December 2009 with the Steam Dreams 1Z82 09:40 Victoria to Oxford 'Cathedrals Express' railtour. Just two months previously I had seen it near Crofton on another 'Cathedrals Express' (surely the most over used steam railtour name), with similar errant exhaust.

West Country Class 4-6-2 34105 Swanage is being prepared for duty at Toddington on 17 October 1993, prior to taking part in the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway's Gala Weekend. In 2009 the loco doesn't look quite this good, and is out of use on the Mid Hants Railway requiring some major work.

West Country Class 4-6-2 34105 Swanage makes a spirited departure from Winchcombe station on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway with the 14:45 Toddington to Gretton service on 17 October 1993. This was during the railway's Gala Weekend. You may have seen this photo before looking slightly different. It was published in Railway Magazine, but unfortunately they managed to print it in reverse! So here it is for the first time the correct way round.

A fortunate early finish at work on Wednesday 15 March 2000 resulted in me heading down to the Berks & Hants line to see the VSOE special returning from Bath to Victoria. Merchant Navy Class 4-6-2 35028 Clan Line was working the tour from Westbury, and the assembled photographers were praying that the tour was on time and would reach us before the light went. Fortunately for once the train was on time, resulting in this superb glint shot as the train passed Woodborough loops.

Merchant Navy Class 4-6-2 35028 Clan Line passes Hinksey Yard, near Oxford with the 1Z83 17:31 Oxford to Victoria VSOE special on 21 April 2007. Luckily the tour was ten minutes late leaving Oxford, as at the correct time the 4L44 Cowley to Purfleet car train was running round in the yard, and the blue covered car transporter wagons on the second line in from the left in this picture extended all the way to the signal in the background, effectively ruining the shot. To the relief of the photographers present on the bridge, the last wagon had just passed under us as the train came into view!