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Just a quick snap of a 57 'thunderbird' heading west out of Chester on 6th
June 2008

Finally, a day off coincided with good weather so the first day out
'training' of the year.

We chose Crewe- and was it a bad choice?-- Lets just say that between 2
o'clock and 6 we saw just five locomotives-- 3 of those were coupled together
and another was a steam train on a charter- I'll save what the other one is
until later to keep the suspense going.

I'm in the process of computerising my train data from my youth and have just
been reminiscing over the records of a visit to Crewe and Chester from
Northampton back on 13th February 1978- i was 13! On that day we saw 24's and
25's, 31's and 40's on freight, 47's on passenger- and freight and
representatives of most of the AC loco classes then about. Today we saw units.
All the freight went via the avoiding line.

Spring seems definitely to be here, and although the new
allotment is taking a lot of time I've still had a chance to snap a few photos.
Firstly a set from 26th march this year (2008) from the Hoole foot bridge when
the Wrexham London test train was running out of platform 6 to Crewe.

The weather hasn't been great of late, so not been out spotting often at all-
managed to get out yesterday (wed 19th of march) and visited Warrington Station
for this shot of 66545 heading south light engine on the fast line, and the shot
below of green liveried 37411 on the depot

February 8th 2008

Not had much opportunity to get new pictures yet this year, but as the
weather gets warmer.......

Meanwhile, taken on the 5th of February a 150/2 and 175 'coradia' pass
outside Chester station.

Steam train visits Chester

18th Aug 2007

Two ex GWR locos with a terminating Railtour

To celebrate my birthday- and getting the new flat- we rented the old station
cottage at Beale in Northumbria for a week at the end of November. Although the
views of the trains were excellent the trains were bloody fast and there was
very little freight- except at night. The above photo shows a 91 speeding
towards the crossing from the garden, whereas the one below features a 43 (HST)
from the bedroom window

Engineering Work at Chester Station

14th October 2007

After a very unsettled 2007, 2008 is looking brighter. I've got shed loads of stuff i intended to put up here, but didn't have the opportunity. Hopefully I'll
catch up slowly!!

This photo set dates from a Sunday in October when the track was being relayed in Chester Station and mostly features stabled stock including a 'thunderbird + pendolino' and a pair of 37's on a leaf spraying train.

Rustys Ramblings

Its been ages since an update so here goes!

Its been a difficult Christmas on the home front; this has
lead to lots of travelling but no new photos. Managed a nice journy to Kettering
from Leeds, sampling both the new Meridians, and HST's. I still prefer the hsts-
but i can still remember the Peaks with steam heated mk1 stock- and mk1 stock
was the best ever! Returning to Chester station on Saturday eve (27th jan) after
a trip with Beth and the Dog (Razzle) i noticed that a railtour was due to
arrive in platform four in 20 minutes time. Beth was bribed with coffee, and the
camera was fired up. The railtour arrived and turned out to be 45112 on its
return leg to York. The stock was eth fitted aircon late mk II's, but it still
took me back to the days when we spent 35p on a return from Kettering to
Wellingborough- 10 minutes or 8 miles, and tried to get back and forth as many
times as we could before having our tickets clipped. This would have been the
late 70's or early 80's as the mk 1's were fast being replaced by eth stock
cascaded from the WCML mk III build. Midland mainline haulage then was mostly
45/1's with the odd 47. Steam heated rakes threw up the odd 45/0 or pair of
25's- my first ever railtour was The Class 44 farewell leaving from Kettering,
hauled by three of the remaining class 44 peak pioneers

Time to add some more waffle!

There's a new album up featuring a trip to Bolton Abbey in the company
of my partner, her mother and a large husky called Dakota.

Not much to say really other than i found this site

http://www.biffo.net/arts/cville/lifemain.htm - its called 'life on the
Leicester line' and chronicles a railmans career at Coalville depot up to
the depots closure.

A nicely written web site that kept me entertained from beginning to end.