I usually make at least one or two visits to the Ffestiniog Railway most years, so this is the collection for current and future pictures.

They will, of course, start off in the 'Stop Press!' collection in the 1st Gallery for the first couple of weeks or so.

The rebuilding of the Welsh Highland Railway from Caernarfon through to Porthmadog continues apace, and pictures of the reconstruction work, together with the ex South African Railway Garratts going about their daily business, will appear here from time to time when I have made a visit to the area.

For pictures of the Welsh Highland trackbed in various locations during the closure period, see the collection 'Welsh Highland Railway - The Dormant Years' in the 1st Gallery.

As the previous collection has got a bit overcrowded, I have created this as a continuation collection for pictures of the Welsh Highland, with the first pictures showing tracklaying in the Aberglaslyn Pass in September, 2007.

New ones will start off in the 'Stop Press!' collection in the 1st Gallery as usual.

A further continuation of WHR pictures, this time including the newly opened sections of line between Rhyd Ddu and Beddgelert and through the scenic Aberglaslyn Pass.

As always, all new pictures will be in the 'Stop Press!' collection in the 1st Gallery for a couple of weeks or so before being transferred into here.

The exciting opening of the Welsh highland through the Aberglaslyn Pass created so many photo opportunities that yet another overflow collection is required!

Tucked away in a quiet and bucolic corner of rural England is a little bit of the famous Indian Darjeeling and Himalayan Railway. This is the privately owned Beeches Light Railway and, with gradients not dissimilar to those found in India, 'B' class 0-4-0ST No.19 really looks and sounds the part!

Although the loco is a genuine D.H.R. import, the coaches are replicas built by the Ffestiniog Railway at their Boston Lodge workshops in North Wales.

I have been trying to fit in a visit to the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley for ages; I finally made it in February, 2007.

Although not a railway museum, it does have an electric tramway, trolleybuses, a canal basin and narrowboat trips into the Dudley Tunnel and underground limestone mines. So, there's plenty there to interest the transport enthusiast.

It's a long way to Cornwall so I cannot get there very often. However, I had a week there in September and, whilst there, made my first ever visit to the Bodmin and Wenford Railway.

A line that I have been meaning to visit for some time in the 15 inch gauge Bure Valley Railway which runs between Aylsham and Wroxham in Norfolk.

I finally made it in August, 2007 - and I'm jolly glad that I did. I can't understand why I haven't been there before, but I shall most certainly be going there again!

Situated at Carlton Colville, just outside Lowestoft in Suffolk, the East Anglia Transport Museum has been on my 'must visit' list for some time. I finally made it in August, 2007.

There are, amongst other things, trams, buses and trolleybuses, all from a bygone era. Well worth a visit if you are in the area.

Another line that I like to visit on a fairly regular basis is the Great Central. I have many fond memories of the 'real' Great Central in the 1960s, even though it was rapidly becoming a shadow of its former self, so I am full of admiration for the splendid recreation being done by the volunteers and staff at Loughborough, Quorn and Rothley.

Although not railway museums as such, the museums at Ironbridge do have some railway related exhibits to reflect the impact that railways had on the industrial revoluntion. Certainly worth a visit, but do allow plenty of time. Several days, if possible.

If it's a long time since I visited the RHDR, it's even longer since I was last at the K & ESR. This has been extended and improved beyond measure over the intervening years, and, at over ten miles, represents an English rural branch line at its best. Colonel Stephens would be proud of them.

A particular surprise was to find that one of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway's 0-6-2 Lambton colliery tanks was also enjoying a visit there. Owned by a consortium of NYMR members, No. 29 did not seem to be at all out of place in the South-East - there were coal mines in Kent, after all. She performed very well, and the K & ESR loco crews spoke very highly of her.

Well worth a visit - perhaps the photographs that appear here will tempt you! To start off with, however, there are some pictures from earlier times, including some from the line in its B.R. days.

The 2' gauge railway in Leighton Buzzard is somewhat unusual in that for much of its length it runs through suburban residential areas. It wasn't always like this, of course, as it used to run mostly through open countryside, but the town has expanded since the railway was built.

It started out in life as a means of transporting sand from the sand quarries around the town to the mainline railhead, but when that traffic went over to road transport part of the line was taken over by the preservationists who have turned it into the tourist attraction that it is today.

To start off this collection I have included some pictures of the line in its sand quarry days; these are also to be seen in the Industrial Railways collection in the 1st Gallery.

Well worth a visit, the Llangollen Railway is a preserved section of the old Great Western Ruabon - Barmouth Junction line.

The London Transport Museum, situated in the historic 1871 Flower Market at Covent Garden since 1980, has recently reopened following a £22 million extention and refurbishment. Well worth a visit if you live in the London area, or are visiting the metropolis.

There are some pictures of London Transport trains from 1960 onwards in the first gallery, Ron's Railway Pix - 1.

When I walked the trackbed of the L & B back in the summer of 1961, little did I imagine that, 45 years later, I would be riding along part of the line in a two foot gauge train! But that's what happened - and here are some pictures to prove it. Only a mile has been reopened so far, but it's certainly a step in the right direction.

We are very lucky to have had such a wide range of main line steam in this country since the steam ban was lifted. Here are pictures of a few steam hauled specials that I have either been on or photographed.

As with other collections, these will be added to over time, with pictures starting off in the 'Stop Press!' collection in the 1st Gallery before being transferred into here.

By diesels, I mean the so-called 'heritage' diesels, so no 66s or the like in here!

Newly added pictures will be found in the 'Stop Press! Latest Pictures!!' collection in the 1st Gallery for the first couple of weeks or so.

I have made a number of visits to the Mid-Hants over the years, and have quite a few pictures which will find their way onto this website in due course.

They will, of course, start off in the 'Stop Press! Latest Pictures!!' collection in the 1st Gallery for the first couple of weeks or so before being moved into here.

The original York Railway Museum has grown enormously since I first went there in 1960! It even spent a spell in an old London Trolleybus depot at Clapham before moving back to York and into the redundant 50A shed.

Pictures taken at all three locations will eventually be found in this collection, but they will be added over time and will start off in the 'Stop Press! Laterst Pictures!!' collection in the 1st Gallery for the first couple of weeks or so.

I have been involved with the Nene Valley, on and off, for many years. More off, than on, though! As I have lots of pictures taken there during working and other visits, I felt that it was high time I established a collection on here. So, to start off, some pictures taken today, with others from earlier times to follow in due course.

As is now my usual custom, I shall put new additions in the 'Stop Press!' collection in the 1st Gallery for starters.

It's many a long year since I last visited the RHDR, but I spent a few days in that area last month and found it just as impressive as I remember it. Although running at only 25 mph, it seems to be much faster than that because, being one third full size, it is the equivalent of 75 mph on the main line.

I took a few pictures, of course, but to begin with there are some pictures taken back in the 1960s.......

There is only one mountain rack railway in Great Britain and this goes up Snowdon in North Wales. It was opened in 1896 and still uses some of the original SLM 0-4-2RT steam locomotives. However, since 1986, Hunslet 0-4-0 diesel-hydraulic locomotives have been used as well.

The line is laid to 800mm (2'7½") gauge and the Abt rack system is used. It is a bit under five miles in length, and has gradients as steep as 1 in 5½.

There are several steam railways in Staffordshire and Derbyshire, so here are a few pictures from recent visits.

To begin with, of course, any new pictures will found in the 'Stop Press!' collection in the 1st Gallery for the first couple of weeks or so.

Based at the Somerset coastal town of Minehead, the West Somerset Railway runs inland towards Taunton on the West of England main line. The junction with the main line is at Norton Fitzwarren, but the W.S.R. trains terminate at the preceding station of Bishop's Lydeard. Nevertheless, this gives a worthwhile trainride, and one with some hefty gradients to make the engines work for their living.

The 2' gauge railway round the lake at Wicksteed Park in Kettering, Northamptonshire was opened in 1931. It is normally worked by steam-outline diesel locomotives, but, once a year, visiting steam locomotives are invited to run the trains.

In 2009, the vistors were vertical-boilered 0-4-0T CHALONER of 1877 from the Leighton Buzzard Narrow Gauge Railway, vertical-boilered 0-4-0 tender engine PADDY of 2007 from the Amerton Railway in Staffordshire and Kerr, Stuart 'Wren' class 0-4-0ST PETER PAN of 1922, also from Leighton Buzzard.

Living on the East Coast Main Line means that I have enough pictures to warrant the creation of a separate collection rather than just putting them in the Modern Miscellany collection.

Central Trains offer a selection of rover tickets, one of which, the 'Lincolnshire Day Ranger', not only covers lines in Lincolnshire, but also includes Peterborough, Nottingham and Doncaster in the adjoining counties of Cambrideshire, Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire. So quite a lot of territory can be covered.

I took a day off work yesterday and, armed with such a ticket, spent a day on the rails of Lincolnshire. Here is a selection of the pictures I took.

This is the collection for modern trains where there is no particular theme, or enough subject matter to warrant a separate collection. So this is the place to look for HSTs, Sprinters, 66s and other rolling stock from the modern railway.

New pictures will be found in the 'Stop Press! collection in the 1st Gallery for the first couple of weeks or so.

As I have made several trips south of the Thames in recent times, I seem to have accumulated quite a few pictures of South West Trains colourful multiple units.

So, rather than simply putting them in the 'Modern Miscellany' collection, I have created a separate collection specifically for SWT.

This is the place to look for railway infrastructure such as stations, signals, signalboxes, bridges, etc. These will be mostly recent pictures; archive shots will still be found under the regional headings in the 1st Gallery.

On the way to the West Country, I spent a few days near Devizes in Wiltshire. Devizes no longer boasts a railway station, so, to have a day out in Bath, it was necessary to use Trowbridge as a railhead.

I have recently returned from a holiday in Switzerland, organised for us by Ffestiniog Travel. On the way there, we broke the journey in Paris, so here are some pictures taken at the Gare de Lyon whilst waiting for the TGV to Montreux. The actual Swiss ones are to be found in the Switzerland collections.

Pictures from the main line station in Montreux, plus one from the top of the nearby Chateau de Chillon. There were relatively few of the previously ubiquitous Re4/4 IIs to be seen. Local trains were NPZ Kolibri units with two Einheitswagen, and longer distance trains were hauled or pushed by class 460 or 484 locomotives. I did see one or two Re4/4 IIs on freights or empty stock workings, and there were some around Lausanne which I saw on the way home.

Despite heavy snowfalls in both Montreux and up in the mountains, the narrow gauge trains came and went about their business with the minimum of fuss - and bang on time. As it was somewhat cloudy and the views from the Rochers de Naye would not have been visible, we decided to postpone a trip up there to another time.

A little to the south of Montreux is the little town of Aigle. The CFF station there is nothing special, but, outside in the station forecourt, is a narrow gauge station with no less than three metre gauge lines. Two go off to the east of the town, one, a rack line, to Leysin and the other to Les Diablerets. The third line goes south and then turns west to cross the flat Rhone Valley, crossing the CFF main line to Brig and the CFF branch line to Le Bouveret and St. Gingolph in the process. It finally turns south-west and climbs up to the terminus at Champery near the French border.

The line from Aigle to Les diablerets climbs up to Le Sepey where the trains reverse before continuing the final climb to Les Diablerets.

The metre gauge Chemin de Fer Montreux - Oberland Bernois (MOB for short) climbs up the hillside behind Montreux in a series of zig-zags with incredibly sharp curves at each change of direction. The views of Lac Leman from the train become more and more stunning as the train climbs higher, being first on the left, and then on the right..... Once through the 2.5km Japman Tunnel, the line drops steeply down to Montbovon where a connection is made to Gruyeres and Bulle. From Montbovon the line climbs up again through Chateau d'Oex, before crossing into Canton Bern and the German speaking part of Switzerland. Beyond Gstaad, the line climbs still further before dropping down to Zweisimmen where the line terminates and connection is made with the standard gauge BLS branch line from Spiez.

There some more pictures of Gstaad from August 1984 in the collection entitled 'Switzerland - 2. Interlaken and the Berner Oberland - 1984' in the 1st Gallery.

Some 40 Km. south of Montreux is the junction station of Martigny. At the eastern end is a bay platform used by the 'St. Bernard Express' trains to/from Orsieres and Le Chable. At the western end are the metre gauge platforms of the 'Mont Blanc Express' trains which run across the border to Chamonix and St. Gervais-les-Bains-Le-Fayet in France. This service is run jointly by the Swiss M-C and the SNCF.

From the station forecourt, the line to Leysin starts off through the streets of Aigle, tramway fashion. The trains then run into the depot on the edge of the town where they reverse before starting the climb proper. This, being rack assisted, is pretty steep. The 'Grand Hotel' at the upper terminus is now an American educational establishment.

Our second excursion up into the snowy mountains on the MOB took us as far as Montbovon where we changed trains and took the Bulle train as far as Gruyères. Yes, that's where the cheese comes from.

There was just time to take a few shots at Lausanne before catching the 13:22 TGV for Paris....and then home.

The Chemin de Fer Blonay - Chamby is a steeply graded 3 kilometre metre gauge line near Montreux in western Switzerland. It was the first preservation scheme in that country being opened in May, 1968.

It celebrated its first 40 years in May, 2008 and my friend John Cosford sent me some pictures. But first, a few that I took when I visited in late 1967, before it was officially open to the public.

My first efforts with a digital camera were at the Biggleswade Model Railway Exhibition. It's a Sony DSC-V3, for those that might be interested.

The bi-annual European Railway Societies model railway exhibition was held at its usual venue, the St. Felix Middle School, Newmarket, on Saturday, 17th June, 2006.

Quite by chance, I happened to have my camera with me......

As well as the trains on the RHDR itself, there is also a splendid model railway layout and exhibition at New Romney situated in a large room above the cafe. Although the stations, other buildings and road vehicles are clearly British, there is a distinctly Germanic look to the trains.....

Unbeknown to many, a small section of the Swiss Alps can be found rising out of a suburban back garden in a quiet cul-de-sac in normally flat Cambridgeshire. This is the magnificent 'G' scale 'Ruschbahn', conceived, designed and built by Andy Rush.

It is inspired by the famous Rhätische Bahn in Canton Graubünden, south east Switzerland, as it would have been it the 1930s.

The St. Neots Model Railway Club held an Open Day at the Buckden Village Hall on the 9th March, 2008. I popped along for a couple of hours in the afternoon.....

Although this is supposed to be a railway website, I know that I'm not the only one to appreciate vintage vehicles from other forms of transport. So I have opened a collection into which pictures of buses, cars, traction engines, etc. can be put.

There are not many places in England where you can, as the old song says, 'go, go, go, for a ride on the car, car, car.....', but Seaton, in East Devon, is one of the few places where you can. Moved from its previous location at Eastbourne in 1970, the Seaton Tramway is now a well established tourist attraction running inland from the coast at Seaton, along the estary of the River Axe, and terminating at the small town of Colyton some three miles away. It was regauged from its previous 2' on its transfer from Eastbourne, and the trams now run on 2'9" tracks.

There are vintage trams in both Blackpool and Crich, but in Blackpool they are in daily use providing a proper public transport system.

Pictures from both locations will appear in this collection, although, for the first couple of weeks or so, they will be put in the 'Stop Press!' collection in the 1st Gallery with all the other new ones.

To make a change from the usual diet of trains and railways, this is a collection for canals and inland waterways.

I know that there are a few others out there that, like me, have an interest in waterways as well as railways, so for the benefit of them, and for gongoozlers everywhere, I have created a collection where I can put a few pictures.

Just to make a change from trains and railways, here is a collection for the occasional general view of places I have been. No particular themes, just pictures that I like - and that others might like too.

As there are more pictures in the General Views collection than I originally envisaged, I have opened this as an overflow collection.