China : New Trip Report

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The steam age is rapidly coming to an end in China but, even at the end of 2016, there was just enough activity to justify another visit. This report covers a three week trip in November and early December to see the SY Class 2-8-2s on the mining railways at Pingzhuang and Wujiu and the JS Class 2-8-2s in the opencast mine at Sandaoling. Observations of diesel and electric locos on the national system and industrial lines are included as well.

go to The End Of The Line? report

UK : More New Photos

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An additional 44 pictures added to the UK photo galleries covering the line through the Thames Valley between Reading and Didcot. Most pictures are from 2014, before electrification work had ruined any good locations, but there are a handful from last century as well. It's very different now with poles and wires making any attempt at photography pointless.

go to Thames Valley West gallery

Switzerland : More New Photos

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The second and final batch of pictures from my August trip to the Gotthard have been added to the photo galleries. These feature many of the classic Re4/4ii and Re6/6 locos as well as a few more modern engines and EMUs. As well as the Gotthard itself there are also a few shots taken around Zürich HB.

go to Switzerland photos

go to Gotthard photos

go to Zürich HB photos

go to New Photos

UK : New Photo Gallery

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Just added a few photos from the Berks and Hants line, taken during 2016. The eastern section of the line, from Reading to Newbury, is currently being electrified, undoubtedly ruining all of the locations shown here. The line carries a mixture of long distance and local passenger trains as well as Britain's heaviest freights, stone trains grossing up to 4800 tonnes.

go to Berks and Hants gallery

Switzerland : New Photos

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The first batch of photos from my August 2016 trip to the Gotthard are now available in the photo galleries. More to follow.

go to Switzerland photos

go to Gotthard photos

go to New Photos

Switzerland : New Trip Report

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A final visit to the Gotthard, one of Europe's great mountain main lines, in August 2016, before traffic is syphoned off into the new base tunnel. The report covers passenger and freight services, the latter operated by SBB and several foreign or independent operators. Naturally in Switzerland, electric traction prevailed but diesels were not entirely absent.

go to Farewell To The Gotthard report


Switzerland : Photo Gallery Changes

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The Swiss photo galleries have now been transferred to the new format and an additional 33 photos added bringing the total to 479 pictures. As with the other new format galleries, it's possible to view the 56 galleries by category, i.e. line, class, traction and train type, operator or gauge. A wide range of pictures are included, from heavily trafficked freight arteries to narrow gauge rack railways, from 100 year old rack engines through 70 year old motor luggage vans to the latest Traxx locomotives and Flirt EMUs, all in the attractive Swiss landscape.

go to new photos
go to Switzerland : photo galleries

China : Photo Gallery Changes

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The transfer of Chinese pictures to the new format galleries is now complete with over 1100 photos transferred and another 150 photos added, some of which have never been published before, while others have only appeared in trip reports. The pictures span a period of over 30 years, although those from the 21st Century predominate, and cover main line, industrial and forestry operations, steam, diesel and electric, so there should be something for everyone. There are almost 100 galleries organising the pictures by different categories, such as location, loco class or train type.

go to new photos
go to China : photo galleries

Railography : Photo Gallery Enhancements

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It's now possible to filter new style photo galleries by type, useful for countries like Germany where there are almost 100 different galleries available. Options vary slightly from country to country but include the options to view only galleries based on loco class, a particular route, train or traction type etc. The opportunity has also been taken to carry out a number of minor bug fixes and enhancements, e.g. to make pre 2000 photos appear in the correct order when sorted by date taken. New style galleries are as listed below :

Austria         China (work in progress)         Denmark         Germany         UK

China : Photo Gallery Changes

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The massive task of converting the China photo galleries to the new format has started with four industrial lines, Fushun, Fuxin, Pingzhuang and Sandaoling. A total of 73 new photos taken over the last couple of years have been added to the new galleries. The old galleries will remain in place until the transfer is complete but won't be updated.

go to new photos gallery
go to new China photo galleries

Germany : Photo Gallery Update

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The first batch of 36 pictures from my recent trip to Germany have been added to the photo galleries. These are the same pictures included in the trip report and there are many more to follow, when I can find the time to prepare them.

go to new photos gallery
go to 544 Reichenbach - Hof photo gallery
go to 855 Regensburg - Marktredwitz photo gallery
go to 860 Nürnberg - Hof/Cheb photo gallery
go to 870 Hersbruck - Schwandorf photo gallery
go to 970 München - Lindau/Oberstdorf

Germany : New Trip Report

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The temporary closure of the electrified main line north of Bamberg and the diversion of freights via the diesel worked Hof - Marktredwitz - Nürnberg route provided the excuse I needed for another trip to these photogenic lines in north-eastern Bavaria. As well as Ludmillas on main line freights, class 294s were seen on china clay traffic on the Amberg - Hirschau branch and a few locos belonging to independents appeared as well. Passenger trains weren’t ignored entirely with the ALEX class 223s photographed between Weiden and Hof. Time was also spent capturing the soon to disappear class 143s on the Reichenbach - Hof line and class 111s and 183s between Regensburg and Landshut.

go to Going Round In Circles report

Railography : Photo Gallery Enhancements

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With six months experience of the php based photo galleries ( currently Austria, Denmark, Germany and the United Kingdom ) it seemed a good time to fix some bugs and add some new functionality. Each php photo gallery can now be sorted by the date the photo was added to the gallery or the date the photo was taken in ascending or descending order. Where this facility is available, the sorting links can be found at the top left of the gallery. There’s also a New Photos gallery where newly added photos can be viewed, irrespective of which gallery they’ve been added to. The gallery’s limited to 300 pictures and it’s also possible to limit the display to pictures added in the last 14, 30, 90 or 180 days.

go to photo galleries
go to New Images gallery

Germany : Photo Gallery Update

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With the transfer of the Allgäubahn and König-Ludwig-Bahn galleries to the new format, all the German photos are now available to be viewed by line, class, operator or traction traction type. Many previously unpublished photos have been added to the Allgäubahn gallery, taking the total number of German photos available to 1125, 281 of them taken on the Allgäubahn, surely the most photogenic of all the German railways. A number of new galleries based on loco class or operator have also been added, too many to list here.

go to line 970 München - Lindau/Oberstdorf (Allgäubahn) gallery
go to line 974 Biessenhofen - Füssen (König-Ludwig-Bahn) gallery
go to German photo galleries

Germany : Photo Gallery Update

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The photo galleries covering the München - Salzburg and Ingolstadt - Treuchtlingen lines have been converted to the new format and and a number of new pictures added. There are also a few new pictures from the München - Mittenwald line and new galleries for classes 111 and 186 and operators ÖBB and SBB Cargo.

go to line 950 München - Salzburg/Kufstein gallery
go to line 960 München - Mittenwald gallery
go to line 990 Ingolstadt - Treuchtlingen gallery

Class 111 - - Class 186 - - ÖBB in Germany - - SBB Cargo in Germany