Almost 300 new pictures have been added to the photo galleries since the last news update in October 2022, most of them from the UK and most taken in the last 3 years. This takes the total number of UK pictures to over 1500.

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go to United Kingdom photo galleries

Another 66 photos taken in the UK this year, some from the south of England, others from the north-east of Scotland.

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go to 135 Reading - Westbury photo gallery
go to 148 Reading - Redhill photo gallery
go to 158 Waterloo - Weymouth photo gallery
go to 229 Dundee - Aberdeen photo gallery

A small batch of photographs taken over the last couple of weeks in Hampshire, Berkshire and Wiltshire, including several shots of Class 69s, which are now regular performers on the Southampton - Mountfield gypsum trains.

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go to 135 Reading - Westbury photo gallery
go to 158 Waterloo - Weymouth photo gallery

The remaining photo galleries have now been reformatted and uploaded with a number of additional photos added, mainly images that appeared in trip reports but failed to make it to the galleries for some reason. A photo index page in the new style has also been added. Your browser should redirect you automatically but if it doesn't, use the link below.

The new photos page has been moved into a new section called Collections, which will contain collections of photos that are linked by a common theme but don't fit neatly into the country based structure.

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Behind the photo galleries sits a database that controls everything, creating the links between the pictures and the text and ensuring the right images appear in the right galleries. It was fine when there were only a few hundred pictures but had been struggling to cope with the 5000+ images currently on the site. In particular, site updates were taking longer and longer and the process was regularly failing before it completed, requiring time consuming manual interventions almost every time it ran. Something had to be done.

The solution is a brand new database, set up from scratch, taking into account the lessons learned from the last one. Indications are that the new set-up is much faster and more reliable. The opportunity was taken to redesign the photo gallery pages at the same time, adopting a flexible layout that adapts itself to the size of the browser window. Whether you're using a phone, a tablet or a large desktop screen, pictures should display at an appropriate size in a layout suited to the window dimensions and orientation. The Austria, Cuba, Denmark and UK galleries have already been converted to the new format and are available to view. The new pages have been tested on Safari, Chrome, Opera and Edge browsers so, hopefully, will work for everyone. Smaller pictures, 750 pixels across have also been replaced with 900 pixel versions. More enhancements will follow once the remaining galleries have been converted.

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Despite the Covid pandemic and lockdowns the Berks and Hants has remained a busy freight railway and if anything has become even busier with new flows of stone introduced in an attempt to satisfy the insatiable demand of construction in the south-east. The Class 59s remain dominant but now with Freightliner's green class 66s replacing DB red and EWS maroon machines in the supporting role. DB still retains a presence on non-MRL stone workings but other operators barely get a look in. This update adds 62 pictures taken on the line between March and June 2021.

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go to 135 Reading - Westbury photo gallery

Nancha was one of the best places to see steam at work in China in the late 1980s. There was an almost continuous procession of QJ hauled freights on the Harbin to Jiamusi main line but the most spectacular workings were on the steeply graded branch to the north where the heaviest trains were double headed and banked. As well as QJs, high deflectored JS still worked some traffic. This update adds 39 pictures taken around Nancha in 1988 and 1989 plus a few others taken elsewhere around the same time.

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go to Harbin Bureau : Nancha Area photo gallery

A selection of 17 photos, most taken around Changchun in 1988 and 1989, and featuring RM and SL Class Pacifics as well as JF Class 2-8-2s and the inevitable QJ Class 2-10-2s. There are also a handful of pictures of SYs including a brand new loco awaiting painting at Tangshan.

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go to Shenyang Bureau : Jilin Area photo gallery
go to Shenyang Bureau : Changchun Area photo gallery

A selection of 27 photos featuring 10 different classes of steam locomotive, taken in various locations between 1988 and 1991, with around half from Baotou Steelworks when the ET7 and XK13 tanks were still active. There are also some pictures from the CNR depot at Baotou and a few Pacifics and QJs around Changchun and Jilin, some of which are better renderings of images published before.

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go to Baotou Steelworks photo gallery
go to Hohhot Bureau : Baotou Area photo gallery
go to Shenyang Bureau : Changchun Area photo gallery

Some seasonal snow scenes from the Tonghua area of north-east China 30 years ago, when everything was still steam worked. It seems a world away now in these times of Covid lockdowns and travel bans.

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go to Tonghua area photo gallery

Turkey has now been migrated to the newer style of photo gallery and 11 new images have been added to the 3 already there. All the existing pictures are now a bit larger than they were.

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go to Turkey photo galleries

Slovakia has now been migrated to the newer style of photo gallery with the ability to view images by line, class etc. There are only a handful of new images but all the existing pictures are now a bit larger than they were.

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go to Slovakia photo galleries