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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Spain has now been migrated to the newer style of photo gallery with the ability to view images by line, class etc. No new images but some are now a bit larger than they were.

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France has now been migrated to the newer style of photo gallery with the ability to view images by line, class, operator, traction type etc. No new images but most are now a bit larger than they were.

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No new pictures this time, just a migration of the existing pictures to the newer style of gallery and a split of images between two galleries for standard and narrow gauge locos.

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The line from Westbury to Cogload Junction, near Taunton, carries inter city passenger traffic from London to the West of England as well as local services between Bristol and Weymouth, all worked by units these days. The east end of the line, around Westbury and Frome also sees a significant amount of freight traffic, most of it limestone from Merehead and Whatley quarries, which is taken to destinations all over southern England. The stone workings are of particular interest as they employ Class 59 diesels as well as the ubiquitous Class 66s. These pictures were taken in September 2019, around 6 weeks before Freightliner took over the stone workings from DB Cargo.

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go to 135 Westbury - Cogload Jn photo gallery

Zimbabwe's Garratts were active on line work into the 1990s, handling heavy trains on the Victoria Falls and West Nicholson lines from Bulawayo long after their South African and East African counterparts had been retired. A first batch of 18 new photos have been added, showing locos of Classes 15, 16A and 20 at work in 1987 with, as a free bonus, a look at one of the CFM Class 951 Garratts, fresh from overhaul at ZECO. There are plenty more where these came from, to be scanned when time permits.

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go to Zimbabwe photo galleries