New Gallery Added - Pictures from the Huanan section of the September trip added.

New Gallery Added - Pictures from the North West Frontier trip added.

New Report Added - North West Frontier. A trip to see industrial steam in Xinjiang and Gansu, visiting Yamansu, Sandaoling, Yaojie, Tiehejinchang, Liujiaxia and Baiyin.

Class and Location Lists Updated.

Where do you go in the Czech Republic to photograph heavy diesel hauled freights these days? If you don't want to photograph under the wires and aren't that keen on pairs of 742s coupled cab to cab, there aren't that many lines to choose from. I decided to concentrate on two routes leading to the Polish border; Letohrad - Lichkov - Miedzylesie and Turnov - Liberec - Frydlant - Zawidow as both had reasonable levels of traffic, interesting locos and ran through pleasant scenery with good photographic possibilities.

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New Report Added - Main Line Steam Finale - A final visit to the JiTong line followed by a few days on the Huanan narrow gauge.

JiTong Finale pictures added.

The secondary main line from Brno to Jihlava has long been one of my favourite Czech lines and a return visit was becoming overdue. The combination of a bit of freight, an eclectic mix of class 754 and class 742 diesels and vintage class 850 railcars on passenger trains and pleasant rural scenery make this one of the country’s most attractive lines for photography. Previous trips had been dogged by poor or indifferent weather but this time the sun shone solidly for 3 days in a row, going some way to make up for the disappointment of my recent visit to a soggy Ceska Trebova.

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This should have been a photographic trip but turned into an opportunity to explore a number of lines looking for photo positions to use in the future. To say it rained from the moment I got off the plane to the moment I left would be an exaggeration, but not a big one. There were a couple of very short breaks in the cloud but the sky remained resolutely overcast virtually the whole time and the rain fell continuously for hours on end.

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Class and Location Lists Updated. Loco Finder page added to Gricers Guide.

Midsummer is a difficult time for photography. The sun gets far too high in the middle of the day for really satisfactory pictures and is at its best very early morning and in the late afternoon and early evening. To make the most of the photographic opportunities you need to find a north - south line with heavy traffic early and late. The Plzen – Domazlice line was an ideal candidate with a very sparse midday service but more trains in the rush hours, many hauled by Plzen's photogenic blue, white and yellow class 754 diesels.

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The lines around Zvolen and Banska Bystrica in south-central Slovakia provide the photographer with plenty of scenic locations, a high proportion of loco hauled passenger trains and some freight workings. In spite of the recent introduction of modern class 840 railcars and the beginning of electrification work on the line between Zvolen and Banska, there's still a lot to see and photograph. These pictures were taken during May 2003.

Zvolen Photos

Report from a very wet weekend trip to Praha. In between the downpours there were a few sunny breaks and a surprising number of photos, especially around Hlavni Nadrazi with it's superb overall roof. There are quite a few interesting workings around Praha at weekends including 749s on most Cercany trains and a smattering of 141 turns, including some expresses, not to mention all the other loco hauled trains with classes 150, 151, 162, 163, 350, 362, 363, 371 etc.

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The last concentration of class 753 diesels is at Liberec, where they work freights on the Nymburk - Mlada Boleslav - Turnov - Liberec - Frydlant v C - Zawidow route. I'd had little luck photographing these trains in the past but had managed to get a couple of decent shots on the previous trip. That left me eager for more, so it was back to Liberec at the first opportunity.

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Class and Location Lists Updated. Modified Gricers Guide Index Page.

A longer trip to the Czech Republic to photograph diesel workings in some of the country's most scenic areas. This trip covered three very different operations starting with the class 753 hauled freights in the Liberec area, moving on to the single track secondary route from Nachod to Mezimesti, with its class 714 and 742 worked local passengers, before finishing with class 754 hauled passengers on the double track line from Brno to Veseli nad Moravou.

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By April it was time to return to the Czech Republic for some diesels and electrics. As a gentle reintroduction to the country, I started off with a visit to the hills around Tisnov, west of Brno, an area I'd explored in poor weather last summer. Time was split between the diesel worked secondary line to Zdar nad Sazavou and the electrified main line.

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Class and Location Lists Updated.

Class and Location Lists Updated.

Jixi Didao and Jixi Lishu detail maps added.
March 2005 Photo Galleries added.

Jixi Overview Map, Meihekou Mine Railway Map added. High Definition Meihekou Map added.

New Report Added - Manchurian Industrials - A successful trip to Meihekou, Jixi, Dayan, Jalainur and Dahuichang in early March 2005.

Location Lists expanded to almost 300 operations in two series, CNR Bureaux and Non CNR Locations including industrial and local railways and museums. Cross linking added between location and class lists.

Bryan Acford's report of his trip to Pingdingshan, Yuzhou, Xingyang, Tiefa, Lindong, Yuanbaoshan and Pingzhuang in January/February 2005.

Number Lists updated. More historic data added. More Location Lists added

Lindong Pictures added to December 2004 photo gallery.

Number Lists brought up to date.
Class Profiles added for FD class 2-10-2s, KD6 class 2-8-0s, KD7 class 2-8-0s.
Number Lists added for FD, KD6, KD7 and 42 other classes.
Location Lists section added with rosters for individual locations.

Number Lists updated. 4 new Bryan Acford movies added.

Central China Winter 2004/5 pictures added.

New Report Added - Central China - The Xuzhou area and Pingdingshan over the New Year.