Deadmans Handle's photostream  

Another shot from the day that we got turned back at Bristol with 55018 due to the weather! Doesn't look too bad here! The West Country 'copped for it', as it often did when the rest of the country got off lightly!

You've got to admire the brevity of this name plate. I thought that racehorses were an apt choice for names of locos that certainly 'went the distance', particularly in the case of the preserved examples! My old friend. Mr Heyl, would have liked this one to soldier on into preservation!

Two week All Line Rover and first wife, Julie, and myself lived on trains for all bar one night of the two weeks! We went for variation of traction, though I seemed to unconsciously favour English Electric products! In this case, an ex works class 73!

Ex works and gleaming in the morning light out of Waterloo, and at this distance in time, into history....

Bless Steve Jackson. He used to cheerfully turn up at stupid o'clock in the morning after collecting (or not, as the case may be!) Mr Heyl, before we all set off in pre satellite navigation days to traipse around as many sheds as we could, seeking no more gratification than a 'new' class 08 or some exotic subject for a photograph! By this time, Mr Heyl and myself were both employed as guards at Guide Bridge and could abuse this position to get past some previously difficult locations to access! Armed with a loco shed directory and a rudimentary idea of 'where things were', we seemed to survive all right with our available technology! On this occasion we came across 56001 with several wires around the loco attached to one of Derby's specialist vehicles. I cannot imagine what information it acquired that could not be replicated by asking a driver his opinion on the locos performance! Driven properly, these machines were superb. Mistreated, then the consequences were dire - see 56030 in my photostream.