02/01/2025 –

We spent New Year in London and I couldn’t resist going to the top floor of our hotel to capture images overlooking Charing Cross and Waterloo East

04/01/2025 –

Bark along with us as we visit the Swanage Railway for their first event of 2025, the “Winter Warm Up” which took place on January 4th & 5th. We visited on the Saturday to watch a combination of steam and diesel locomotives hauling both passenger and freight trains through the Purbecks. Remember to dress up warm as it’s mighty cold!

The first week of 2025 saw a number of runs for the Snow & Ice Treatment Train (SITT) in Dorset utilising GBRf Class 66 No.’s 66768 ‘Yvonne Bradley’ + 66714 ‘Cromer Lifeboat’. This video includes clips of every daylight movement from 01/01/2025 to 07/01/2025 (the early morning outing on 04/01/2025 is omitted as even I was tucked up in my bed!) Passenger trains along the route from London Waterloo to Weymouth draw their power from a conductor rail, commonly known as the Third Rail as it is positioned alongside the standard railway track. If ice forms on the surface of the conductor rail, the flow of electricity is interrupted and trains are unable to draw power to move. To combat this, Network Rail has a fleet of treatment trains which scrape the ice off the conductor rail using metal brushes and spraying thousands of litres of anti-icing fluid to prevent the formation of ice.

For a few days in January, we swapped Dorset for Suffolk as we visited friends in Ipswich. I took the opportunity to point my phone camera at various passenger and freight workings in and around the county town

12/01/2025 –

A call from ​⁠ @jamiesmithgoingloco  inviting me along to the Southampton area to see Colas Railfreight Class 56 No. 56094 with an empty Long Welded Rail set working 6C01 0720 Ashford International to Eastleigh East Yard was too good to resist. We saw the Class 56 and other trains passing Horseshoe Bridge, St Denys after an initial visit to Eastleigh to catch sight of DB Cargo Class 66 No. 66088 at the head of 6N66 0700 Herne Hill to Eastleigh East Yard. A fine way to spend a Sunday morning

16/01/2025 –

Colas Rail Freight Class 37 No. 37175 with DBSO No. 9708 passing through Poole on a foggy night with the Structure Gauging Train reporting as 3Q02 2140 Eastleigh East Yard to Eastleigh East Yard. The loco sounded in fine fettle on the way to Weymouth, but all expectations for a similar performance on the return working were dashed as the train passed at a sedate pace!

A second selection of January 2025 Snow & Ice Treatment Train (SITT) workings in Dorset utilising GBRf Class 66 No.’s 66 66768 ‘Yvonne Bradley’ + 66714 ‘Cromer Lifeboat’. This video includes clips filmed between 08/01/2025 and 13/01/2025

19/01/2025 –

Europhoenix/Rail Operations Group (ROG) in de-branded DRS livery Class 37 No. 37423 powers through Castle Cary hauling Eastern Rail Services’ MK2 lounge car No. 6703, buffet first No. 1220, seated brake No. 9805 and accessible sleeper No. 10699 from the West Somerset Railway, where the stock has been engaged in filming work carrying a fictional Highland Sleeper livery, to Great Yarmouth working as 5Z03 1002 Bishops Lydeard to Yarmouth C.H.S.

22/01/2025 –

Colas Class 43 HST power cars No.’s 43274/43272 test train working a test train to Weymouth via the Heart of Wessex line running as 1Q18 0751 Derby R.T.C.(Network Rail) to Bristol Kingsland Road. This video also features South Western Railway Class 444’s and a Great Western Class 166 at Upwey

23/01/2025 –

The Wessex Snow & Ice Treatment Train operated in the early hours of 23/01/2025 reporting as 3Y89 0100 Totton Yard to Totton Yard. The usual suspects; GBRf Class 66 No.’s 66 66768 ‘Yvonne Bradley’ + 66714 ‘Cromer Lifeboat’ were once again in charge as the service ran from Totton Yard to Dorchester South and back

24/01/2025 –

GBRf Class 66 No. 66714 ‘Cromer Lifeboat’ passes Poole with 0Y89 0200 Totton Yard to Totton Yard which ran to Dorchester and back potentially checking for storm damage on the track

Soon after filming No. 66714 running solo through Poole, I was in a car heading to Gatwick Airport where I boarded a plane for Sydney, Australia. One of the reasons for my visit “down under” was to fulfil a long held ambition to see XPT’s .

During the 1970’s, the British Railways Board possessed an export division known as “Transmark”, which decided the InterCity 125 High Speed Train (HST) would make an attractive proposition to foreign operators and pitched the product to potential buyers. After a period of assessment, the Australian government duly placed an order for six power cars and 20 carriages in 1980. The trains were built under licence in Australia by Commonwealth Engineering and differed slightly from their British cousins by having a taller body to accommodate larger radiators and other heat and dust-combating equipment. There were also frontal air intakes and larger side windows.

The trains were introduced in 1982 and were an immediate success on long-distance routes – so much so that additional power cars and coaches were ordered. A total of 19 XPT power cars were built. During October 1990, the government announced that eight sleeper carriages would be ordered for use on overnight services to Brisbane, Murwillumbah and Melbourne. The XPT’s are presently operated under NSW TrainLink, running on long-distance regional and interstate North Coast, Main Western and Main Southern line services throughout New South Wales and interstate into Victoria and Queensland. The trains have been subject to refurbishments and overhauls to permit their use into the twenty-first century.

During October 2016, the NSW government announced the XPT fleet would be entirely replaced as part of the Regional Train Project. The replacement fleet, originally set to enter service in 2023, has encountered delays and is now scheduled for introduction around 2025–2027, resulting in the XPT operating longer than originally anticipated and will now be retained even after the new trains enter service. The XPT’s currently work daily services including Sydney to Grafton, Casino, Dubbo, Melbourne and Brisbane.

For the record; GBRf Class 66 No.’s 66750 & 66709 reversed at Poole Station on 29th January 2025 with a rail delivery train working as 2253 6G24 Eastleigh East Yard to Branksome. The train had been scheduled to run out to the storage sidings, but work being conducted on the longterm out of service track work prevented this.

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