Thursday 27 June: A day out from Dunbar, to ride on the recently-reopened line to Leven, on the shores of the Firth of Forth in Fife… I’ll change trains at Kirkcaldy (for a brief exploration), and on my return I’ll stop for a few photos at the lovely little station at Aberdour (see above). Visit ‘Leven… Kirkcaldy and Aberdour’ on Geoff’s Rail Diaries for a full illustrated account of the rail-related aspects of this most enjoyable outing.

Another look at rail traffic over the splendid South Esk viaduct at Montrose – three Scotrail Inter7City HSTs in 15 minutes. Visit “South Esk” on Geoff ‘s Rail Diaries for photos and details

It’s about 12 miles from Dunbar to North Berwick, and though both are on the rail network, it’s not easy to do the journey by rail (getting on for 60 miles…). I’ll return to Dunbar on the bus. More to follow; in the meantime, a taster…

A quick look at the splendid viaduct at Montrose (on a very dull morning), and a ride on the reopened (earlier this month) railway to Leven,  with a visit to the very attractive and floral station of Aberdour on the return journey to Edinburgh. The following are tasters of future posts…

Mainland to Skye… Just for a change, we’ve forsaken the bridge (and quite a few road miles) for the ferry. Mallaig is very busy – tourists all over the place. The ‘Jacobite’ (which some seem to know as the Harry Potter train) is in, but to return to Fort William the locomotive – 45407 – will have to run tender first. We’ll record the departure with no great enthusiasm, and we’re glad to get away as we board the MV Loch Bhrusda for the half-hour crossing. The time passes quickly – the sea views are great!

View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map?X=165388&Y=800400&A=Y&Z=126

Just published to Geoff’s Rail Diaries, lots of photos from yesterday’s visit to the Staffordshire railway. Visit “Statfold Scenes” for the full picture

I’ve been at the Statfold Barn Railway in Staffordshire today, and taken far too many photos (as usual). It’ll take a while to sort through them (and certainly not this evening) but here are one or two “tasters”.  A “Rail Diaries” page will appear in due course.

Statfold Barn Railway

It may have been obvious from the photo on my previous post, though I didn’t mention it. After many years of only being seen in shades of green, 60532 has been turned out in the early BR blue livery. It’s blue Blue Peter for the foreseeable future, and though the paint job needs finishing off, the overall effect was very impressive.
For more from this afternoon’s short trip to Oakengates to see the test train, visit “Blue Blue Peter” on Geoff’s Rail Diaries.

No, not the TV programme. This Blue Peter is LNER-designed A2 60532, back on the main lines after a lengthy absence. Today’s trip was a loaded test run – five (very assorted) coaches and a locomotive at the rear, there only for emergency and shunting. Recent rain would probably have made our favourite spot inaccessible – “Let’s try Oakengates…”. A few more photos from Oakengates will appear on Geoff’s Rail Diaries – soon.

Wednesday 26 March: I’m on the sleeper again tonight, with time to kill before boarding. Giving the camera some exercise will help to pass the time on this dark and rainy night. Visit “A rainy night” on Geoff’s Rail Diaries for the full story and more photos