Great Britain II, Gleneagles
Originally uploaded by geoffspages

Should have done some homework before setting off… A trip to Skye, via Edinburgh, arranged at fairly short notice – never thought to see what was happening up there. We met the two locos – 45231 and 45407 – on Beattock bank as we drive northwards the previous day – quite a sight. Then, after an overnight stay in the Scottish capital, we continued northwards, via Falkirk and “the Wheel”. As we drove up the A9 towards Perth, we noticed lots of people beside the railway line – we’d better find out what was going on.
It was of course the “Great Britain II” railtour – seven days of steam haulage. Yes, we’d seen the 5s on Beattock – if we’d been organised, we might have seen Scots Guardsman too.

Ten locos in steam! Fantastic! Visit Ten in steam at Statfold on Geoff’s Rail Diaries for the rest of the photos…

Just published to “Geoff’s Rail Diaries“, an account of a trip to Edinburgh which coincided (is that the right word?) with new-built A1 60163 “Tornado” heading the first A1-hauled passenger train from Waverley since the mid-60s. Visit “Two A1s in Edinburgh” – if only to find the (pretty obvious) answer to the simple little puzzle posed by the title…

Just published to Geoff’s Rail Diaries, an account of a trip on the Kirklees Light Railway, the 15″ gauge line built on the trackbed of the former Clayton West branch near Wakefield, Yorks. Visit “Down the line with Badger“.