Thank you Fraser. Glad you enjoyed it and found it informative.

You’re welcome at least it wasn’t raining when you were at the station

Thank you - glad you enjoyed it.

I've been out this very day filming on the old Kirkcudbright branch so - yes - hopefully it'll be published fairly soon. Wigtown - well, as my Irish relatives used to say - "If I'm spared"!

I must admit that I haven't seen the weed-killing train this season - but, sadly, it's not allowed to spray within station confines - elf and safety, don't you know! The tracks away from the station seem to be in good fettle, so I can only presume that the spraying train (invariably the dirtiest train on the railway) is still in use - perhaps by night?

I have similar memories of travelling by train from my home in Darlington to the seaside at Redcar. Back in the 1950s the train ran right through the middle of the vast steelworks along the Tees estuary and you could actually see the molten steel pouring out from the blast furnaces - fascinating - but, of course, all long since gone.

The price of fame, eh? No, the logs didn't run although they were scheduled to.

Keen - or insane - opinions vary!

Thank you. Sadly, I never ever saw the original Midland Pullman - one of my major regrets.

Thank you - but only one coffee, would you believe?

Thank you. Sunshine - yes - we haven't been over blessed with it this summer! Best wishes.

Hi Colin. I believe the plan is for a daily aviation fuel train, running north overnight and south, empty, in the daytime. It's early days yet and we'll have to wait and see what materialises. I wish I could afford to travel on the Blue Pullman. It's doing a trip from Dumfries to Penzance next month and my first thought was "Forget the cost - let's do it" until I discovered that it's a three-day trip and accommodation in Penzance for two nights is not provided. Idea dropped! The lady on the platform at Lockerbie was actually asking if the station loos were still open - needless to say, the train crew had no idea. The clock tower at Lockerbie is on the town hall which is where, twelve years ago, I took my Day Skipper qualification for inshore vessels. All I need now is a boat! Best wishes.

@@schoolshorts Thats a heck of a lot of fuel Tim Makes you realise just how much aircraft use. Blue Pullman is not cheap but I have seen video on board and sat in similar seats on their Push Pull train when it came to KWVR railway Very comfortable. I may treat myself to ride on it one day. It does some very long day trips as well as the overnight ones I wonder how many do the full tour. Looking at the weather at Carnforth on Saturday you were lucky not to need a boat LOL. We chose the right places to go that day.

Just before the 2nd World War the Southern had developed the basic carriage wash which we see today. The idea was for the locomotive and train would go through the wash together so as to reduce manpower for cleaning purposes. The air smooth cassing caused problems typical for the railway!

In the 1930s streamlining was all the rage. Gresley streamlined his A4 class locomotives for the LNER and the survivors retain their streamlining to the present day. Stanier streamlined some of his LMS Coronation class engines but the outer casing was eventually removed leaving a more conventional machine. Oliver Bulleid had been personal assistant to Gresley and after taking over as Chief Mechanical Engineer to the Southern Railway he tried to modernise steam locomotive design using practices taken from the motor car industry - chain driven valve gear, enclosed oil baths etc - which caused more problems than it solved! He never referred to his Merchant Navy locos as "streamlined" but rather as "air-smoothed". I agree with you re the aesthetics - I've never liked the looks of them, but that's a matter of personal taste. I'm sure there'll be many who disagree with me. Many of the Merchant Navy and Light Pacific classes were rebuilt with conventional valve gear and without the outer casing, becoming - to my mind - some of the best-looking steam engines ever. Once again, a matter of personal taste. They were very powerful and lightweight, leading to a marked propensity to slip - and remained notoriously smoky to the end of their days - many examples can be found among my videos.

@@geoffreyford7288 southern railfans niknamed them [spam cans]

I believe the designer (one O.V.S. Bulleid) required to lower the engine's air resistance at-speed , but in war-time was not readily allowed to refer to this as "streamlining". This was accordingly modified to (an) "air-smoothed casing"...

Thanks David. I wonder what the birds think of the weather in that part of the world!

@@schoolshorts probably think to wet!

@@schoolshorts Probably think it's too wet!

Yes - I know the Manx railways quite well although I haven't filmed there since 2008 (kzfaq.info/get/bejne/fLSEh8eKy5iWnnk.html). I'm not familiar with the Scottish lines you mention - I'll have to look them up.

The other one in Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 is at Aviemore there’s a always a few interesting trains up there including steam trains and class 37S they are very small the other and only open over the summer

Thanks Colin. It's good to get back to working with equipment and software that really can handle the material - I'll have to reset my camera and the drone to the highest settings that they're capable of achieving. They had to be set to lower, older standards during the time I was confined to the laptop. Sadly, a certain amount of material has been lost - my backup routine wasn't as good as I thought it was. A lesson to be learnt there.

@@schoolshorts Hopefully nothing really rare was lost and you have got a better backup routine now so that's good. Future videos back to high standard again in time for the next charter train. Hoping for a fine day in York tomorrow with a Peak due in on it's first charter train

Thank you Fraser. The weather is the one thing you can never rely on in the Lake District. Of my four days down there, only the last day enjoyed good weather enabling me to walk and film. I'd booked all my tickets a month in advance and didn't book seats in open coaches for that very reason.

You’re welcome I am meant to be going to Crieff area off Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 in September but not sure if it’s worth going for two weeks or just one reason being the weather

- - and the fine weather did arrive - just too late in the day to be of any use to me! Best wishes.

@@tonywinward Hope you get a good day for it.

Thank you David. Pick a good day and you'll love it! Best wishes.

Do - you'll really enjoy it!

I had originally thought about filming the walk (climb?) up to Stanley Force waterfall but I understand that's closed as a result of storm damage so went for a much easier option. Something more demanding next time! A great day - yes indeed. I look forward to hearing about your crowd ed journey in due course.

@@FraserWest-um4ue I have been - but a long time ago!

It’s working in fact Scotrail is testing hydrogen fuel trains from Bo’ness

Well worth a visit if you' ve never been there. Best wishes.

I haven’t been before I will definitely consider going at some point

@@FraserWest-um4ue Enjoy it!

Thanks Colin. It was a most enjoyable day and ended up with me bumping into an old friend in the Ratty Arms and enjoying a couple of pints as well as a bite to eat. Long day - but great!

@@schoolshorts That's really nice turned out a good idea going to the Ratty Arms.

Thanks David. Not sorted yet - - - will it ever be, do you think?

Keep at it!! At least they're looking better - even if they don't close properly.

I feel sorry for these delivery drivers working for firms like DPD. Have you seen the length of the list of drop-offs and collections they have to make in one day? On the day my PC was collected, I was no 68 on his list - and he still had a lot more to go, starting out from Carlisle and working in some pretty obscure parts of Dumfries and Galloway. Sooner him than me. I had a LONG day on La'al Ratty yesterday - up at 04.30 having had little sleep and didn't get home until half-ten at night, so shattered this morning. At least the weather was glorious and, for once, all Northern's trains ran, and ran on time. Hopefully there'll be some good video eventually. Nothing happening at Carlisle for another week or do. Best wishes - Tim

@@schoolshorts Most times the drivers are gone in a flash but once one had a bit of a chat, he said mine was his next to last delivery which was around tea time, He had been out since around 8am would be a 12 hour day for him and they hardly get any pay. Then there was my Ikea delivery a couple of weeks ago that came with DPD 2X Single Besta units legs for them glass shelves hinges all in one box 2 x glass doors taped together, Box was so heavy he could hardly carry it, and I had to unpack it outside no way could I lift it. You sure had a long day and need a good rest today. It was a lovely day though so a nice change for you as you always seem to get the rain there. You may like to watch my Archive from Wednesday on Waverley Could be some people you know on there. Take care Tim

Ah yes, a lovely part of the world, D&G - but sadly lacking in railways. Hope you enjoyed your visit and glad you made it to Dalswinton - full of history from the iron age fort through to the first steamboat - I'll have to do a video on it one of these days! Incidentally - not many people south of the border know this, but there's only one lake in all of Scotland - you might like to try to find out which it is - all the rest are lochs, and we have two of them on the Dalswinton estate. A VERY long day on La'al Ratty yesterday, complete with sunshine and hot weather, so a very late start this morning! Best wishes - Tim.

@@schoolshorts Thanks for your reply Tim, cheers .

The biggest problem for the electrification of the route would be Drumlanrig tunnel - 1395 yards long - which would require substantial lowering of the floor to accommodate catenary and pantograph. Present traffic levels would hardly justify the enormous expenditure involved, especially since Network Rail seem unable even to fund the repair of Holywood gates! The lengthy single-track mileage north of Kilmarnock doesn't help, either.

Dating from November 1963, this old beast has certainly given some service! Having just returned from the works at Kilmarnock I'm assuming that the intention is to keep her (him? - Cepheus was a man, after all) active for some time to come.

It's a lovely spot, peaceful, almost road-traffic-free and straight out of the 1950s - if not the 1930s! It's just a pity that the lineside trees have grown to such a height that they make filming - even with the drone - darn near impossible.

It does happen from time to time. Another valuable app that sometimes does crazy things is www.map.signalbox.io/

Thanks for the info Tim, I'll have a look at that web site 👍

Ah well - we can't be in two places at once! I'm sure you enjoyed Blue Peter.

​@@schoolshortsI could, saw this at Penrith and Carlisle before making it back to York before Blue Peter arrived. Just!

@@CDMTransport Well done you!

Thanks David - a welcome change indeed.

36001 - the Leader - a strange idea that was dropped like a hot potato when Oliver Bulleid left BR to work for CIE.

@@Daveonthelevel You're very welcome. Thank you.

@@user-ut5hx3cn2q - - - but it did!!!

@@Barbarapape Thank you - I'd prefer a Black Five any day but we have to take whatever turns up. I'm sure they'll have Tangmere back on her feet - or wheels - before long!

@@BIGV710 Thank you. A voice-over is much easier for me than having to do scrolling text so let's hope there's no recurrence.

Thanks David. A change of ownership and the increasing cost of electricity seem to be factors in the decision - but it does seem to be a move in the wrong direction.

Thank you Philip.

I agree wholeheartedly but it seems we are going in the opposite direction.

It made sense when the roads were not busy a long time ago but now the roads are far too busy now and with the all speed cameras it takes a lot longer to drive than going by train

From what I've read in the press it seems that the cost of electricity is hitting the railways hard.

There’s always the option of diesel trains which would be a better option than stopping the trains completely