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Explosive!
Saturday morning down in the docklands. Terry Tuttle-Tuttle-Thomas has just arrived on the mobile moonshine production train to deliver a batch of 180% proof ‘gin’ to The Kettle Inn. To keep people at...
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The 60
Sometime in the mid noughties, Class 60, no 60026 is caught ready to depart Cement Quay with freshly quarried cat litter for the not very well known ‘Kitty Fresh’ factory near Catford in Southeast...
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Dew
It’s early October 1963 and the evenings are definitely drawing in as the 7pm service to Templecombe via Highbridge has been given the clear to depart from Combwich. A low mist has started to hang...
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Dawn of Digital
Over the last few days I’ve been revisiting some images from the dawn of the digital era. Here’s an image from around 20 years ago taken on a rather plasticy HP Photosmart 945, with for what was then...
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Johnson 1P
#FEF aka Front End Friday….Yesterday evening after finishing my commercial photography work I completely reworked this 13 year old RAW file from the bottom up, or top down, depending on which way you...
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Locomotive Swap
In little Britain at weekends, all trains are replaced with buses, it’s been the law since 1883. Here we are at Ankle Bend Crossing just outside Combwich as the Rail Replacement Bus Service trundles...
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Arthritic Arthur
It’s a lovely Sunday morning at Catcott Halt, and Arthritic Arthur who lives not too far away in Burtle, likes nothing better than to look at the forever changing waters of the former Glastonbury...
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Monochrome Monday
Monochrome Monday - It’s unusual to find photographs of the front of Combwich station, but very occasionally they pop up. Historians of the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway will notice the...
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Creating the effect of Ash Ballast (2023 update)
Note the fine dull ballast on the track in the foreground and yard to the right.This is very much a feature of railways from the steam era. Click photo to enlarge.*I originally created this post way...
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Victor & Albert
Templecombe shed’s 3206, a former GWR engine, rumbles over Ankle Bend crossing on the outskirts of Combwich with the daily goods from Evercreech. The first wagon behind the engine is a milk tank, but...
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Trip to the Canning Factory
Once a year usually around this time, the old engine from the museum is fired up and taken on a spin of the dockland lines. The weather doesn’t look great, and the lack of suitable cover for both crew...
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Turnips
Sunday morning at the mill, and Deliberation Dave is building up courage to tell Terry Tuttle-Thomas-Smythe that his flies are undone, or ‘flying low’ as we say in Little England. Terry has a bit of a...
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Titfield Thunderbolt Week!
It’s Titfield Thunderbolt Week, that official! Okay not really, but let’s just go with it because it’s 70 years since our favourite Ealing Comedy was released. Though I must say that Ladykillers is...
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57 Years Ago
57 years ago today in 1966, the former Somerset & Dorset Joint Rly system closed forever. During the final year, there were many enthusiast specials. Here we are at Combwich in the summer of ‘65,...
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Jump Start
Today in Little England unexpected overnight snow at Ankle Bend crossing greets the 8.05 goods from Highbridge. 95 year old Beryl finally has her driving license back after yet another ban, so is...
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Titfield Thunderbolt Thursday
It’s Titfield Thunderbolt Thursday and there appears to be a problem with a flatbed lorry that’s ‘broken down’ on the crossing.Standing in front of the engine, Terry Tuttle-Thomas-Smythe is always on...
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Heading Home to Shrewsbury
Front End Friday #FEF, not only do you get the front of a locomotive, but also the front of a horse, Hubert in fact, though it might be Herbert, it’s so tricky to tell. Regular readers will know that...
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Sweet Revenge!
It’s all kicking off down at the docks!Barry Bullhead is surrounded by Hubert the conversational Latin speaking horse, Herbert the conversational Mayan speaking horse, and Hartley the only horse that...
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Hairy Horacio Locke-Paddle
Sunday down at the coal wharf, and the charming red bearded boatman Hairy Horacio Locke-Paddle is passing through with his supply boat which comes through every 3 or 4 weeks. Horacio is quite a charmer...
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Conversational Vectis
It’s Monochrome Monday of course, and because the colour meter isn’t topped up until Tuesday morning, and because of colour overuse during the week prior, it usually runs out on Sunday night resulting...
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