To illustrate the discussion on the crchat email group, a small selection of photos mainly from my own camera

The Eden Valley Railway in Cumbria was the location for a dramatic piece of filming on Sunday, 4th July. The bridge at Sandford over the B6259 had been selected for a simulated bridge strike by a road tanker in a forthcoming TV drama starring Tamsin Outhwaite. These pictures were taken around 11 am. Drivers on the nearly A66 trunk road must have been startled by loud explosion and associated fireball.

Photographs taken on a visit to signal boxes at the Cumbrian end of the line, and arranged for a couple of weeks before the abolition of Low Row SB and the commissioning of the new PSB at that location.

All photographs taken with permission and with supervised track access where necessary.

Taken on visits to boxes in December 2007. Somehow we seem to have missed Blea Moor !

All photos taken with full permission and supervised access to tracks

A collection of photos from my collection of the buildings and infrastructure taken at various times before and after closure in the 1960s

A collection of photos from my collection of the buildings and infrastructure taken at various times before and after closure in the 1960s

A collection of photos from my collection of the buildings and infrastructure taken at various times before and after closure in the 1960s

A collection of photos from my collection of the buildings and infrastructure taken at various times before and after closure in the 1960s

A collection of photos from my collection of the buildings and infrastructure taken at various times before and after closure in the 1960s

A collection of photos from my collection of the buildings and infrastructure taken at various times before and after closure in the 1960s

A collection of photos from my collection of the buildings and infrastructure taken at various times before and after closure in the 1960s

Photos of the collision on Carlisle Goods Lines just south of St.Nicholas Bridges when an empty coaching stock train ran into the rear of an up freight on the afternoon of Saturday 30th July 1966. The last image dates from a few days later when 70017 had been recovered to Upperby shed. It was promptly withdrawn from service

Views of steam mainly from some of Carlisle's lesser known locations. All taken during the period 1965-1967

A further selection in response to the enthusiastic response to the earlier batch. This lot takes us through into the early 1970s. Look for some interesting locations including the Keswick branch !

Keep the comments coming - they give great encouragement !

Just a small start, but this will be a collection of photos taken during the the 1960s and 70s of a few of the wonderful variety of railway wagons which then still formed part of the everyday railway scene.

Most of my images of Class 40s taken up to the end of 1966. The locations are predominantly around Carlisle iwth some on the WCML a bit further afield.

Neg No is appended by brief subject details and date in order of yymmdd where known. Apologies for so many undentified locos !

I hope you enjoy this collection

Presenting a selection of photos of signal boxes on the various lines radiating from Carlisle in the 1960s. Most of these have now been lost

Files are largely unsorted but all locations are named. Dates are in the order of yymmdd

This collection of photographs was taken by myself and the late John Packham to record Carlisle's wonderful collection of signal boxes which were swept away with resignalling and electrification in the early 1970s.

Unsorted, they are all named. Dates are are in the order of yymmdd

A collection of photos of Keswick station taken over several years in the late 1960s and through to just after closure in 1972 when it was already starting to look very unkempt. While not comprehensive they do give a good insight into the detail of the station and the challenge it provides for potential modellers.

Keswick is a very interesting prototype for the modeller, especially in early BR years when it hosted a wide variety of locomotive classes on special workings, up to and including rebuilt Royal Scot class 4-6-0s, and in the last two or three years, even class 40s and a class 50 on the annual London-Keswick special workings for the Keswick Convention.

A fascinating and spacious station in a beautiful setting can inspire modellers and well deserves their attention.

Continuing coverage of signal boxes round the railways of Cumbria taken in early 2008. Some exteriors are currently missing as the weather and light were just too bad at the time - will revisit to complete these hopefully during this coming summer of 2009. Thanks to Ken Harper of Network Rail for facilitating access for these photographs - all taken with permission and fully supervised for track access.

OVer two weekends relaying of the down line through Grange-over-Sands has taken place. Over 22-23rd April about 1110 yards of 50 year old bull-head jointed track was replaced by cwr - running from the Barrow end of the station platform to Bridge No. 19, Clare House Lane. During 29-30th April a much shorter length from near the signal box through the station was undertaken. The photos are a selection of those taken during the two weekends

Experimental photos round the station after dark. All handheld with film speed wound up to 1600 ASA. Some have benefited from digital noise reduction using Paint Shop Pro

A small collection of recent photos on clear winter days

A selection of photos taken at this event at the Siemens test site at Wildenrath in Germany. After the unveiling of 185105 the guests were treated to several circuits of the test track on board 185103, then out onto DB for a run to a station near Munchengladbach for the return flight. The first train is due to arrive in the UK during htenext week or two, testing on the ECML and Furness line from December, and into service from March.

A selection of photographs inspired by the work to Colin Gifford. I bought his "Decline of Steam" to celebrate being offered a job in Carlisle. At three guineas it was a lot to pay then - but worth every penny!

From recent visits to Ireland, North and South

An odd ball collection which does not yet fit anywhere else !

Various station scenes across the region taken 2001-present. I have many more of these, if yours is not here please enquire and if available I will publish.

Some photos of these trains in build and early running

More photos round the region, mainly trains

Travelling with Great Rail Journeys we were able to experience an amazing variety of forms of travel - from the high speed Shinkansen, through regional and commuter rail services, underground metro in Tokyo, urban and rural tramways, cablecars, cable-ways and monorail. I hope this gives a flavour of it all

A miscellany of rail scenes in the North West as experienced by the passenger - sorry - customer!

Up to the 1980s the Cumbrian coastal mining town of Whitehaven had two cable worked inclines. These pictures show that at Corkickle where the "brake" was the only rail link between the large Marchon chemical plant at Kells with the main BR line at Corkickle. These pictures were taken on two visits during 1986, in February and during the last week of operation in November.

For more information about the fascinating and historic railways of Whitehaven see a recent publication by the Cumbrian Railways Association - details at http://tinyurl.com/lwqzsh

My firsit visit to this line was in June 1972 and most of these photographs derive from that visit. Although not comprehensive in their cover of the stations and associated infrastructure they do give a good flavour of much that was to be lost in following years

A selection of photographs taken on the various goods lines of Carlisle (except round Kingmoor Yard) during their last heyday - and after when passenger trains were diverted round them during engineering works prior to electrification of the West Coast Main Line

An initial selection of photos taken in and around Whitehaven of it richness of industrial railways - plus some copies of older images.

A selection is images taken in the varied industrial scene of West Cumberland in the 1960 and 70s

Unlike many photographers at the time, I rarely put my camera down when a diesel or electric loco appeared. Here is a selection of some photos from the late 1950s and early 1960s

A selection of early photographs from my first acquisiton of a 35 mm camera - a Kodak Retinette.