Wrekin views

Wrekin view to Brown Clee
Originally uploaded by geoffspages

Friday morning, 27 November - a walk up the Wrekin for an aerial view of the floods in the Severn valley. Sadly, the clear blue sky didn't last - there's more rain to come...

Nantmawr

Much better weather today - for a ride on the country's newest steam railway, behind one of its oldest working locomotives. The Nantmawr quarry branch, originally contructed by "the Potts", is an amazing survivor. The track wasn't lifted after the last quarry train, nearly 40 years ago. All the preservationists had to do was clear a linear forest... The locomotive is Beyer Peacock 1827 of 1879 from Foxfield.

Visit "Nantmawr" on "Geoff's Rail Diaries" for photos and video.

Panniers in the dale

Panniers in the dale
Originally uploaded by geoffspages

This one had been in the diary for a little while - so had the awful weather... (the immediately following shot has a raindrop clearly visible on the filter). But it was well worth turning out for the spectacle of steam in Coalbrookdale - only the second time since the end of steam