Part 4 (September - December)

47401 sparkles in the late summer sunshine at Swanwick Junction whilst working 2H12 1246 Riddings - Hammersmith during a running day at the Midland Railway, BUtterley (02/09/2018)

The 47401 Project's spares donor 47761 is seen hidden away next to the museum building at Swanwick (02/09/2018)

'North Eastern' is pictured on arrival at Butterley with the 1546 from Riddings having completed the last of its four circuits of the Midland Railway's running line (02/09/2018)

47579 'James Nightall GC' awaits the arrival of a westbound train at Ropley whilst working the 1215 Alresford - Alton during a running day at the Mid Hants Railway (08/09/2018)

Some days bad things happen... It's approaching 1 a.m. at Leicester and 47760 is about to run round the heavily-delayed 1Z51 1651 Carlisle - Radlett to take the train forward via Manton and Corby in order to avoid a possession on the Midland Main Line. 47580 had been in charge from Hellifield, but having sustained damage to its main generator had been detached from the train in Morton Loop near Alfreton. Just visible inside is 33207 which was in transit from Carnforth back to Southall (12/09/2018)

ROG's 47812 opens up for the gallery as it passes Pepper Road with an additional 6X56 1051 Holbeck Loco Sidings - Stapleford crane move (19/09/2018)

47749 'City of Truro' is pictured on arrival with GBRf's 1Z42 0957 Glasgow Central - Crewe charter (23/09/2018)

The weather clearly seemed to have followed me down to Norfolk as 47367 poses beneath a near-matching blue sky at Dereham as it waits to depart with 1W11 1430 to Wymondham Abbey during the Mid Norfolk Railway's Gala weekend (29/09/2018)

With the shadows beginning to encroach, 47367 is pictured again at Thuxton with 1W11 whilst awaiting the arrival of a northbound train (28/09/2019)

The following morning 47596 'Aldeburgh Festival' is captured from the same spot with the first train of the day, 1W01 0930 from Dereham to the Network rail boundary at Wymondham (30/09/2018)

47749 'CITY OF TRURO' is pictured on arrival at Aberdeen with the 1A25 0443 portion from Edinburgh off the previous night's Euston - Inverness 'sleeper'. WIth a second pair of '73s' needed for a charter train to Fort William today there was always the possibility that the standby '47' might make an appearance, but even having been given the nod at lunchtime this one could definitely be described as a 'leap of faith' (06/10/2018)

Having run round its train, 47749 prepares to take the empties over to Clayhills to stable for the weekend. A burst fuel hose meant that 'Truro' sadly didn't make the return journey back down the East Coast the following evening and for now this remains the last occasion that a '47' has worked a publicly-timetabled passenger train (06/10/2018)

Once upon a time there were so many charters heading for Carlisle that it became a destination that we all took for granted. This though is my first run over the 'S&C' with a '47' this year, and only my second since the end of 2015! 47854 'Diamond Jubilee' is pictured on arrival at the 'Border City' with West Coast Railways' 1Z15 0600 'Spirit of the Lakes' charter from Peterborough via the GN/GE 'Joint' line, which I'd boarded at Lincoln earlier that morning (20/10/2018)

Locomotive Services' 47853 + 47810 pause at York with Statesman's 1Z22 0525 Milton Keynes - Inverness 'Lord of the Isles' weekend charter (27/10/2018)

A close-up of the pair: 47810 now sports two tone green colours, whilst one-time 'XP64' celebrity 47853 has reverted to all-over 'BR' blue (27/10/2018)

I probably needed a tripod to do this properly but this hasn't turned out too badly considering it's captured on the 'phone: 47853 + 47810 are pictured again later that evening during a pathing stop at Kingussie. The train we were waiting to cross was actually a returning SRPS charter to Linlithgow, which had it not been failed on arrival at Inverness earlier in the day should have been hauled by 37403 (27/10/2018)

A quick record shot after we'd finished our cleaning stint: I honestly never thought I'd arrive at Inverness behind a '47' again, let alone a pair. Strange how things turn out... (27/10/2018)

The remarkable sight of 47853 + 47810 on arrival at Kyle of Localsh with 1Z23 0900 from Inverness (28/10/2018)

The pair are seen here in the process of shunting the empties to allow the booked ScotRail service to access the station (28/10/2018)

A picture that for me just sums up a totally unexpected weekend: with the Isle of Skye in the background, 47810 + 47853 bask in the afternoon sunshine at Kyle (28/10/2018)

With the sun still shining brightly but the shadows beginning to lengthen, the pair arrive back into the the station having shunted the empties out of the back platform (28/10/2018)

A close-up of 47810 + 47853 in the headshunt at Kyle before working the return 1Z24 1600 to Inverness. The following day the pair then headed back south with 1Z26 0817 Inverness - Milton Keynes, and other than a burst fuel hose needing '853 to be shut down in the West Midlands performed faultlessly all weekend (28/10/2018)

Day 2 was blessed with some of the most stunning weather I've ever known in the Highlands. With the landscape reflected perfectly in the flat-calm waters of Loch Carron, 47853 + 47810 await permission to proceed through the avalanche shelter near Attadale used jointly by the railway and the A89 road (28/10/2018)

A similar view but with the locos in the process of being uncoupled before running round to take the train back to Inverness (28/10/2018)