Part 1 (January - June)

67005 'Queen's Messenger' is pictured on arrival at London Kings Cross with the SuO 1A18 0843 from Leeds, which it had dragged from Peterborough via Cambridge due to engineering work on the ECML (06/01/2019)

A couple of hours later one of the pair of dedicated 'Royal Train' locos waits to return to Peterborough with 91116 and 1S24 1432 King's Cross - Edinburgh in tow. Just visible in the background is sister 67002 which was on 'Thunderbird' duty at the time but later worked the day's third and final northbound 'drag' (06/01/2019)

A more traditional view of 67005 'Queen's Messenger' at London Kings Cross prior to working the first leg of the diverted 1S24 1432 to Edinburgh as far as Peterborough via the Hitchin Flyover, Cambridge and Ely (06/01/2019)

The following week saw another 'celebrity' loco involved in the Cambridge diversions: 67021 waits to depart from Peterborough with 1A18 0843 Leeds - Kings Cross (13/01/2019)

A close-up of the 'British Pullman' livery applied to 67021, which is normally found working Belmond's 'VSOE' charters around the south of England (13/01/2019)

I'd bailed at Peterborough earlier that morning to wait for a 'required' 67004, which was in pole position to work the next southbound 'drag' two hours later. As luck would have it '1A25' then helpfully made a 'minus' at Kings Cross into the 1432 Edinburgh service after the ECS arrived late from Ferme Park, so my stay in the Capital totalled around twelve minutes rather than the four hours I'd been anticipating! 67021 is pictured here waiting to depart for Peterborough with the delayed 1S24 (13/01/2019)

Recently repainted into DB's house colours, 90028 is pictured on arrival at Newcastle with 1N16 1222 from London Kings Cross (27/01/2019)

Although '90s' have been a daily sight on the ECML for some time now to cover for shortages of '91s', visits to Newcastle are uncommon due to the fact that only a select pool of LNER's London-based drivers are trained on them. 'Sir William McAlpine' is seen here waiting to return back south with 1Y42 1604 to Kings Cross (27/01/2019)

68018 + 68034 wait time at Lancaster with the 6K73 0830 Sellafield BNF - Crewe Coal Sidings empty flasks (02/02/2019)

86259 'Peter Pan' races through Lancaster with the Railway Touring Company's 1Z86 0710 Euston - Carlisle 'Winter Cumbrian Mountain Express' charter (02/02/2019)

57316 approaches the A61 bridge at Stourton with 5Z40 0620 Carnforth Steamtown - York ECS move for a Northern Belle charter to Hull via Harrogate and Leeds (15/02/2019)

66772 passes the Freightliner Terminal at Stourton with 6M31 0929 Doncaster Down Decoy - Arcow Quarry stone empties (15/02/2019)

A couple of hours later, 66748 'West Burton 50' passes Killingbeck on the descent into Leeds with 6D72 1132 Hull Dairycoates - Rylstone 'Tilcon' empties (15/02/2019)

150144 + 150106 depart from Smithy Bridge with Northern's 2L79 1119 Blackburn to Southport service (22/02/2019)

Still carrying its Colas colours, 60047 passes Smithy Bridge with 6M36 0954 Drax - Liverpool Biomass Terminal. The empty trains previously ran on 75mph 'Class 4' schedules, but have recently been retimed to run at a maximum of 60, making this circuit (in particular the heavy loaded trains) ideal for GBRf's latest acquisitions. Hopefully the first of many similar shots out in the Pennines as the days get longer (22/02/2019)

With Northern's 'Pacers' reportedly in their last year of service, shots such as this one will soon be a thing of the past: 142038 + 142062 slow for the Smithy Bridge call on 2N96 1052 Southport - Blackburn (22/02/2019)

A growing number of units now carry Northern's new house colours, and matching pair 150222 + 150270 are pictured here on the approach to Smithy Bridge with 1J10 1124 Southport - Leeds (22/02/2019)

After photographing the '60' on the Biomass empties I didn't need much persuasion to hang around for an extra hour in the unusually warm Spring-like sunshine, but the rapidly-changing angle of the Winter sun was always going to make this last shot trickier than it might have been. 66174 heads west with the 6M16 0725 Wilton - Knowsley refuse containers (22/02/2019)

Running as 5M59 1320 Holbeck Loco Sidings to Leicester LIP, 57312 'Solway Princess' leads a short consist of two translator vehicles and 37601 past Hunslet Station Junction. The quartet had earlier been utilised by R.O.G. to move a Northern Class 333 EMU from Neville Hill to Holbeck for refurbishment (25/02/2019)

Retro-liveried 91119 waits to depart from Kings Cross with 1S25 1630 to Glasgow Central. Alongside is DB Cargo's 90019 at the head of 1D21 1605 to Leeds (10/03/2019)

A once eveyday scene that's now on borrowed time as LNER introduce more 'Azuma' units into traffic: 91106, 90019 and 91119 enjoying the afternoon sunshine at Kings Cross (10/03/2019)

A brake fault brought a premature end to 47765's day, but with the weather considerably more pleasant than all bar one day of the last three weeks, I headed out with the camera to see what I could find. This is 34092 'City of Wells' heading downgrade towards Heap Bridge with the 1430 Heywood - Rawtenstall (23/03/2019)

Having taken over from the '47' on the 'diesel turn' a couple of hours earlier, 33109 'Captain Bill Smith RNR' attacks Broadfield Bank with the 1355 Rawtenstall - Heywood (23/03/2019)

With the sunlight suddenly having all but disappeared without warning, 33109 approaches Heap Bridge on its way back towards Bury with the 1515 Heywood - Rawtenstall (23/03/2019)