Tom

Felt like that in some places tbh

A weekend in Norfolk and Suffolk because I've never been here before!

Great area, will be coming back despite the very windy weather this weekend. Berney arms was freezing!

Along with seeing an RHTT at Ely, this weekend was a good reminder that we are in autumn now🍂

Went north of the Humber too for a few stations and sprinters.

To cross the Humber I walked over the river. I've wanted to do this for a long time and it didn't disappoint at all!

Railway 200 is today, so naturally I've caught some trains.

Headed to the very peaceful Barton Line, which has a 170 trundling through the shacks back and all forth all day

It's a slow paced line, but it's very nice😀

From Scotland to Essex...

Comes to something when the best part of the day is making a one minute connection at Great Bentley.

That said,the flirts still remain nice to travel on and all stations on Clacton and Walton branches are now ticked.

A great trip in Scotland has to come to an end eventually, but a sleeper cabin is a good way to leave!

Slept a lot better than when I've done it in a seat and woke up to a coffee and a great sunrise somewhere near Milton Keynes😎

Great couple of days in Moray and the Highlands after our long IET journey to get here.

Coastal walk to Cullen yesterday and then back on the Kyle line today to get my remaining stations on this amazing line. 158711 is looking very shiny!

Also, time for a short HST journey🔥

Started in London at 0930 on 800109,finally alighted at 2000 in Inverness thanks to the Carlisle Diverts this weekend!

Had a few laughs on the way and a couple of extended dwells allowed for some leg stretches, which meant it wasn't that bad

Extended my holiday slightly further by having a couple of days in Wales.

West Wales is great, and the valleys has changed a fair bit since I was last here. Far fewer sprinters and more modern,clean new Stadlers. It's a massive improvement for the region!

Lastly before going back to the UK, a bit of time in Germany!

Did not stop raining in Munich, so took some shelter by going to the Allianz Arena Stadium tour, worth doing!

My hotel was near a station called kissing, so took a visit to this unusual named place😂

From Paris, brilliant 7 hour TGV over the Alps into Milan🇮🇹

Slightly obsessed with the heritage trams here, lots of different types 😅

Lastly, managed to get a visit to one of Europe's most iconic stadiums...

From Blackpool, quickly south to London.

From there, a smooth E* journey to Paris! So much to do in Paris, but spent my evening in Bastille area🇫🇷

Decent evening despite grey clouds rolling over the hills bringing darkness from above...

Start of a holiday, and starting it in Blackpool. Always an interesting place, but first time since the new tram extension to North along with a unexpected dart ride brightened it up a lot...

While this service runs, it'll be an annual visit for me to the Peak Sightseer.

Open top buses surrounded with lovely scenery, it's one of the highlights of the summer!

Three more challenging stations ticked, with just a morning and evening service at each.

I'll have to get Chathill another time but it's a ✅ for Acklington, Widdrington and Pegswood.

Also saw 158844 with it's new livery looking smart at Morpeth.

Three more challenging stations ticked, with just a morning and evening service at each.

I'll have to get Chathill another time but it's a ✅ for Acklington, Widdrington and Pegswood.

Also saw 158844 with it's new livery looking smart at Morpeth.

GCs two Class 221s seen side by side at Bradford Interchange earlier today.

I then jumped on set 143 to the cross, featuring an unusual reversal at Whitehall Jn at the throat of Leeds station so we could head south!

Since may 2025, yes.

Very used to 333s being on the Shipley triangle services north west of Leeds, but since May they've stretched their legs a bit more and now have booked workings to/from Doncaster.

Great run on them, even if hearing "Welcome to the Doncaster train" sounds very wrong to me!

50% of stations done!

Think it was Camden road that got me to it, but I've done a lot of LO stations today and they've all slightly blurred into one.

Little bit of a Greater Anglia interlude too as I briefly went out of the 1-6 area to grab a couple of stations near Cheshunt.

91105 seen inside the National Railway Museum, with it's fresh new livery for 50 years of the National Railway Museum.

There's a lot going on with it, but I like it!

Next onto Ticino. Spent some time in Lugano where I also cleared every station on the Ponte Tresa branch in some humid conditions.

Then also headed out of the region into Domodossola 🇮🇹 via the Ferrovie Autolinee Regionali Ticinesi. I'll let you work out the acronym used here!

Switzerland:

Starting in the car free town of Zermatt where I walked up to the Findelfachbrücke viaduct, which also offered a view of the Matterhorn overlooking the town.

Then, a very nice ride behind some great swiss traction to get me back down the hill!

Germany:

1 night vice 2 here due to the earlier issues I had. That was a night in Wuppertal, where I spent some time on the unique Wuppertal Schwebebahn!

The system was faulty last year when I came, luckily no issues this time so managed a full run on this unique system.

Interrail 2025!

Started in a bad way with delays on WCML and E* unit issues so I missed last train east of Bruxelles. Did get an upgrade out of this though.

Made the most of this night in 🇧🇪 by going for a journey on Kusttram, and getting some Belgian trains to Bruges!

Yes, quite possibly!

Took our random station challenge out of London to Manchester yesterday for a change.

I paired up with @boycave.bsky.social, we legged it around a lot Manchester but just not quite enough to be 1st.

Thanks to @bens2477.bsky.social for organising and great to see everyone else there!

First trip to Bradford Forster Square for a while, since I've last been a new platform 0 has opened along with some additional LNER departures.

Luckily managed to time this trip very nicely for a MK4 set out of here 🤩

Cheshire day ranger today!

Started at Stockport early to catch the one a week service to Stalybridge, then to tick some stations on both routes between Manchester and Liverpool.

A few missed ones due to issues on the badly congested deansgate corridor but still a good day 😀

North downs line today!

Nice line east of Guildford but lots of 165s today, so thought I'd also break it up a little by ticking Boxhill and Westhumble as well.