Continuing on my theme from last week’s post in this series; is a round-up of my steam memories of the 1990’s.  We start with two pictures of industrial locomotives, included here simply to state that a steam enthusiast is ever vigilant!  The picture above of is of 0-4-0 saddle tank “Ajax” at Chatham Dockyard in the early 1990’s, whilst that below is “Singapore” taken at Duxford Airfield in 1994.  Note the Japanese bullet holes in the cylinder!

Continuing the theme of industrial locomotives is 2199 “Victory” at Castle Hedingham on the Colne Valley Railway.

These pictures were taken in 1997 at a brief visit to the railway.

Another place occasionally visited in my youth was Didcot Railway Centre.  This fantastic site for GWR fans is definitely worth a visit.  The only picture I have worth sharing is that below of GWR railcar number 22, often referred to as an “honoury steam locomotive”!  This was taken in 1995.  A few weeks ago I returned to Didcot, if you are interested please go to the steam diary to read more.

The final location today is the East Somerset Railway, which was a site occasionally visited briefly en-route to holidays in Devon from Kent.  At the time, David Shepherd’s 9F 92203 Black Prince and standard 4MT 75029 Green Knight (below) were based on the line in Cranmore.

Visiting this line was always a brief affair, but well worth the visit, not only because of the before mentioned locomotives, but also as it is home to the only surviving ex-LBSCR class E1 number 110; of particular interest to the Southern railway enthusiast.  It is pictured below, behind J52 68846 which is an ex GNR/LNER design made famous by Hornby’s cheap model version!  Another attraction of interest at Cranmore station were the many David Shepherd paintings on view in the signal box.

This concludes this chapter.  Next Saturday will be the final post in this particular series of my early adventures!