The 2026/27 season of meetings of the Solent Branch commenced with a presentation by John Goodrich illustrating his travels in Scotland using rail rovers from 1972 to 2025. This long timeframe allowed photos taken at many locations to take the form of then and now views with 1970s and 1980s rolling stock and their 21st century counterparts. Much has changed since John first took photos in Scotland. The sight of a Class 24 locomotive with Mk 1 coaches, a Royal Mail van on the platform at Thurso, and the small goods yard with pick-up freights showed the 1970s to have been a world away from today’s railway.
Many liveries were illustrated in the talk with three subtle variations on the Strathclyde carmine and cream livery being noted on Class 320s on one day in June 2003. Oddities included a Network SouthEast liveried Class 305 at Edinburgh on a North Berwick service, and the so-called Mexican Bean livery on a dmu at Crianlarich in August 1987.
Whilst the presentation was primarily concerned with trains, some signal boxes and commemorative plaques were illustrated, including those at Glasgow Queen Street installed to mark the commencement of the suburban electric services in 1960 and subsequent anniversaries, and the memorial to the victims of the Quintinshill disaster of 1915 to be found at Larbert.
John was thanked for his presentation which covered the length and breadth of Scotland from the border with England to Thurso and illustrated the variety of locomotives and rolling stock that have been seen there
