An 11th ColourRail Journey

Paul Chancellor opened our 2024/25 season with a fine selection of images from the “11^th Colour-Rail Journey”. Paul is proprietor of this organisation which handles prints, slides, and digital images from photographers and digitises them for customers to view and potentially buy. Colour-Rail has a vast catalogue of images stretching back over many years. The collection we saw on 19^th September started in 1964, running up to the 1990s and we visited each railway company corner of England, Wales and Scotland in turn with a wonderful mix of steam, diesel and electric traction. Paul aimed to have one image of each class of locomotive which was still running in 1964. Many varied GWR, LMSR, LNER and SR steam locomotives from Pannier Tanks, Prairies, Jintys, J94s, O2s (both railways which used that designation!) right through to Castles, Kings, Jubilees, Princess Coronations, A3s, A4s, Merchant Navys, Battle of Britain/West Countrys. Diesel classes from the early trial types, cl.01 shunters all the way to cl.52 Westerns, and cl.55 Deltics, electric locomotives classes AL1-AL6, EM1 (what we later knew as cl.76!), Diesel Multiple Units, including the very rare Wickham two car, (one is now preserved) and EMUs both a.c. and d.c. overhead and third rail. Our audience ranged from folks who remembered those days, to folks who wished they were old enough to remember those days!