Out and about in the UK and Europe 2019/2021
On 12th January 2022 the Sheffield Branch welcomed in the New Year with a “Zoom” presentation by Robert Pritchard, editor of Today’s Railways entitled “Out and about in UK and Europe 2019/2021”. We were treated to a feast of excellent photography following Robert’s travels in pursuit of his journalistic calling. This gives him opportunities to visit locations not available to the enthusiast including manufacturers’ maintenance facilities and infrastructure developments, as well as lesser-known stations.
We began with a tour of 2019 with all the excitement of new rolling stock and their successes and problems as new technology deals with ever-increasing environmental pressures. Departing stock also featured, notably Pacers and HST’s, some finding new opportunities. Robert’s coverage was chronological and the variety of material that he was able to show us from the period before the COVID pandemic began to curtail activities was quite remarkable.
Robert gave us a talk last January covering his travels in 2020 so in this session his focus then jumped on to 2021 as travellers returned to enjoy the new trains with most problems now solved. The photographs ranged from an elusive Metro-Vick Co-Bo and shots from the cab of a class 20 working on a Derbyshire cement works branch, to Eastern Europe with “Goggles” and “Grumpys” and the magnificent architecture of Moscow stations. Trams old and new were also included along with just a whiff of steam. Thanks Robert for sharing all of this with us.