Favourite Trainspotting Locations


		STEAM: 1950's & 1960'S

		The contenders for my favourite "Steam age" trainspotting locations are WESTERN REGION: Shrewsbury, Exeter St Davids, Bristol Temple Meads, The Marches. SOUTHERN REGION: Basingstoke/Worting Junction, Tonbridge, Eastleigh, and Salisbury. LONDON MIDLAND REGION: Tamworth, Crewe, Rugby, Carlisle, Lickey Incline, Manchester Victoria. EASTERN/NORTH EASTERN: York, Kings Cross. My favourite was WORTING JUNCTION/BASINGSTOKE, with TAMWORTH a close second.

		MODERN DAY to 2000

		Here we cover the period up to 2000 only. Since there are now virtually no locomotive hauled passenger trains, and freight is almost wholly worked by General Motors class 66 locomotives, it seems to me that Trainspotting as I have known it for over half a century, has now finished. My contenders for my favourite "Modern Day" trainspotting location are Reading, Doncaster, Water Orton, Rugby, Carlisle, Wandsworth Road, Stafford, Newport, Colton Jc, Didcot. My favourite was STAFFORD, and WATER ORTON runner up.

		HERITAGE RAILWAYS

		My contenders for my favourite Heritage Railway location are Horsted Keynes (Bluebell Railway), Quorn (Great Central Railway), Goathland (North York Moors Railway), The Cob (Ffestiniog Railway), Crowcombe (West Somerset Railway), Highley (Severn Valley Railway), Port Penrhyn (Fairbourne & Barmouth Railway), Foxfield bank (Foxfield Railway), Ropley (Mid Hants Railway), & New Romney (Romney, Hythe, & Dymchurch Railway) How do you choose from the above. Well for sheer excitement, you cannot beat the sound of a hard working loco on the 1 in 49 gradient as the train approaches Goathland. But perhaps you can. Try standing beside Foxfield incline when a freight comes up. A tie. For sheer beauty of the scenery and the location, can you beat Horsted Keynes, Crowcombe, or the Porthmadog Cob. Well yes you can. Try standing at Port Penrhyn, Fairbourne. Ahead you have Barmouth Bridge and the Mawddach estuary. To the right you have Cader Idris, and to the left, Barmouth with it's picturesque harbour. Then add the superb locomotives..Yeo, Sherpa, Bedgellert, and Russell. But there is also the matter of the Great Central Railway's splendid double track section from Loughborough to Rothley. Nowhere else in the Uk is it possible to experience steam hauled passenger trains passing at speed in opposite directions. So here we have 4 winners. GOATHLAND, FOXFIELD, PORT PENRHYN, and QUORN.