14 photos from Mallorca, Bavaria, Ireland, the Channel Tunnel and Germany.

Jenbach, about 30km east of Innsbruck, is very busy with Brenner line freight but is also the starting point for two narrow gauge railways - the 760mm Zillertalbahn to Mayrhofen, and the 1000mm steam-operated rack and adhesion Achenseebahn to Lake Achen.

This collection has 20 photos taken on 21 June of a trip on the Achenseebahn, plus brief looks at Zillertalbahn locos and main line traffic through Jenbach. Websites: www.achenseebahn.at and www.tirol-schiffahrt.at.

Steam locos photographed at the large and impressive centre operated by the Austrian Sociery for Railway History, better known by their German initials as OGEG. They built a 21 road semi roundhouse in 2005, and have imported a number of locos from Germany, Romania and Bulgaria. They also have a large collection of Austrian diesels and electrics. Website = oegeg.at

This collection covers the Alpine route from Innsbruck towards the Brenner Pass on the Austro-Italian border. Opened in 1867, it is 37 km long and climbs 789m to a summit of 1371m at Brenner. Its most notable engineering feature is the St Jodok horseshoe.

This collection begins with 8 photos taken on 23 June 2006 of passenger services at Innsbruck Station, which is bypassed by Brenner route freights. The remaining 32 were taken on 28 June at the St Jodok horseshoe and Matrei Station. They mainly show freight and passenger services travelling between Germany and Italy. Many of the freights were both double-headed and banked, and a number were run by German private operators using locos hired from the Siemens Dispolok fleet.

My 'Italy: Brennero' collection shows activity at the busy border station, where almost all trains change locos.

11 photos from 2006 of this unusual metre-gauge line, which turns from being an Innsbruck tramway into a Tirol mountain railway. It opened in 1904 from the outskirts of Innsbruck to Fulpmes. It was electrified at 3000V AC, but this was incompatible with Innsbruck's 600V DC, so in 1984 was converted to 850V DC and through running begun over the Innsbruck tram network to the main railway station. The line has been administered by Innsbruck municipal transport since 1997 - www.ivb.at. Its superseded station and some tramcars have been preserved by the Tirol Rly Museum - www.tmb.at

28 photos, most taken at the Corner Brook museum of the Railway Society of Newfoundland (www.cornet.nf.ca/web/rsn). There are also five taken at Halifax, three featuring British coaches built for the abortive Nightstar Channel Tunnel sleeper services in use by ViaRail. (ViaRail = www.viarail.ca)

Newfoundland relied heavily on rail transport until the 1960s when the Trans-Canada Highway was built. The 1947 steam-hauled 'Newfie Bullet' took 26.5 hours to cover the 547 rugged miles from capital St John's to Port-aux-Basques, where there was a ferry connection to mainland Canada at North Sydney, Cape Breton Island. The Newfoundland Railway was laid to 3' 6" gauge, and became part of Canadian National when Newfoundland, hitherto independent, joined the Canadian Confederation in 1949. Regular passenger services finished in 1969, and all trains ended in 1988. The museum has two trains, one of passenger stock hauled by a Baldwin Pacific, and a snowplough train with GM traction. Both have been superbly restored and are well cared for by the RSN.

110 photos taken during a fascinating 4000 km journey across Europe through France, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Bulgaria to Turkey. We travelled on service trains ranging from a duplex TGV to loco-hauled compartment coaches with opening windows! There were stops for sight seeing at Nice, Venice, Trieste, Ljubljana, Belgrade, Sofia and Plovdiv. The Balkan Express is the 0750 Belgrade - Istabul service, on which we travelled in two stages: Belgrade to Sofia, then Plovdiv (Bulgaria) to Istanbul.

A notable feature of the railways in southeastern Europe is the number of steam locos that survive, either formally preserved and plinthed, or dumped and forgotten in a depot. In the Balkans, the locos sometimes exemplify the territorial shifts that have taken place. Here are shots of 15 locos taken in former Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Turkey.

22 photos of rebuilt ex-PLM four-cylinder compound Pacific No 231 K 8 on the Calais-Paris-Calais legs of the Golden Arrow / Fleche d'Or special, and 9 photos of a trip on the Baie de Somme metre-gauge steam railway (www.chemin-fer-baie-somme.asso.fr).

In 1929 the Golden Arrow left Victoria behind Lord Nelson 4-6-0s at 1100, and reached Dover Marine at 1238. Passengers had 17 minutes to board the brand new steamer Canterbury, which was allowed 75 minutes to reach Calais. The Nord Railway's compund Pacifics covered the 184 miles to Paris in 190 minutes, arriving at 1735. The return train ran via Boulogne and Folkestone. The 2004 special was of course more leisurely, but I shall always remember the French footplatemen's exhuberant use of K 8's whistle throughout the journey - and they were answered by every train they passed!

***Photos taken on the English leg of this tour - behind 34067 Tangmere and 37689 - are in my gallery of British railway scenes 2004***

69 pictures taken on 1 - 6 May during a splendid 1900km steam-hauled tour through France, from Paris to Clermont Ferrand, then over the mountainous Cevennes line - summit 1025 metres, higher than Scafell Pike! - to Marseilles, returning to Paris along the former PLM route via Lyon. Traction was provided by rebuilt ex PLM Pacific 231 K 8, which was assisted through the Cevennes by US-built 141 R 420. Only 86 standard-gauge steam locos have been preserved in France, of which only 8 worked on the mainline in 2004. so double-headed steam is exceptionally rare. Websites: Railway Touring Company = www.railwaytouring.co.uk; www.trains-fr.org is a general French one with many links. For 'normal' pictures of Paris and the Riviera, follow the link to my travels gallery.

Seven pictures of metre gauge lines in France, five of the Montenvers Rly at Chamonix, one of the SNCF's Savoy line and one of the private Provence Rly.

73 photos taken in July 2005 at the French National Railway Museum. Although concentrating on steam, I have included some railcars and diesel and electric locos. The photos are arranged in a single chronological sequence, from 1844 to 1956.

23 pictures taken on 17 July of this 5 mile, standard-gauge line. It runs alongside the Rhine from Volgelsheim, east of Colmar, and is used for commercial freight during the week, but becomes a preserved railway at weekends. It is possible to combine a ride on the line with a cruise on the Rhine!
Website: http://cftr.evolutive.org/index.html

38 pictures taken on 5 May of this metre gauge line in south east France. Originally part of a 202km network opened 1890-1903 to serve the rugged and remote Ardeche, the 33km Tournon-Lamastre line passed into preservation in 1969 when the parent network closed. It is the only preserved line in France to operate daily in summer, and is famous for its hefty (48 ton) Mallet compound tanks. My pictures show a journey up and down the line, then the rolling stock at Tournon. Website: www.ardeche-train.com.

18 photos of this delightful steam-operated tramway and paddle steamers in the far south of Germany.

43 pictures taken on 25 June at this excellent museum in northern Bavaria (www.dampflokmuseum.de). Highlights are the last German Pacific, No 10 001, built by Krupp in 1956, and a former East German class 50 2-10-0 working 'FROM RAILWAY HEAVEN TO BEER PARADISE' trains operated by the museum via the Schiefe Ebene (5 miles at 1 in 37!) and the Monchhof brewery in Kulmbach.

For 'normal' pictures of Germany, including some of the attractive little town of Kulmbach, follow the link to my travels gallery and see my Germany-south and central collection.

19 pictures taken during a trip behind a massive 2-10-2T on the metre-gauge Harz Railway (www.hsb-wr.de) branch from Wernigerode to the summit of the Brocken mountain (1142m).

For 'normal' pictures of Germany, including some of the attractive little town of Wernigerode, and of the Brocken, follow the link to my travels gallery and see the Germany-south and central collection.

30 pictures taken on 24 June at this interesting museum, with subjects ranging from a replica of Germany's first (British built) locomotive to the mighty 4-6-4 which held the world steam speed record until (just!) beaten by Gresley's Mallard. The museum's website is www.dbmuseum.de.

For 'normal' pictures of Nuremberg, follow the link to my travels gallery and see the Germany-south and central collection.

13 photos of three locos - a French and German Pacific, and a German 0-6-0T - which spent many years at Carnforth. They were brought to England in the early days of the Steamtown Museum by the late Dr Peter Beete. When the museum closed, he planned to base them in Switzerland, but arrangements fell through and all three eventually came to Heilbronn.

The museum occupies a very large former engine shed. Its website = http://www.eisenbahnmuseum-heilbronn.de/ .

64 photos taken on 30 June at this very busy station. Border changes following Austria's defeat in World War I have meant that the station has straddled the border since 1919, with most of it lying in Italy. It is very busy with through traffic between Germany and Italy. All trains are electric loco-hauled, and virtually all change locos before crossing the border.

Five photos of rack tanks which used to work between Paola and Cosenza, and 47 photos - including 11 on the footplate - taken during a two day tour round the 'toe' of Italy behind 1911 2-8-0 740.244.

Photos of Sicily's 95cm gauge FCE. It runs for 110km round the western and northern sides of Mount Etna, from Catania to Riposto, although rail replacement buses operated in 2007 between Randazzo and Riposto. The FCE is a passenger-only line, and uses a variety of diesel railcars.

65 photos taken in 2006-07 of Trenitalia railcars, locos and Pendolini, plus Cisalpino Pendos and locos operated by open access operator Rail Traction Company. Coverage is not comprehensive, but reasonably representative. With thanks to David Haydock's Platform 5 book on Italian railways, ISBN 1 902236 56 9.

30 photos of this small but interesting museum, which concentrate on eight steam locos, including three of Austro-Hungarian origin. Its website is www.retecivica.trieste.it/museofer

Photos taken during flying visits to the stations at Bergen, Trondheim and Stavanger, mainly of EMUs but also a preserved 1067mm 2-4-0T.

38 pictures taken in September 2004. They cover a train journey from Moscow to St Petersburgh, a visit to the Central Railway Museum in St Petersburg, and the metro systems in St Petersburg and Moscow. Maddeningly, it was not until I had returned home that I discovered that St Petersburg now has a large (40+) collection of preserved steam, diesel and electric locos on display outside the former Varshavsky (Warsaw) Station.

For 'normal' pictures of Russia, follow the link to my travels gallery.

22 photos of the BLS (www.bls.ch) and its dramatic route through the Lotschberg Tunnel (9.1 miles/14.6km long) to the Swiss Federal Railway Simplon Tunnel line at Brig in the Rhone Valley. A more direct and easily-graded Lotschberg Base Tunnel 34.6km (21.6 miles) long is currently under construction and due to open in 2007 (www.blsalptransit.ch). Both lines will remain in use. The mountain line is expected to carry 66 trains per day and the base tunnel 110, of which 80 will be freight.

15 photos of a trip on the steam-operated BRIENZ ROTHORN Railway (www.brienz-rothorn-bahn.ch).

For 'normal' pictures of scenery photographed from this line, follow the link to my travels gallery and see the Switzerland-Brienzer Rothorn collection.

63 photos taken on 2 July 2006 of this steam-operated rack and adhesion railway, orignally built as part of the Furka - Oberalp Railway across southern Switzerland. It began operations in 1914, but did not open completely until as late as 1926. Initially steam-operated, the FO was electrified in 1942.

The line runs through remote and rugged country, across a summit of no less than 2160m (over 7,000 feet) at Furka. However, very heavy (10metres!) snowfall closed the line every winter until a base tunnel was opened in 1982 from Oberwald to Realp. The FO then abandoned the mountain section, but volunteers have reopened it from Realp over the Furka summit to Gletsch as the Furka Mountain Steam Railway (DFB). The metre-gauge line is 12.9km long, of which three-quarters are equipped with the Abt rack system - the maximum gradient is 11%. The DFB uses steam locos originally built in 1913-1914 for the line's opening. After electrification they were sold to Vietnam, but were repatriated in 1990.

DFB website = www.furka-bergestrecke.ch

10 pictures of the pure rack GORNERGRAT Railway (www.ggb.ch) from Zermatt past the Matterhorn (4478m) to the foot of Monte Rosa (4634m). third highest peak in the Alps.

For 'normal' pictures of scenery photographed from this line, follow the link to my travels gallery and see the Switzerland-Matterhorn collection.

33 photos of passenger and freight trains, most taken at the closed station at Wassen on 3 July 2006. Wassen Station is situated between two horseshoes which turn trains through 180 degrees. As a result, southbound trains head north through the station, and northbound trains head south!

48 photos of freight and passenger traffic. They include four shots of a special hauled by vintage electric locos 13302 (Be6/8''' crocodile, built in 1925) and 10992 (Ae4/7, built 1932).

35 pictures taken during a visit to this excellent museum (www.verkehrshaus.ch) in June 2004. It is particularly strong on electric traction, which Swiss railways did so much to pioneer.

30 photos taken in 2006 of the metre gauge Furka Oberalp rack and adhesion lines around Andermatt. In 2003 the FO merged with the Brig Visp Zermatt (BVZ) to form the Matterhorn Gotthard Rly: www.mgbahn.ch

10 photos from 2004 and 2006 of the metre-gauge adhesion and rack BVZ. It merged in 2003 with the Furka Oberalp (also metre-gauge) to form the Matterhorn Gotthard Rly (www.mgbahn.ch).

10 photos taken during a brief interlude at Wilderswil, south of Interlaken and junction of the SCHYNIGGE PLATTE and BERNER OBERLAND railways, where there was a surprise visitor from the BALLENBERG Railway (www.dampfbahnen.ch)!

17 pix of a trip on the WENGERNALP and JUNGFRAU Railways (www.jungfraubahnen.ch) from Grindelwald to EUROPE'S HIGHEST RAILWAY STATION on the JUNGFRAUJOCH (3454m, 11333 feet),

For 'normal' pictures of scenery photographed from these lines, follow the link to my travels gallery and see the Switzerland-Bernese Oberland 1 collection.

10 pictures of the Grand Canyon Rly at Grand Canyon, Arizona. In addition there are snatched shots of a train on the electrified(!) Black Mesa & Lake Powell RR in Arizona; a Union Pacific train on the former Denver & Rio Grande Western branch at Moab, Utah; and Union Pacific action in Nevada.

The Grand Canyon Rly website is www.thetrain.com.

24 photos of Amtrak and UP action taken during a busy hour at San Luis Obispo, on the former Southern Pacific coast route between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

80 photos of this excellent museum and its environs in the 1849 gold rush town of Old Sacramento. Highlights are a number of flamboyantly decorated early locos, including three from the Virginia & Truckee RR of Nevada, and the only Southern Pacific 'cab forward' to survive of 256 built. The museum's website is http://www.csrmf.org. Part of the Virginia & Truckee is now a steam-operated heritage railroad - see www.steamtrain.org.

77 photos, most taken at the famous Loop where Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe freight trains literally spiral over (or under) themselves.

29 photos of this 2 foot gauge tourist line in the heart of Colorado gold country.

48 photos taken in hot pursuit of two trains. The first was hauled by K36 2-8-2 No 487 from the C & T's western terminus at Chama, New Mexico, to Los Pinos Valley in Colorado. This features a 14 mile climb at an unbroken 4% (1 in 25!!) from Chama to the 10,000 feet high Cumbres Pass. The second train was hauled by another K-36, No 484, and is followed from Cumbres back to Chama.

A variety of photos taken in and around Denver, and of coal trains on the BNSF / UP Joint Line between Denver and Colorado Springs.

27 photos taken during a flying visit to the eastern end of Union Pacific's Rocky Mountain line, between Rocky and Moffat Tunnel.

Photos of 47 locos taken in September 2008. They range from Shay logging locos to a Big Boy. Denver & Rio Grande narrow gauge survivors are well represented, but other subjects are less likely and include locos built by Bagnall, Henschel, and Orenstein & Koppel.

In addition to locos on the well known Cumbres & Toltec and Durango & Silverton lines, I have included those on other lines such as the Georgetown Loop and Royal Gorge. I have also included locos at the Colorado RR Museum at Golden, at the Forney Transport Museum, Denver and others on display at various locations throughout the state.

Photos are arranged either by class 1 railroad, otherwise by builder. I am indebted to http://www.steamlocomotive.com/ for much of the caption info.

56 photos - including 15 footplate shots - of the USA's newest steam tourist railway. The Rio Grande Scenic's standard gauge trains, which include dome cars, make a round trip over the 61 miles between Alamosa and La Veta on the San Luis & Rio Grande RR's line to Walsenberg. This runs over Fir Summit, at 9,242 feet the highest point reached by any US standard gauge tourist railway. Website = riograndescenicrailroad.com
**Special thanks to Engineer Charlie and Fireman Chris for the footplate ride!**

The SLRG is a 150 mile long standard gauge Colorado short line originally built by the Denver & Rio Grande. It runs from Walsenburg, where it meets Union Pacific, over Fir Summit (9,242 feet) to Alamosa and South Fork. A branch runs from Alamosa to Antonito, from where Cumbres & Toltec narrow gauge trains run to Chama, New Mexico. The SLRG operates a nightly freight train and the Rio Grande Scenic tourist train. It also operates mixed passenger and freight trains, as the later shots in this small collection show.

87 photos taken in September 2005 at the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum, and during the Amtrak journey to Baltimore from Penn Station, New York. Museum website: www.borail.org.

50 photos of UP and (some) BNSF activity in Cheyenne and on UP's line west over Sherman Hill to Laramie.

Photos of 10 locos, all built by EMD for UP or its constituents, preserved or stored at Cheyenne.

30 photos taken during a visit to UP's heritage fleet operations centre at Cheyenne. In addition to Northern 844 and Challenger 3985, there are photos of the other Northern at Cheyenne, No 838, and 2-10-2 No 5511. UP steam website = www.upsteam.com

Photos of five preserved UP steam survivors in Wyoming and elsewhere: 0-6-0 switchers Nos 4466 and 4455; Ten Wheeler No 1242; and Big Boys Nos 4004 and 4005.