MK Tom's Rail Photos 2025

[MK Tom]

My January 2025 UK rail photos are here: https://mktom.smugmug.com/2025/January-2025/UK-Rail-January-2025

This includes:

Saturday 11 January - A Marston Vale service calls at Woburn Sands.
Saturday 18 January - A Class 395 on HS1 passing Maidstone.
Sunday 19 January - A works train on the West London Line at Kensington Olympia.
Saturday 25 January - A day in Leicester, including a platform-ticket visit to the GCR Leicester North station to see Betton Grange plus locomotives at the UK Rail Leasing depot at Leicester.

I also started the year in the United States, where I visited Wisconsin and Southern California. Photos are here: https://mktom.smugmug.com/2025/January-2025/Overseas-December-2024-January-2025-USA

Some video of Amtrak's Borealis departing Wisconsin Dells during this trip is here:

Enjoy!

 

[MK Tom]

My February 2025 UK rail photos are here: https://mktom.smugmug.com/2025/February-2025/UK-Rail-February-2025

This includes:

Tuesday 4 February - My journey home from Luton Airport via Bedford after my Poland/Ukraine trip.
Saturday 15 February - A visit to the Severn Valley Railway to help boost their takings as they recover from the recent landslip.
Monday 24 February - An Avanti Holyhead service starting from Milton Keynes Central.
Tuesday 25 February - Class 196 testing underway on East West Rail.
Thursday 27 February - A Network Rail Class 153 on East West Rail.

Some video of 46045 and 50035 in action at the Severn Valley Railway is here:

The month started with a work trip to Ukraine, which required travelling via Poland. I was able to see some trams in Krakow, Lviv, Kyiv, and Katowice, and also took an overnight train between Lviv and Kyiv in both directions. Photos are here: https://mktom.smugmug.com/2025/February-2025/Overseas-January-February-2025-Poland-Ukraine

 

[MK Tom]

My March 2025 UK rail photos are here: https://mktom.smugmug.com/2025/March-2025/UK-Rail-March-2025

This includes:

Saturday 1 March - A ride on the Bluebell Railway between Horsted Keynes and East Grinstead, plus a journey from Brighton to Newhaven in the evening.
Sunday 2 March - A visit to the East Cliff Lift and the miniature railway in Hastings followed by a stop at the Rother Valley Railway at Robertsbridge.
Sunday 9 March - A visit to the Northampton and Lamport Railway.
Saturday 15 March - A light Class 60 passing through Aylesbury.

I also spent four days in Romania, where I visited Bucharest, Galati, Braila, Buzau, and Ploiesti, taking in four tram systems. Photos from the trip are here: https://mktom.smugmug.com/2025/March-2025/Overseas-March-2025

Some video of trams in Bucharest and Galati is here:

 

[MK Tom]

My April 2025 UK rail photos are here: https://mktom.smugmug.com/2025/April-2025/UK-Rail-April-2025

This consists of a visit to the Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway Diesel Gala, also including photos of the Snowdonian railtour passing Milton Keynes and the East West DEMU railtour running over East West Rail in both directions.

I spent most of April travelling around Europe, visiting Bulgaria, Greece, Austria, and Czechia. Photos from that trip are here: https://mktom.smugmug.com/2025/April-2025/Overseas-April-2025

Videos of trams in Sofia and Liberec during this trip are below:

 

[MK Tom]

My May 2025 rail photos are here: https://mktom.smugmug.com/2025/May-2025/UK-Rail-May-2025

This includes:

Sunday 5 May - Trains passing Welwyn Garden City.
Monday 6 May - Avanti services terminating at Milton Keynes Central during engineering works.
Tuesday 7 May - An East West Rail driver training working passing Denbigh South Junction.
Thursday 8 May - An evening run into London, including my first Class 807 journey.
Saturday 10 May - A trip to the Corris Railway, also visiting the Welshpool & Llanfair Railway, the under-construction Coventry VLR tramway, Shrewsbury, and the disused railway at Dolgellau and Penmaenpool.
Tuesday 12 May - A journey from Flitwick to Farringdon and back.
Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 May - A trip to the Peak District, visiting Peak Rail and Crich Tramway Village as well as Ambergate, Matlock Bath, and Belper stations.
Sunday 25 May - A day in London, including Canary Wharf.
Saturday 31 May - A Midland Pullman charter passing Fenny Stratford.

Some video of the Midland Pullman passing Fenny Stratford is here:

 

[MK Tom]

Most of my June (and July) was taken up by a large US trip, photos of which are here: https://mktom.smugmug.com/2025/June-2025/USA-Rail-June-2025

This includes:

Wednesday, June 11 to Sunday, June 15 - A stay in Charlotte, North Carolina, including a visit to the North Carolina Transportation Museum outside Salisbury.
Sunday, June 15 to Sunday, June 29: A stay in Dallas, Texas, also visiting Austin, Texarkana, and the Grapevine Vintage Railroad.

Some video of TexRail and the Grapevine Vintage Railroad is here:

On the UK front, photos from the first few days of June are here: https://mktom.smugmug.com/2025/June-2025/UK-Rail-June-2025

This includes:

Sunday, June 1 - The unique newly restored Class 118 DMU operating at The Battlefield Line.
Sunday, June 8 - A ride on the Coventry Very Light Rail test track, followed by a ride on the Birmingham Airport Air-Rail Link people mover.

Some video of the Class 118 in operation at the Battlefield Line is here:

 

[MK Tom]

As with June, I spent most of my July in the USA. My USA rail photos from July are here: https://mktom.smugmug.com/2025/July-2025/USA-Rail-July-2025

This includes:

Tuesday 1 July to Thursday 10 July - The remainder of my stay in Dallas (continued from June), also visiting Shreveport, Houston, Galveston, Oklahoma City, and Fort Worth.
Thursday 10 to Friday 12 July - A short stay in Tampa, Florida, followed by an Amtrak journey over to Orlando.
Friday 12 to Sunday 27 July - A work trip in central Florida, taking in Orlando and Melbourne along with a visit to Jacksonville.

Some video of Trinity Railway Express is here:

Some video of the Tampa TECO Line streetcar is here:

 

[MK Tom]

My August 2025 UK rail photos are here: https://mktom.smugmug.com/2025/August-2025/UK-Rail-August-2025

This includes:

Saturday 2 August - A few photos from Stoke Mandeville and Aylesbury.
Sunday 10 August - My first ride on the Robin Hood Line, going from Mansfield into Nottingham with a stop at Bulwell on the return leg.
Friday 16 August - The former Stratford Upon Avon and Midland Junction Railway near Stoke Goldington.
Sunday 17 August - Photos from Broadway and Moreton-in-Marsh stations during the Cotswold Bus Rally.
Monday 18 August - A trip into London, including my first ride on an LNWR Class 730/8.
Tuesday 19 August - The disused LNWR line through Daventry.

I spent the last week of the month travelling around Europe, photos from which will be in my September update!

 

[MK Tom]

My September 2025 UK rail photos are here: https://mktom.smugmug.com/2025/September-2025/UK-Rail-September-2025/

This includes:

Wednesday 10 September - GBRf Class 69 no. 69009 "Western Consort" hauling South Western Railway Class 701 Arterio no. 701001 through Fenny Stratford.
Friday 12 September - The impressive compressed model layout of the Wolverton to Newport Pagnell line on display for the Heritage Open Weekend.
Saturday 13 September - Trains passing Weedon, plus disused infrastructure around the ordinance depot there.
Thursday 18 September - A day in London riding the Southeastern lines around Orpington and Bromley.
Friday 19 September - A few photos from another London trip.
Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 September - A visit to the Llangollen and Bala Lake Railways, also seeing Transport For Wales trains in Whitchurch and Wrexham.
Monday 22 and Tuesday 30 September - Trips into London.

I also began the month in Moldova, arriving there at the end of a trip that had also visited Graz, Ljubljana, Trieste, Villach, Weiner Neustadt, Vienna, and Zagreb. Photos from that trip are here: https://mktom.smugmug.com/2025/August-2025/Overseas-August-2025/i-2whmL55

Some video of trams in Graz during this trip is here:

Lastly, those who take the time to look around the September folder on my site will also notice a gallery for my Netherlands trip later in September, which I haven't yet finished editing and captioning, so please check back later for that!

 

[MK Tom]

My October 2025 rail photos are here: https://mktom.smugmug.com/2025/October-2025/UK-Rail-October-2025

This includes:
Thursday 2 and 9 October - Evenings in London.
Friday 10 October - LSL's repainted Class 90 and other trains passing Wolverton.
Tuesday 14 October - A visit to Bicester North for the press run of Chiltern Railways' new Class 68 and Mark V sets.
Saturday 18 October - Trains at Burton-Upon-Trent, including the Nemesis Rail facility.
Sunday 19 October - A trip to Basildon via London, with an unplanned return via Luton.
Thursday 23 October - 69014 leads brand new Class 99s nos. 99002 and 99001 through Bow Brickhill.
Saturday 25 October - A trip to Hull, taking Northern from Doncaster and returning with Hull Trains, also visiting Ashfordby and Hucknall.

Some video of the Chiltern Mk5 press run departing Bicester is here:

As promised, here is the gallery from my trip to the Netherlands at the end of September: https://mktom.smugmug.com/2025/September-2025/Overseas-September-2025-Nethelands

This includes:

Friday 26 September - The Arnhem trolleybus network and Utrecht, where new trams have entered service since my last visit.
Saturday 27 September - A heritage tram running day in Amsterdam, followed by a visit to the Amsterdam Metro depot at Dieden and then to Haarlem.
Sunday 28 September - A ride on the Stoomtram Hoorn-Medemblik, including a ferry ride from Medemblik to Enkhuizen.

Some video of my visit to the Stoomtram Hoorn-Medemblik is here:

I am currently captioning a gallery from a visit to Czechia in late October, which I'll post with my November UK gallery.

Enjoy!

 

[MK Tom]

My (belated) November 2025 UK rail photos are here: https://mktom.smugmug.com/2025/November-2025/UK-Rail-November-2025

This includes:
Friday 7 November - A journey to Stansted Airport at the start of my Ukraine trip, going via Tottenham Hale.
Tuesday 11 November - A trip into London with a stop at Leighton Buzzard.
Saturday 15 November - Another London trip with some interesting traction seen at Wembley.
Saturday 22 and Monday 24 November - More London visits, including a visit to City Thameslink.
Sunday 29 November - A Mark V set at Wolverton Works awaiting preparation for service with Chiltern Railways.

I also had two overseas trips in November. The first was to Czechia, starting in October: https://mktom.smugmug.com/2025/November-2025/Overseas-October-November-2025-Czechia

This included a stay in Prague, including a trip out to Usti nad Labem, Litvinov, and Most.

Some video of trams and trolleybuses in Prague on this trip is here:

Some video of trams in Litvinov (one of the smallest towns in Europe to have a tram system) and trolleybuses in Usti nad Labem on this trip is here:

And the second was to Lviv, Ukraine, going via Rzeszow in Poland: https://mktom.smugmug.com/2025/November-2025/Overseas-November-2025-Ukraine--Poland-

Some video of trams in Lviv on this trip is here:

Enjoy! December to follow shortly...

 

[MK Tom]

My December 2025 UK rail photos are here: https://mktom.smugmug.com/2025/December-2025/UK-Rail-December-2025

This includes:

Tuesday 2 December - An evening in London.
Saturday 6 December - A trip around South London, visiting Wimbledon, Morden, Croydon, and Deptford and including my first Class 701 ride.
Saturday 13 December - A trip along the Marston Vale line to Kempston Hardwick, returning from Bedford.
Tuesday 16 December - Newly Chiltern liveried Class 196 no. 196008 at Milton Keynes Central.
Saturday 20 December - A few photos from Cirencester and Cam & Dursley station.
Wednesday 24 December - A Black 5 and a GWR Class 150 at Wolverton.
Sunday 28 December - A visit to the Northampton and Lamport Railway for their mince pie specials.

Some video of trains at London Waterloo and London Bridge is here:

Some video of my ride on the Marston Vale Class 150 is here: