July 1 2026

My front garden in full bloom on July 1. I take no credit for the planting – Kath wanted to create a 'cottage garden' in the old-fashioned sense when choosing roses and hollyhocks to create a screen in front of the house. This year the roses are amazing.

June 4 2026

The Severn Valley Railway is one of my favourite steam lines, and this time their weighing machines got almost as much attention from me as the locomotives. Only one steam loco was working, the superb LMS Stanier Mogul No.13268, seen here at Arley Station. But shock, horror, it was hauling a rake of LNER teak-bodied coaches.

June 3 2026

The Henry Pooley project took me to the excellent Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway today, where several weighing machines and a weighbridge survive. There was plenty time to take a run along this delightful branch line, hauled by GWR

locomotive No.2807. The weather conditions made photographing the weighing machines challenging, but I got some striking pictures of the locomotive at work. The second picture was Paul Fox's contribution to the day – him photographing John Spear photographing me photographing a Pooley weighing machine at Winchcombe station. Age does this to people.

April 9 2026

Copies of my latest two books from Whittles Publishing arrived today – Going off the Rails, and Cast-Metal Signs. I am really pleased with the final printed appearance of both of them – fingers crossed they sell well. They take my book tally over the past 52 years to 55 different titles, although there have been multiple editions of several of them. I am currently working on No.58.

March 18 2026

The Pooley project has tipped over being from merely 'obsessive' to probably being 'incurable', with the purchase of one of their 3cwt sack-weighing machines  which dates from some time between 1884 and 1896. It is photographed here with its platform plate removed to show the internal workings, and in advance of having 130-ish years of paint removed. When new it would have been in Pooley's distinctive 'grass-green' paintwork. One day, I hope, it will be restored to its former glory

March 12 2026

My on-going research into Henry Pooley and Son brought a most unusual weighing machine to my attention – a carved wood and leather upholstered jockey weighing chair, probably from the 1880s although no Pooley records have been found so far which might confirm that date. It appears the company made several designs of this chair, upholstered in leather, fabrics or with a rattan back. (image courtesy Dreweatts 1859)

March 1 2026

A visit to the fantastic Shuttleworth Collection gave me a chance to explore some fascinating early military aircraft, especially the Blériot XI, the oldest airworthy aircraft in Britain, and also  one of the planes flown by Claude Grahame-White one of Britain's pioneer aviators. Grahame-White's achievements included founding one of the earliest flying schools, establishing London's first airport t Hendon, and opening his own aircraft factory.

December 12 2025

A project which has grown out of some of the research for my Cast-metal Signs book looks like it will be keeping me busy for the foreseeable future. Henry Pooley & Son Ltd, who built weighing-machines for both domestic and industrial uses, claimed at one point that 90% of all the weighing machines used on Britain's railways had been built by them. I am exploring the company's products and history. If anyone reading this has pictures of Pooley weighing machines, please show them to me. This machine, by the way, was photographed on the platform at Haverthwaite Station in Cumbria nearly 50 years ago.

December 1 2025

Life has been relatively quiet for a couple of months as I worked to complete this year's two book projects. We now have publication dates for Cast-metal Signs and Going of the Rails – both books will be published on 6 April 2026 by Whittles Publishing, a division of Porto Press Ltd. Each will have a cover price of £15.99.

October 7 2025

A day spent in the foundry at Jones n Co Cast Metal Designs Ltd in Coventry, allowed me to observe and photograph the whole process of cast-metal sign-making, from pattern to finished casting. I learned a great deal from Sean Jones and his small dedicated team, and the results will be illustrated in my forthcoming book Cast-metal Signs, an unsung history. The book will be published next year, in softback, by Whittles Publishing, now a division of Porto Press Ltd.

September 30 2025

On another visit to the Great Western Trust at Didcot, in connection with my forthcoming book Cast-metal Signs – an unsung history, I couldn't resist taking a few more pictures of King Edward II, one of my favourite GWR locomotives. 

August 28 2025

On the drive back south from Cosford, a detour gave me a chance to see the beautifully restored Victorian cast-iron columns and canopies of Great Malvern Station. At a time when most station refurbishments involve stripping away any trace of their heritage, to see this spectacular restoration was a delight.

August 27 2025

I was back up in Derby again for a fascinating visit to the Rolls Royce Heritage Trust's collection of aero engines, all part of a new project on the life and work of the aviator Claude Grahame-White. The engine, left, is a Rolls Royce Eagle, which he chose to power his first passenger plane. The next day I had a chance to revisit the RAF Museum in Cosford. I was last there, giving a talk to the Joint School of Photography, a quarter of a century ago and, boy, has the museum changed since then – spectacular.

August 1 2025

'The Greatest Gathering' at Alstom's Litchurch Lane site in Derby, which brought together over 150 locomotives and trains from 200 years of railway history, was an unmissable event. I walked miles over the vast site, for which my legs may never forgive me, but it was well worth the effort. My report on it will appear in the October issue of Vintage Spirit magazine.

June 27 2025

As part of the research and photography for a 3-part series on the history of the Somersetshire Coal Canal for Vintage Spirit magazine, I visited this conical spoil heap – known locally as the 'batch' – at Paulton near the west end of the canal. Amazingly, despite more than 50 years since the colliery it came from was closed, the spoil heap still looks remarkably new.

May 3 2025

As part of my 'cast-metal signage' project, a trip up to Edgbaston, Birmingham, introduced me to the city's traditional Victorian-style cast-iron street signs, many of which are sadly being replaced with bland modern ones – allegedly because they are too old and brittle – the originals being sold for scrap. This one actually dates from the 1930s when the city introduced area codes.

April 2 2025

Exploring the remains of the Somerset coalfield for a new book In Search of Somerset yesterday  following in the footsteps of In Search of Wiltshire and In Search of Dorset – which are currently at the publishers and due out soon – we visited the excellent Radstock Museum, housed in the town's former Market Hall, across the road from which stands the rescued winding wheel from the former Kilmersdon Colliery which was located north-east of the town. It was one of the last Somerset pits to close in 1973. 

January 3 2025

After torrential rain on New Year's Day – I got soaked to the skin just walking bck from the village shop with my newspaper – January 2 and 3 have been glorious, if very cold. Out with the camera in Bath taking pictures for an editorial feature on a little-known, but highly-influential, bridge-builder, James Dredge. A successful start to the year.

October 1 2024

I've not had much to report over the past six months as life has been very quiet, but a new project is on the cards – exploring the history and development of cast metal signs, from the 18th century to the present day. Cast-iron has been used for signposts since c1750 – as far as the extent of my current knowledge goes – and cast lead since before that. A recent major use of cast-iron was the creation of the 1,000+ signposts commissioned as a millennium project for the National Cycle Network. This one is in Calne, Wiltshire. .

May 18 2024

After a successful few days in Dorset, making the most of the recent excellent weather – first photographic trip in months – the last of the photography for In Search of Dorset has been completed, and the book has been sent in to my publishers.

March 31 2024

There has been a rather long gap since my last post on this page, and that is because for the past six months, I have been home-based, taking care of my beloved wife, Kath, and only taking on projects which I could research and write at home, illustrating them from my picture collection. Sadly, Kath died ten days ago. This beautiful picture was taken by Andy Skilling – a great photographer and great friend – at our wedding at Ross Priory on the shores of Loch Lomond back in 2006.