October 7 2026

Ever keen to listen to feedback, the working title for my book about Henry Pooley & Son has had a name change. A marketing advisor suggested that my original title implied the book was simply about the engineering and the machinery, whereas it is equally about the impact of Pooley's weighing machines on everything from global trade to farmyard life. Hopefully this clarification of  the breadth of its target readership will help me find a publisher.

September 26 2026

Some projects take quite a long time to move from genesis to completion, as other things get in the way, and that was true with a long-planned article on 19th century decorative cas-iron which I have just completed. These ornate cast-iron railings near Wigan Parish Church probably date from c.1900-1920. Hopefully the article will find its way into print in the not-too-distant future.

September 22 2026

A big week for me – I completed work on the Henry Pooley project, and now there is the little matter of finding a publisher for the 160 page book. I have designed it to be the same size as The Men Who Invented Britain, and have circulated a synopsis to a number of possible publishers. It will have more than 320 photographs and drawings, including some very rare items drawn from major national and international collections, as well as my own original photography.

September 11 2026

Part Two of my series on Scotland's railways appears in the October issue of Vintage Spirit, and looks as some of the surviving lines, stations, bridges and locomotives, with particular attention to Scotland's heritage lines. 

August 14 2026

The September issue of Vintage Spirit magazine is now out, and contains part one of a two-part series on Scotland's railways. This month's article deals with the great locomotive-building companies based in Glasgow and elsewhere which supplied engines to the major railways both at home and across the British Empire.

July 28 2026

Just back from a trip to the Midlands – specifically Kidsgrove and Smethwick – gathering yet more information and images for the Pooley project. When they were constructed between 1801 and 1809, these little brick-built cottages stood outside Boulton & Watt's Soho Foundry in Smethwick. Today they are surrounded by W. & T. Avery's huge works. Avery took over Henry Pooley & Son Ltd in 1914.

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. Sadly, she is no longer with us to enjoy it.

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 'weighing seat', 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.