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It was back to Basingstoke today (12/01/2025) for another look at the rail replacement operation with an impressive 13 departures an hour. A bit of a Barnes-fest certainly added brightness to an otherwise grey day.
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A day behind the wheel of Scania K124 Irizar Century BRZ 7174 today 4th February 2020, seen here at Chandlers Ford on rail replacement. It had been new to Hardings of Redditch as Y2 HCR and retains PC Coaches of Lincoln colours.
Well, the long anticipated "Woking Weekender" finally arrived and delivered a magnificent array of vehicles operating rail replacement services out to Weybridge, Guildford, Aldershot and Basingstoke throughout both days. No less than 34 different operators provided in excess of 70 buses, coaches and minibuses across both days including three 75-plates. And Burrows Coaches had "both" their East Lancs Darts out - EDIT - STOP PRESS! On Saturday it was LK55ADX and on Sunday it was J8UFX - first with the news!!
Now then, Woking is not the photographer's friend at this time of year due to high-rise office blocks surrounding the station area. Saturday started wet, eased off but remained rather gloomy all day, and Sunday was almost a write-off with clear blue skies and low sun. The one sunny spot we found came with a time limit as a ruddy great big lamppost shadow edged its way into shot therefore limiting use of that corner. All in all though, it proved to be a belter!! Maybe have it in the Spring next time please Network Rail?
I'd like to thank each and every one of you who left a very kind, supportive comment on my last photo, posted to let people know that my oldest daughter passed away early in the early evening of 3rd January 2014. Your thoughtful words are of great comfort.
Life will certainly never be the same without Fiona - she has left a huge hole that can never be filled. I try to take comfort in knowing that she is no longer in constant pain, no longer has to think about the two knee replacements that were to take place before too long, and no longer struggle with everyday things.
Rest in Peace, Fiona.
Kicking off 2026 was a trip to Basingstoke on Sunday 4th January to witness the rail replacement buses running to Andover, Farnborough, Reading, Winchester and Woking. With 11 departures every hour, something interesting was bound to turn up sooner or later. Being sufficiently west of London, Basingstoke is predominantly 'coach country' rather than say, east of Woking where it's almost all buses running the rail replacement services.
Today's delights were a pair VDL Futuras from Star Tours of Wembley, a JKT International Irizar, a pair of former Excelsior Plaxton Elites now sporting Damory branding, the Barnes '100 Years' coach which has now been repainted into full fleet livery, and a pair of Mayflower Scania deckers. It was good to see the Mayflower pair back on the road again after the devastating vandal attack that crippled the fleet back in November 2025.
In total, 36 buses and coaches from 20 different operators passed our cameras in our 3 hour visit with Aldermaston Coach Lines and Barnes providing 5 each.
Well, the long anticipated "Woking Weekender" finally arrived and delivered a magnificent array of vehicles operating rail replacement services out to Weybridge, Guildford, Aldershot and Basingstoke throughout both days. No less than 34 different operators provided in excess of 70 buses, coaches and minibuses across both days including three 75-plates. And Burrows Coaches had "both" their East Lancs Darts out - EDIT - STOP PRESS! On Saturday it was LK55ADX and on Sunday it was J8UFX - first with the news!!
Now then, Woking is not the photographer's friend at this time of year due to high-rise office blocks surrounding the station area. Saturday started wet, eased off but remained rather gloomy all day, and Sunday was almost a write-off with clear blue skies and low sun. The one sunny spot we found came with a time limit as a ruddy great big lamppost shadow edged its way into shot therefore limiting use of that corner. All in all though, it proved to be a belter!! Maybe have it in the Spring next time please Network Rail?
Seen at the Temple Hill terminus (Joyce Green Lane) of Fastrack route B on what is believed to be the first day in public service of the new vehicles. Wearing the 'new' Fastrack livery, ARRIVA Kent Thameside 4302 GN15 CWY waits to depart to Gravesend on what will be one of many journeys in its life! Tuesday 4th August 2015.
Twenty one of these vehicles have been delivered as a direct replacement for the current Fastrack fleet and are built to the current Sapphire specification..
Wrightbus Micro Hybrid StreetLite DF 11.5m MAX
IMG_26652
Emergency replacement of a main power pole when the old pole failed causing a loss of power to nearly 3,000 homes and businesses in Orem for about seven hours. It was a cold day with temps hovering around 7 degrees F. Big thanks to the linemen who worked all day in the bitter cold to get the juice flowing again! Orem, Utah.
Hams of Flimwell, Volvo GL 03 HAM on Rail replacement duties in the cab road at Eastbourne Railway Station
Here we have is a VDL SB200 wright pulsar 1 2653 CX07 CUG seen pictured at blanau ffestiniog on rail replacement. rail replacements have now finished trains starting today
Go Ahead London General DOE36 LX58CYF working the Thameslink rail Replacement service from Herne Hill to Beckenham Junction
London General PVL74 (W474 WGH)
Volvo B7TL / Plaxton
Bakerloo Line rail replacement
Hanover Square
22nd October 2000
Back in August of 2016 I was working for the City of Brantford and my supervisor asked me to check out the progress of the Mohawk Street Railway Crossing replacement.
Here we see PNR Railworks crews moving the new track section into place.
The whole replacement took 3 days in total for removal, replacement and refurbishment.
I visited this crossing 3 times in one week to photograph the progress and ensure that city infrastructure was returned to how it was left.
A few photos showing how track replacement was carried out in the 80's, before the introduction of Track Renewel Machines and Ballast Cleaners... Maghull station - Sun 22nd July 1984
08924 and it's track crane lifts sections of old track while the PW gang take a breather. The old wooden sleepers will be replaced with concrete ones..
There was certainly a good variety of vehicles running through Basingstoke on rail replacement duties today (Good Friday 2023). The sun made an appearance which was good to see as well!
Portsmouth & Southsea today (09/02/2025) to watch the rail replacement movements. Over 20 buses and coaches were utilised to run services between Portsmouth Harbour and Fareham (GWR), Havant (SWR) and Barnham (Southern). A lot of variety out today!
Half Term Rail-Replacement Portsmouth - Fareham - Havant
Portsmouth City Centre.
May 27th 2026
© Copyright PD3
There was certainly a good variety of vehicles running through Basingstoke on rail replacement duties today (Good Friday 2023). The sun made an appearance which was good to see as well!
4.0 L twin turbo 510 PS V8 engine.
Aston Martin's grand tourer replacement for the DB9. The V8 engine is sourced from Mercedes-AMG.
Our cat died a few months ago and I haven't quite gotten around to committing to getting a new cat yet, much to my wife and kids dismay. So, my oldest daughter had my wife search for LEGO cats and then had me help her build this. The design is Tyler Clites.
66594 yings away as it idles at Waverton whilst on Sunday engineering duties on the Cumbrian coast line.
Meanwhile 56078 has a crafty smoke whilst awaiting departure for Carlisle yard with spent ballast and redundant track panels.
Sanders Coaches Caetano Levante bodied Volvo B9R - new as Edwards FJ11 GMU - on rail replacement at Ipswich
Benmore Botanic Garden (formerly known as the Younger Botanic Garden) is a large botanical garden situated in Strath Eachaig at the foot of Beinn Mhòr, on the Cowal Peninsula, in Argyll and Bute, west of Scotland. The gardens are on the west side of the A815 road from Dunoon, between the Holy Loch and Loch Eck, and include footbridges across the River Eachaig. It is one of the sites of Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
Features include an avenue of giant sequoias planted in 1863, large square walled gardens, a waterfall, a fernery, ponds and walks up the hillside to viewpoints over the Holy Loch. The garden is located within the Argyll Forest Park, which forms part of the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park.
Most of Cowal, originally Clan Lamont territory, was taken over by Clan Campbell, including lands in Strath Echaig shortly after 1400. The area once called "Innasraugh", meaning "the sheltered valley", was part of the hunting grounds of the Dukes of Argyll, belonging to the Campbells of Ballochyle. It was reached by a ford across the River Eachaig at Uig, near modern Eckford house.
Around 1820, Ross Wilson introduced tree planting with the first known coniferous plantation of forest trees in Cowal. In 1849 the estate was bought by John Lamont, a wealthy sugar planter and slaveowner in Trinidad who had emigrated from Toward (near Dunoon) 48 years earlier. He arranged replacement of the previous manor house with the larger Benmore House, but died in 1850, a year before the house was completed. His nephew James Lamont inherited the estate, but then sold it and it went to various other owners in succession.
Benmore Estate was bought in 1862 by James Piers Patrick, a wealthy American who carried out extensive work to Benmore House, including construction of the tower, designed in the Scottish baronial style by the architect Charles Wilson. He developed the garden, and in 1863 planted the Redwood Avenue of Giant Sequoias.
In 1870 the Greenock sugar refiner and philanthropist James Duncan bought Benmore Estate, which he extended to include the adjacent Kilmun and Bernice Estates. He arranged extensive plantings in the grounds, including more than six million trees around the estate, and added paths leading up a ravine one kilometre (5⁄8 mile) to the south on the east side of the road, making Puck's Glen a scenic attraction. He extended the east wing of the house with a gallery to house his major collection of paintings: during the summers of 1881 and 1882, these were seen by more than 8,000 visitors. In 1889 he had to sell his assets, including Benmore.
Henry Younger of the Edinburgh brewer Younger's bought the estate in 1889, and with his son Harry George Younger made many improvements to the woods and gardens, with 40 staff employed to carry out maintenance. They introduced many exotic shrubs and trees, and also demolished the gallery and conservatory at the house. In 1924 Harry George Younger gifted the estate to the nation for science and education purposes: the Forestry Commission took over most of the woodlands.
In commemoration of the improvements James Duncan had made to the estate, Younger provided a hut high on the hillside above the gorge of Puck's Glen, to a special design by Sir Robert Lorimer, and "Puck's Hut" was dedicated to the memory of the botanist Sir Isaac Bayley Balfour.
The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) was looking for a place to take the large collection of plants which the botanist George Forrest had brought from China, and the high rainfall at Benmore was ideal. In 1929 the Younger Botanic Gardens were opened as the first outstation of the RBGE. In the 1930s, the Forestry Commission established Kilmun Arboretum, to try out tree species in the humid climate conditions, planting large groups of trees rather than individual specimens. Benmore House was used by the Forestry Commission for apprentice training, then in 1965 Edinburgh Corporation took it over as a schools outdoor education centre.
In the winds brought by Storm Ali in September 2018, four large trees at the garden were felled.
Kicking off 2026 was a trip to Basingstoke on Sunday 4th January to witness the rail replacement buses running to Andover, Farnborough, Reading, Winchester and Woking. With 11 departures every hour, something interesting was bound to turn up sooner or later. Being sufficiently west of London, Basingstoke is predominantly 'coach country' rather than say, east of Woking where it's almost all buses running the rail replacement services.
Today's delights were a pair VDL Futuras from Star Tours of Wembley, a JKT International Irizar, a pair of former Excelsior Plaxton Elites now sporting Damory branding, the Barnes '100 Years' coach which has now been repainted into full fleet livery, and a pair of Mayflower Scania deckers. It was good to see the Mayflower pair back on the road again after the devastating vandal attack that crippled the fleet back in November 2025.
In total, 36 buses and coaches from 20 different operators passed our cameras in our 3 hour visit with Aldermaston Coach Lines and Barnes providing 5 each.
It was back to Basingstoke today (12/01/2025) for another look at the rail replacement operation with an impressive 13 departures an hour. A bit of a Barnes-fest certainly added brightness to an otherwise grey day.
We saw this on our way to morning - it replaced the one in this photo: www.flickr.com/photos/thadz/13633175023/ . Apparently, the owner of the store was issued a citation for the larger one and vowed to defy the county and not take it down. Can you say "Meow"?
Day 132 of my 365 Project
With the Cardiff to Newport line closed over the Late Summer Bank Holiday long weekend in 2017, a number of Welsh and West Country operators, plus Rowe Coaches of Nuneaton, were hired by Arriva Trains Wales to provide a high frequent replacement road service.
Edwards of Llantwit Fardre provided a number of coaches, but the welcome surprise for me was Alexander ALX400-bodied Dennis Trident Y8 EDW.
New to London United in dual-door configuration as SN53 KJV, she was acquired by Edwards from Holmeswood Coaches in September 2013 and has received a set of dual-purpose seats for school contract work.
In this late August 2017 shot, she is captured on Cardiff's Penarth Road returning from another round trip to Newport.
With nothing better to do, I headed over to Woking to see what was on rail replacement today (Sat 28/12/2024). New operator Chaseside turned up with one their smart-liveried E400 deckers, Fairmanns Travel had their recently repainted Dart/Pointer out, TK Travel showed off their recent rebrand livery, and a cheerful yellow decker of Chilternbus brightened up a rather dull day. Oh, and a bonus on the short walk to Spoons for a much needed coffee - a Safeguard Tempo!! Not a bad day in the end.
Basingstoke Rail Replacement service 8 April 2023. There were no passenger trains at Basingstoke over the Easter weekend with a huge number of replacement services being provided. This Kässbohrer S416GT-HD coach was new to Shearings in 2014 but is now operated by Mervyn's Coaches of Innersdown, Hampshire.