TV4 marches on.... At Huddlesford, south of Lichfield, a crew in a cherry-picker make adjustments to the OLE - a precarioius business if you ask me!

Not a shot included for photographic merit, for sure, this shot of 350117 on 1K82, 12.49 Euston - Crewe, shows the extent of earthwork which has been undertaken to convert the 11 or so miles from Tamworth to Armintage from two to four tracks.

Two rather different AC electricity supplies in this shot of 390027 racing south - the customary WCML 25kV OLE, and the National Grid, probably carrying 275kV....?

Moving now to Elmhurst, a tiny village between Lichfield and Armitage, one of DRS' typically immaculate 66s, 66413, passes in charge of 4M44, Mossend - Daventry. Ths footbridgde from which these photos were taken is at roughly 118m 10c on the Trent Valley. The OLE return wire in the foreground spoils an otherwise reasonable photo....

In the current climate, I'd not have thought EWS would be short of 66s, but there we are! For reasons unknown the 'Silver Machine' (as in Hawkwind, Motörhead, Lemmy......) as 67029 is known, has been turned out from Toton to work 7K50, the 1512 to Basford Hall. A pleasant surprise!

A much more pleasant surprise was the traction powering 4M88, 08:49 Felixstowe - Basford Hall, on this particular afternoon...... 86604+86632 charge away from a TSR at Lichfield with transmission whining, on a diagram which is generally skoda-hauled.

The best was yet to come, however...... with only three grey 86/6s currently in active service it has long been my aim to photograph a pair. With no prior knowledge on my part, I was delighted to see 86637+86622 storming south with 4L92, 14:03 Ditton - Felixstowe. But for the extra trackbed being prepared in the background, this could be 10 or 15 years ago! And even longer since I travelled behind either of these fine machines.

Racing back up to line speed as it passes under the footbridge at Elmhurst is 390040, charging north.

A location at which major earthworks have in fact changed things for the better so far as the photographer is concerned: Shaw Lane, at Hanch, near Armitage. Similarly, the A515 bridge in the background has been completed replaced. However, a civil engineer I'm not - this shot is included solely because it made me smile; look closely and you'll see that the driver of 390047 doesn't much care for his beverage, whatever it may be!! To his credit, I believe he held onto the cup.

The setting sun is nicely diffused by the very hazy air quality as 90043 'Freightliner Coatbridge' heads north in charge of 4M87, 11:43 Felixstowe - Trafford Park.

The change to BST makes 1A86, 17:00 Crewe - Euston (yes, I'd forgotten it was actually booked, so this was a surprise!) available to those of us who rate 350s; in this view, 350119 hurries south amid various slumbering machines whose work is not far from completed.