47191 arrives at Holyhead on 25 July 1977 with an unidentified working. Plenty of period detail here, including the vintage signal on the left, and the breakdown crane on the high level siding in the background, in front of Holyhead's four road engine shed.

47199 leaves Chester station on 3 June 1984 with an unidentified working. It is passing the impressive Chester No.2 signal box, the largest of the mechanical signal boxes in the Chester area. 47199 was withdrawn in 1987, but survived for a further six years, before being cut up at MC Metals, Glasgow.

47201 passes the abandoned platforms at Talacre station on 16 June 1985, whilst working the 1J22 14:40 Llandudno to Manchester Victoria service. Talacre station closed in 1966. Masses of caravans on the horizon proved a typical North Wales scene.

47207 arrives at Flint station on 28 June 1984 with an unidentified westbound working. Three decades later the view is virtually unaltered, although without of course, the everyday presence of a Class 47 on a passenger train!

47242 passes Marazion on 25 July 1978 with a van train destined for Penzance. Note the former SR & GWR vans at the head of the formation. On the right are the famous Pullman camping coaches, (from front to rear) Aurora, Juno, Alicante, Mimosa, Calais and Flora.

47345 approaches Taunton on 4 August 1978 with an unidentified up working. On the left is Ruston & Hornsby 0-8-0 shunter PWM652, one of a batch of five locos built especially for Western Region departmental duties.

47434 passes Cotehill on 3 March 1984 with the 1E23 10:40 Carlisle to Leeds service. An excellent choice of location, as the four coach train just fits in the gap under the bridge. Four coaches was the normal load for Settle & Carlisle trains at this time, and despite the hilly nature of the route, no problem at all for a Class 47.

47440 approaches Saltney Junction on 1 June 1985 with the 1D64 15:10 Euston to Holyhead service. The loco retains its Stratford light grey roof, despite having been transferred to Gateshead six months earlier. The buildings of Chester can be glimpsed through the arches.

47443 approaches Colwyn Bay station on 5 April 1977 with an unidentified down train. The houses of Old Colwyn spread out across the hillside in the background. Old Colwyn once had its own station, but this closed in 1952, although it remained open for freight for another decade.

What a transformation! In 1985 Rossett boasted four tracks and numerous semaphore signals. Today there is just a single track and no signals! 47445 heads south on 15 June 1985 with the 1V06 14:17 Bangor to Cardiff Central service. This is doubly unusual, as not only is this train diverted from its normal route because of the extensive alterations taking place at Crewe station, but it is also substituting for the more usual Class 33.

47448 crosses Dandry Mire Viaduct on 5 November 1983 with a southbound service. Just our of sight around the corner is the short Lunds Tunnel, Note the tiny wayside chapel directly above the locomotive.

47481 crosses St Pinnock Viaduct (between Liskeard and Bodmin) on 18 April 1979 with the 1B24 07:30 Paddington to Penzance service. At 151 feet high, this is the tallest viaduct in Cornwall. The iron decking replaced Brunel's original timber decking in 1882, and in order to ease the stresses on the structure, the line was singled in 1964.

Perfect timing! 47482 leaves Robert Stephenson's Conwy tubular bridge on 30 August 1983 with the 1D48 13:20 Crewe to Holyhead service, while a Class 108/101 DMU combination heads in the opposite direction with the 13:35 Holyhead to Llandudno. Tom was extremely lucky, both to place the 47 centrally in the very tight gap between the bridge and castellated turret, and to have the DMU in the optimum position.

47483 has an unidentified Cass 87 in tow, as it passes Wilmslow on 22 May 1977. Headcodes had ceased to be displayed on locomotives the previous year, and this garbled headcode does not relate to this train, but for some reason rather than be wound round to just show zeros, this locomotive was just left like this. A picture that I have seen, taken several months later, shows exactly the same misaligned headcode.

It looks like this was a very lucky sunny picture, judging by the dark clouds over the fells. 47485 leaves Garsdale station on 5 November 1983 with a Carlisle bound service.

47488 passes Sandycroft on 25 August 1984 with a Holyhead bound train. This loco entered service (as D1713) in January 1964. Originally outshopped in two tone green, it received that livery again later in its career in private ownership with Waterman Railways.

47497 passes Burngullow on 1 June 1979 with an unidentified up working. This location has gone from double track to single track, and back to double track since this picture was taken! On the right is the branch to Drinnick Mill and Parkandillack, then as now used by china clay traffic.

47511 Thames passes the remains of Reade's shaft engine house, at Hallenbeagle, near Scorrier on 27 April 1979, with an unidentified southbound working, at around midday, judging by the angle of the sun. The silver buffers are presumably a reminder of its naming ceremony - just over a month earlier.

47512 passes Mold Junction on 25 August 1984 with the 1D48 11:00 Euston to Holyhead service. A typical late summer day when the settled high pressure means the sun has almost faded out into thin high cloud, even in the early afternoon.

A blizzard at Kirkby Stephen on 29 December 1983. 47537 Sir Gwynedd / County of Gwynedd speeds through the deserted station on with an unidentified southbound service. Note the vintage Kirkby Stephen West enamel nameboard.

47553 approaches Rhyl on 18 June 1985 with 1V04 07:05 Holyhead to Cardiff (via Wrexham) service. The loco had just been transferred to Bescot depot, but the grey roof clearly demonstrates that for the previous year it had been allocated to Stratford.

47598 passes the now demolished Courtaulds textile factory at Greenfield on 24 April 1984 with the 12:40 Euston to Holyhead service. This location is unrecognisable now, with all traces of the factory removed, to be replaced by scrubby Silver Birches.

47604 stands at a rather deserted Chester station on 28 December 1983 with the 1A45 10:10 Holyhead to Euston service. If the loco is looking reasonably clean, that would because it was only released back into traffic a week earlier, after having had ETH fitted, and being renumbered from 47271 to 47604.