I have just returned from four days away on the Isle of Purbeck.
First of all an hour's flight on a Bombardier Dash-8 Q400 Turboprop to Southampton on the English south coast.

A ride on a scenic coastal bus.

The bus crossed on a ferry to the Isle of Purbeck. (Though Purbeck is not really an island, it is actually a peninsula and can be reached overland by a much longer way round).

I have been a member of Southern Locomotives Limited for many years but now that I am no longer doing any private flying I have increased my shareholding as SLL are involved in restoring Southern Railway Battle of Britain class locomotives which were built from 1945 and which commemorate Royal Air Force personnel and airfields of World War 2. Here if you look carefully you will recognise me wielding the fireman (stoker)'s shovel.

Soon we got under way for the trip along the Isle of Purbeck.

My reward for the hard graft of firing was being permitted to drive the train back from Norden to Swanage. This is the same train, which I photographed later in the day. Locomotive number 34028 Eddystone.

Sister locomotive number 34072 named "257 Squadron" was in the workshops.
This locomotive still has its original streamlined panels encasing the boiler. Some were rebuilt without the streamlining during the nineteen fifties to simplify maintenance.

Appropriately a vintage Royal Air Force plane flew over the workshop area for several minutes prior to the start of our workshop visit and AGM. This Percival Pembroke was officially designated as a "V.I.P.transport" which enabled it to fly over East Germany during the Cold War years supposedly taking senior staff to and from the Royal Air Force base at Gatow, Berlin. It was in fact a specially equipped spy plane!

Locomotive number 34053 Sir Keith Park is being restored from dereliction as a memorial to the man himself. On left is the boiler, in the background is the rolling chassis, and on the right the water and coal tender nears completion.

The Royal Air Force crests have already been completed and affixed to the locomotive.
More to follow shortly, including kilt and scenery shots.