It wasn't supposed to be this way. 180112 on the 06:53 from Sunderland, passing Offord about 20 minutes late. I was expecting the Adelante to form the 09:29 and had planned to shoot it at Welwyn North.

And this wasn't meant to happen either. Duchess of Sutherland was supposed to follow the 86/7s from Conington. In fact she was ahead.

Immediately behind the Duchess came the 1Z30...

...with 86702 doing the business. Not happy taking three almost identical pictures.

With the GC 180 already accounted for and the A1 closed southbound around St Neots for resurfacing, the next stage of my plan for the day saw a re-route and cross country dash to Souldrop. A pair of 222 racing downhill from Sharnbrook summit on the 10:27 from Sheffield.

The 11:02 from Nottingham descending the bank from Sharnbrook

It was a cold day with not as much sun as the Met Office had cheerfully predicted. No way 99.9% cloud cover could be described as 'sunny spells'. But it did brighten occasionally, heightening the autumn colours. The 12:28 from Nottingham approaching Back Lane down the grade. I like the EMT livery on the 222s.

Another nice shot at Souldrop is this one from the field to the west, a pair of 5 car 222s form the 12:55 St Pancras to Sheffield. The brightness of the LED signal on the up fast is very noticeable, even from this distance.

I love this sign. How much in excess of 100 mph?

A break. Running early 66129 on what I thought might be the 6D32. This was confirmed by another FMi subscriber, deltic15.

But this is what I was really waiting for. The appearance, a few minutes behind schedule, of the Crawley to Peak Forest stone empties, with celebrity 60074 in charge. And the skies brightened too. Suddenly I didn't feel cold anymore.

And to wrap things up, the 3J93 RHTT train on the low level line heading back to Toton with DBS 'Executive Train' DVT and 67029.

A very posh ensemble!