Hi all,

So apologies for the delays in sending out picture of the week but have just spent an enjoyable 8 days, if you can believe that? in Heartlands Hospital Birmingham, overcoming yet another water infection, enjoyable it was not.
B
Here is one of my mad moments but what a shot (the day after my 21st birthday which I had spent in Paris). Just stepped out in time as it stormed passed it was really motoring! We had traveled from home taking 30 hours to get here in Spain, General Franco was still in charge and what a run down country it was then, the food was terrible accommodation even worse but at least it was cheap, and I mean cheap, the peseto still reigned. But at least there was plenty of steam at work. We had travelled here to San Felices a wayside station out in the countryside from Miranda de Ebro in the north of the country. Miranda was on the electrified main line from the French border to Madrid and still had a large allocation of steam engines working in the area Including all the class of the massive 4-8-4s painted green. Here are two of their engines, both are 2-8-2 oil burners 141F 2108 and 141F 2260 of which some were built by the North British Locomotive Company Glasgow and had those lovely brass diamond shaped builders plates. The train approaching is heading for Lagrono and the engine next to me is waiting for the train to pass so that it can proceed to Miranda on the single line ahead. Things further east were not so good in the two sheds at Larida over 70 good engines were dumped out of use, it was like Barry scrap yard.
7th June 1970.
Regards
Ledg.