I am writing this in the midst of what we usually regard as ‘summer’, though it has only been a fitful series of short, sharp heatwaves punctuated by periods of rain and cold. I suppose we should be used to this pattern of recent years, but it is still hard to adjust to it.

As I have said many times, I am blessed with a great deal of support in the production of each issue of Cumbrian Railways, and this current issue has greatly benefited from this. Alan Johnstone has provided us with a very colourful image of ex-Southern Railway West Country Class engine No.34067 Tangmere to grace our front cover and Andrew Naylor has been able to search out a fascinating photograph of the two Black 5s that operated the 15 Guinea Special as a follow-up to the query raised in The Electronic Telegraph featured in Cumbrian Railways 191. It is great to see how so many of you react to material published and provide interesting additional information.

You will see that this issue of Cumbrian Railways is the last issue in Volume 14 and is a bit reduced in content, with only 44 pages containing editorial material. This is because the Elves have got their fingers out and produced an index to Volume 14. It is best if we can contain it within the last issue of the run, saving on publishing and distributing a separate index. However, the index will still be available as a download from the website as usual.

Speaking of downloads, David Ball, our Webmaster, has been working hard and has made PDF copies available of out-of-print books and Journals. Please follow the links on our website to obtain copies of these publication, no longer available in paper form.

Earlier in the week, I attended (via Zoom) our regular committee meeting, held in Carlisle. It was great to see everyone again and to have a chat before the business of the meeting started. It is wonderful to be amongst a group of people who are all very keen to help run the Association and to keep coming up with ideas to improve how we all work toward making the Association better for the membership. Long may it last!