This picture taken in 2007 shows a GNER InterCity 125 from London Kings Cross heading for Greetby overtaking
 a coal train on the down slow line while the Pullman special heads south on the up slow line. Soon GNER would
lose its franchise to NXEC which in turn lost its franchise to the East Coast Main Line Company two years later.

The track layout was also modified slightly. As you can see from the diagram below,
some line singling took place although the basic layout remained the same.

Some extra signals were installed, and those out on the main line were
automated using the excellent infra-red detection system made by Heathcote
Electronics. One casualty was the ex-GN signal box, which was replaced by a
non-descript brick-built relay room as the station signals came under the control
of a signalling centre many miles away.

The following photos show the revised scene in and around Greetby Minster.

The row of houses above the tunnels still stood although the traffic that passed them changed - especially the lorries.
 

A close-up view of the Bottle and Glass pub shows that it went the way of many others. In the real world it had already been
moved to the Black Country Museum at Dudley so there seems to be something of a time-warp taking place here! Those paving
slabs aren't looking too good either.
 

There were not many changes at the station itself, apart from the withdrawal of parcels services. The sign tells us that
East Midlands Trains took over responsibility for operating the station, although other companies' services still also called here.
 

Below the bridges 66136 passes through the station with a train of old-style HAA coal hoppers past where the former Great Northern
signal box used to be. In the foreground a couple more class EWS 66s await their turns of duty at the locomotive stabling point.
 

66136 heads out along the GN route with its coal train as a Freightliner class 66 pauses at the signal guarding the junction at the entrance
to Greetby Minster station. This loco is at the head of a train of empty 100 tonne capacity HHA bogie hopper wagons heading back to
collect more coal for one of the region's ever-hungry power stations. In the foregound the now-singled ex-Midland line diverges.

A litle further along 66136 passes the last of the Freightliner hoppers as it approaches the signal gantry with the green lights showing on
both signals. In the foreground the singled Midland line passes the site of the now-closed Halam lane crossing. The old derelict signal box
that used to be here has at last been removed and the track is protected by modern metal fencing, although strangely the GN line still has
the old-style post and wire fence.
 

   A few minutes later a Freightliner container train hauled by a Canadian-built class 66 locomotive passes the same spot as a line
 of empty EWS coal wagons heads in the other direction. The first wagon on the container train is carrying the BBC News liveried
 container known as The Box. This dates the scene to late-2008 before The Box headed out on its journey around the globe, and
 it illustrates just how connected to the rest of the world we are now - the loco, the containers and the Skoda car all testify to this.

An East Midlands Trains liveried class 153 unit runs along the now-singled Midland line past
the ruined remains of Thorney Abbey with the weed-infested canal tunnel running alongside.
 

As the four-track GN line curves round and crosses over the entrance to Oxton Hill Tunnel. The Ketton Cement train is still made up of
the Tiger Leasing PCA wagons introduced in the 1970s (in my world at least). Here they emerge from the tunnel hauled by 60022.
 

Our train continues its way along the Great Northern line .....
 

..... and heads down the gradient towards the double tunnel as two of its sister locos head side-by-side in the opposite direction
hauling long trains of empty 100 tonne HTA wagons. I really think that this is what railways are about, and what I want to replicate.
Not for me the often-modelled branch line of the steam era!
 

As our train disappears into the tunnel, we hear the once-familiar roar of a Deltic behind us and preserved 55003 Meld races
past and into the tunnel on the fast line hauling a special train of  seven vintage Pullman cars. These are all named - they are:
Julia, Karen, Lucretia, Minerva, Nemesis, Ophelia and Penelope. This railway contains many cryptic references to my life
and interests - those who know me will doubtless spot some of them.