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It's been a busy last week or so, with a good Black Country outing followed by a selection of site updates keeping me occupied...

The outing took place on 7th September and saw me heading out around Smethwick before spending the afternoon in Cradley Heath and Old Hill. I had a look at Smethwick Canal Junction, visited the Black Patch, got a few Metro photos at Winson Green then caught the Outer Circle to Perry Barr. Next up was the 123, providing a seemingly never-ending ride through Lozells, Handsworth, Cape Hill, Bearwood, Bristnall Fields and Blackheath before dropping me off at Cradley Heath Station. The trip was finished off with a look at the Timbertree estate, a walk through Haden Hill Park, and a glimpse of the Dudley No. 2 Canal at Gosty Hill before a session at Old Hill Station and my connections back to Stourbridge and Wolverhampton. Nice weather, a healthy batch of photos and some fun memories - can't really ask for more.

Looking at the site updates, and there have been some useful developments on the WME galleries.

• WME Birmingham: At long last, the Midland Metro makes an appearance on my Brum gallery. Two shots at Winson Green kickstart the collection, the second of which is actually a brand new photo, making it quite precious as one of the very few 2007 pictures to be found on WME. I've also added a couple more bridge shots to Exploring Woodgate Valley.
  
• WME Sandwell: Another important new collection here, as the Old Birmingham Main Line makes an appearance with photos of Brasshouse Lane Bridge and Randalls Bridge. I need to develop the canal content of WME Sandwell and this is a big step in the right direction.
  
• Exploration Extra: My recent work on the WME archive has focused on June 2006, including releasing photos from my holiday in Dawlish. Some of these have been added to the Devon collection on EE; I'm particularly pleased with the 157 at Exmouth and the shots at Newton Abbot Station, whilst Paignton is also added to the locations mix.
  
• WME Wolverhampton: Some useful local additions here include two views of Heath Town Memorial and a second view of the King Charles pub in Northwood Park. The star of the show must be a look at the gardens of Bantock House, one of my favourite photos and it can now be found in Exploring Bradmore.
  
• Two lesser galleries have had their rail quota topped up. WME Warwickshire gains a couple of views of the station frontage at Stratford-upon-Avon, whilst WME Shropshire gets two views of Platform 1 at Ludlow.

That completes this little summary, I've enjoyed having plenty to do on the site and is good to see a few things coming together. I'm hoping to get maybe one more outing in for September, and maybe a few more site additions too. If anything happens, I'll let you know right here on WME Blogspot.