Nath & Bev's Wedding, 22nd September 2012
Somewhat off topic from my usual posts, but I thought I'd better explain why there's no Severn Valley Railway Autumn Steam Gala photography this year. I attended a rather important wedding instead, not all that far away from the SVR as it happens, when Elaine's son Nathan Matta married Bev Hall at Walcot Hall near Bishop's Castle in Shropshire. The area was was shrouded in fog at daybreak, but by mid morning that had been burnt off to reveal the hall and grounds in all their glory, and the day just got better and better from there.
If you know the password, all of the images from the weekend are available to view in the Friends and Family section of this site.
I'd just like to congratulate Bev and Nathan on their choice of spouse, wish them a long and very happy future together and thank them for all of the thought and planning that they put into making their wedding day such a special and memorable occasion for everyone that attended.
It'll be back to steam photography soon...
Severn Valley Railway, 9th September 2012
Encouraged by the good weather, I had a full day out with my cameras. After heading south down the M5 to photograph 34067 Tangmere working the Royal Duchy out of Bristol, I headed north to Kidderminster for the SVR, lured by the prospect of seeing another Battle of Britain Pacific (34053 Sir Keith Park, a rebuilt example that I had not seen before) as well as whatever else the SVR had in steam that day.
I don't know about you, but I prefer the look of the rebuilt form of Bullied's Pacific classes.
I must admit that I had another pressing reason to visit the Severn Valley railway this weekend. Unfortunately, because of a family wedding taking priority, it's looking extremely unlikely that I'll be allowed to make it to this year's Autumn gala - though as we'll be gathering less than 30 miles away, I haven't entirely given up hope of dropping in on the way home sometime on the final afternoon.
I've been delegated to be busy taking photos of friends and family at the wedding (and those who are in the know will be able to see the results when they've been uploaded to this site), but there will be plenty of other opportunities to photograph steam over the next six weeks or so while the gala season is in full swing.
Return to the NYMR, 23rd to 25th August 2012
Things had been pretty quiet on the railway photography front for a month until I made another trip up to North Yorkshire to spend a few days visiting Pickering and the NYMR. My wife Elaine is to be thanked for this excursion as she had booked me on to one of the photography workshops organised by the NYMR as a 60th birthday present.
Naturally, I set off early enough on the long journey from home in South Wales to arrive in good time to spend a few hours photographing trains on the afternoon of Thursday 23rd, starting with 80072 passing Moorgates. Friday 24th was devoted to the workshop, spent mainly in the NYMR's Learning Centre at Pickering station, but including a ride to Goathland after lunch for a practical session - unfortunately shorter than planned due to adverse weather. We did manage to see 75029 climbing past Darnholm on the afternoon through service from Whitby.
It seemed hardly worthwhile to go all that way without spending at least one full day on the line, so on Saturday 25th I managed to see 75029 (again) at Ruswarp and Sleights on Network Rail's Esk Valley section as well as exploring the views available of the Grosmont to Goathland section from the nearby Rail Trail, formerly the original trackbed of the Pickering & Malton Railway.
The Autumn gala season will be getting under way in the next week or two, so I expect to be adding albums to this site a little more frequently than of late. The next outing will be to the West Somerset for their Late Summer Weekend on Sunday 2nd September, which also coincides with two steam hauled specials on the main line. I may not be paying to much attention to the diesel hauled services, but looking at the working timetables for this event, for the first time the WSR will be utilising the Minehead turntable and Norton triangle to turn the steam locomotives at each end of their journey.
Whitby Week, 13th to 20th July 2012
I have just completed the job of captioning the images of North York Moors Railway steam taken during a week long stay in Whitby. If it had been up to me, I would have been out somewhere along the line every day, but as I was with my wife Elaine and four other firends, I was only let loose every other day! Having said that, I must once again thank friends Phil, Judi, Kaikers and Geoff for their 60th birthday gift of a return footplate trip from Pickering to Grosmont on Q6 class 0-8-0 No. 63395. The photo above shows me (on the left) with the loco's fireman and driver at Grosmont. I hadn't even seen 63395 in steam before, so it was a special treat indeed to ride on the footplate.
I will soon be adding some galleries of purely scenic images from my travels, as its high time that I started to diversify a bit in my photographic efforts. It goes without saying that images of Whitby and the North York Moors will be the first to feature in the new collection.
Dean Forest Railway GWR Branchline Weekend July 1st 2012
After some dreadful weather throughout most of June, it was a pleasure to get out with the cameras again yesterday for my annual visit to the Dean Forest Railway to photograph the goings on at their GWR Branchline Weekend.
The railway had reopened Whitecroft station at the end of May, and this was my first opportunity to see it. I have to say that they have made an excellent job of the platform and associated buildings. Judging from the piles of bricks tucked away near the station buildings, there is more development still to come. Ideally the DFR will construct a second platform here, and reinstate the loop line to serve it, as this will help the operation of their services considerably. At present, there is no passing loop anywhere between the two terminal stations at Lydney Junction and Parkend, which means that trains have to be flighted at busy times such as the Branchline Weekend. Of course, nothing can happen without funding, and I would hope that, even in the current economic difficulties, some sort of grant can be obtained to assist with the costs of further improving the facilities at Whitecroft. I for one have been investing heavility in the National Lottery in a so far vain attempt to scoop a big enough pot to finance early retirement, and now that the Olympics will soon be out of the way, is it too much to hope that the Heritage Lottery Fund will have a few thousand pounds spare to invest in something that's actually useful?
Anyway, with the rant over, the next thing I've got to look forward to is a trip to Whitby, with the North York Moors Railway on the doorstep. Surely we're due for a prolonged stretch of decent weather soon?