A stop-off at the Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway

As mentioned in the previous post, we were in the Lakes to get some shots for an article for Hornby. Whilst at Haverthwaite Station to get some pics of a loco in their sheds, we decided to have a brew and cake at the excellent station cafe.

Haverthwaite is a fascinating station- set between two tunnels, with a lovely main building, even on a damp day it looks dramatic.

This also allowed us to get some reference shots for another project that's coming up next year.

Tank loco "Victor" making a spirited exit from the tunnel.

Away from the cutting, the classic Lake District 'Tuppaware-Lid-Sky' effect somewhat spoilt the pics.

Whilst in the engine shed, some more close-ups of the locomotive motion, something I (Ben) had done for a previous gallery open call. I thought I'd get some new shots for a possible resurrection of the project.

A final shot from back outside at the station, as "Victor" left. We'll have to see if we can fit in another visit in better weather next year, to ride the trains again (having last travelled on them in 2022).

 

A trip to the Lakes; a recce for a shoot, and walk up a hill

A model build underway for the Hornby Collector's Club saw us going up to the Lake District, to the area around Burneside to get some pictures to accompany the final article.

First stop, the Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway, to get some pictures of this little machine, the Simplex shunter "Rachel". This formerly worked on the tramway which served the James Cropper paper mill, here in...

...Burneside. The tramway ran down the road on the right of this picture.

In places, the remains of the tramway survives, such as this stretch which is now a driveway approaching these houses.

Bits of the railway survive under the tarmac and gravel.

The village itself is quite pretty, but yet again the weather was appalling. This is actually the third visit done here in the last few years to get pics of the tramway, and it's been pouring it down each time.

The mainline station, such as it is.

Leaving the village, the course of the tramway is visible as the footpath beside the road.

Having followed the path as far as possible, the bad weather saw us abandoning the shoot in favour of a bowl of hot soup and a brew with some friends of ours from Uni days, who live in Ambleside.

With the weather clearing after lunch, we took a stroll up the hill above the town with one of our friends.

Nice views from near the top.

The weather was closing in again so we decided to knock it on the head, and walk back down to the house.

All in all, not a bad trip- shame about the weather, but we got the shots we needed for the article. There'll be more on the model when it's published, but here's a teaser of the finished build inspired by the Burneside tramway;

 

Tinplate Clockwork

During the summer, I (Ben) was given the opportunity to have my tinplate 0 gauge micro-layout, built last year, featured in a couple of mags.  The Train Collectors Society are getting a piece, and a variation on that article ended up being published in British Railway Modelling this Autumn too.

Another glamourous shoot... always best to use natural light, but it meant being out on the drive to get the pics.

It's a small layout, but I'd tried to design in a lot of angles from the start.  I'd done a shoot last year, but that was indoors with studio lights, so I'd been looking forward to doing some pics with better lighting.

I really, really need to make some better backdrops.  The sky-blue boards are getting a bit worn and long in the tooth now.

Always nice to see my work in print, especially in one of the biggies like BRM.  Hopefully I'll be able to get something else in with them at some point in the future.

 

Bodnant in August 2

A few more from Bodnant Gardens, focussing more on the flowers, with some slightly more abstract and experimental images.

Playing with those long-exposure settings that Ben was using for the waterfall shots earlier in the week.