Railbus by night- long exposures with model railways

With there only being limited opportunity to get in any railway photography a couple of months ago, I (Ben) was feeling the need to do get some pictures, and generally have a play around with some unusual shots.

In normal times, I occasionally try to get in some long-exposure shots when the KWVR are running their evening services in the winter.  I quite like taking these abstract, stylised pics just as something to play around doing, but Covid times have meant it was rare to get evening trains running.  It also tends to involve lots of stumbling around woods in the dark, hiding from poachers and groups of stoned teenagers, and as I get older, it frankly has less and less appeal.  With the country only slowly easing itself out of lockdown, it seemed a better option to try and do something with miniatures instead.

My new toy, an LGB Wismar Railbus.  I've wanted one of these since I was about 11/12 and saw one in a model railway mag.  January saw me manage to make a bit of disposable income off a few publications, and that coupled with an all-clear diagnosis for a fairly serious health problem, led me to treat myself to a competitively-priced second-hand example.  The plan is to use it for a couple of articles I'm working on, but in the mean time, I thought I'd make the most of those wonderful working lights.

I don't actually have a garden railway, so it called for some improvisation.  This is the alleyway down the side of the house, the 'railway' is four lengths of G-scale track on some planks, on two boards, with some hanging basket liner.  An extension lead run from out the front door provided the power to the tracks.

I added a Playmobil level crossing to create a focal point for some of the shots.  The Land Rover is a scale toy, but really needed the working headlights on.  The trouble is they only come on when the button is pressed, creating a very loud horn-honking and engine sound, and I was already getting enough funny looks off the neighbours (who were all out celebrating the first weekend without lockdown, with the aid of loud music, barbecues, and a lot of booze) without having a noisy toy care blaring away too.

Greyscale experiment using my phone, as opposed to the SLR.

The phone also allowed me to get one of my patented 'ridiculously low-angle' shots that I like doing with my real railway photography.

Back to the SLR, and having a play with the setting for some long-exposure shots.

I enjoyed doing the night shoots, so the next sunny morning, I thought I'd try some daylight shots.  I needed something suitably large-scale, and so I dug out a Dapol O-gauge class 08 and a length of track on a board I'd built for a shoot about a decade ago.

Not sure how well the background works in daylight, the tree at the end of the alleyway is too obviously overscale, though the houses up the hill look quite nice.

Again, trying for a more vintage look with some greyscale shots.

Out with the Wismar railbus again.

Here I was playing with the filters on the phone again, trying to create the air of a 60's/70's photograph.

Trying for a slightly different angle, with the aid of an Alpine plant held near the lens.

The last shot of the morning, mainly because the neighbour who owns that large garden I was using as a backdrop doesn't seem to like me, and when they spot I'm out taking pictures, they have a habit of rushing out to light bonfires and things, or garden (in stony silence) right next to the wall to put me off.  Still, I was rather happy with how the pictures came out, so I'll probably end up having another crack at this at some point.