Out in the Winter fog...

I (Ben) found these whilst on a trawl back through an old memory card.  This was one of the final walks to school with Younger Child before starting my new day job.  It was a suitably atmospheric day for a somewhat melancholy occasion; working from home, I've rather enjoyed doing the school runs, especially after the break from routine caused by Covid Lockdowns.

Spooky start to the day.

Ingrow Station, through the railings.

A view of St.Johns Church over the alleyways of Ingrow.

Along the River Worth.

 

KWVR Spring Railbus

It's always nice to be able to use 'our' railway for actual Public Transport purposes.  A trip into Bradford saw us using Ingrow as our starting point, then heading via the KWVR to Keighley to change onto the electric mainline to Fosrter Square. 

A rather arty pic by Younger Child, from the ramp...

...and a more conventional shot from platform level.

Coming back later gave us some opportunities to get some shots of the W&M Railbus.

The lighting was a little off, so we tried some black and white shots to see if that helped any.

A trip to town on the Sunday in rather better weather was used to try and get some more shots.

I had hoped for a few more, but it was very much an unplanned stop-off, with only the phone, and the battery was dying so two shots was all I could manage.

Whilst I didn't get any shots published (despite a couple of high-res requests), here's one from earlier in the year, in the KWVR's house mag...

...and one from Younger Child, who got one of her pics into Railtalk Online.

 

A cold, dark night at Blackhills

Another quick post tonight, some spooky evening shots from Blackhills, near Bingley.  Nothing else to say really, we were just taken by how it looked, lit only by the very old sodium lights.

 

A Walk in the Worth Valley

With the warmer weather coming on back in the Spring, we took the opportunity to go for a mass-outing, and a walk along the valley as a family.

We started the journey at Ingrow, after getting some shots of 37075 (part of the point of the day was to get some shots of the diesel, for possible publication).

78022 arrives in the morning sun at Ingrow.

Arrival at Oxenhope, where we set off from for the walk back down to Oakworth after a nice brew at the station buffet.  The above angle is a bit of a cliche on the Worth Valley, but we've both had this angle published before so it's generally worth getting a shot or two from here.

41241 and 37075 passing, near Haworth.

Bluebells in the woods near Oakworth.

41241, with the diesel having detached, crossing the Worth at Oakworth.

Whilst the shots of the diesel were sent off for possible publication, Amy got a couple of her shots of the day into Railtalk Online too.

 

KWVR Spring Gala

As the leaves drop from the trees, and our local line, the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway winds-down their operations after the summer rush, it's back to the start of the year today on the blog, to when the line held their Steam Gala.  I (Ben) had just started a new job, but was lucky enough to get a day off on the Friday, so I was able to spend a couple of days riding the trains and going lineside.

Walking up to Damems bought this unexpected sight, next to a river on a cold Spring day, quite some way from either sea or swimming pool.  As people who've spent several projects mucking around in random spots with inflatables, I wonder if it was someone doing the same as us.

Visiting from the Severn Valley Railway, the Pannier tank trundles through Damems.

Something of an unexpected problem whilst trying to get to a location, turned out my boots were not as waterproof as the makers would have had me believe...

Being as I'd be stuck at the more urban end of the line on the Friday, I thought I'd revisit an angle I'd tried during 2020, and the bridge over the old Great Northern Railway route into town.

Light-engine run by the 0-6-0, just returned to service at this point.

Down amongst another favourite location spot, the high retaining walls on the climb out of Keighley.

I managed a couple of hours up at the more rural end of the valley, and went for a slightly arty shot with the snowdrops in shot.

My lunchtime companion, I'd guess he'd just come out of winter hibernation, as he was a bit sluggish.  I ended up moving him out of the middle of the path.

Saturday was mainly spent actually enjoying riding the trains with the family, but I manged a couple of shots, such as the Pannier above...

...and a night shot with the other visiting loco, which was most unusually hauling a night freight train.  There were a few of us out to see it, Elder Child accompanied me to get some pics, and the station staff very kindly let us all onto the platform, and left the lights on.

Sunday morning saw some light-engine moves, so I was out bright and early to see them. The best of the bunch was the Pannier shuffling around Keighley.

There were many, many photographers out and about, so I didn't end up getting owt published in the mags, but I did manage one of the night shots in the Pic of the Day feature.

 

Beaumaris Castle

A new location for us,