KWVR 50th Gala- Diesels

The final day of the KWVR Gala was given over to Diesel haulage.  From a photography point of view I always loved the diesel galas- because of the steep nature of the KWVR steam locomotives always work boiler-first out Keighley, which means over the course of the day, there will always be shots of trains facing backwards.  Being mostly double-ended, diesels mean roughly double the number of available angles to photograph from.  The railway was a pioneer in having diesel galas, but 4 years ago held their last one, citing rising costs.  We had other jobs to do during the day on the Sunday of the 50th Anniversary Diesel event, but I managed to nip out a few times with the Elder Childs to get some pictures.

Visiting for the day from Direct Rail Services (a current mainline loco, but running in colours from when I was little), 37401 unexpectedly heads through the woods near Keighley- due to some problem at the sheds the rostering of locomotives had gone a little squiffy.  I'd hoped to photograph this loco earlier in the day near Damems and it hadn't appeared, and I certainly wasn't expecting it here at this time, later in the morning.  A pleasant surprise then.

Prototype loco "Vulcan" with vintage stock.  It was only running between Keighley and Ingrow, where there are somewhat limited line side photo angles, and again, the lighting didn't work out too well with this one.

GBRF had sent a thoroughly modern loco, a class 66, for the gala (to be named in honour of the anniversary of the KWVR) and later in the day I went out to photograph it passing.  The spot I wanted was staked-out, so a little hopping on the stepping stones (hooray for heatwaves and low river levels) opened up an entirely new angle for me).

The last train of the day I was able to photograph, against fading light, was the 'Deltic' "Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry".  Not a great shot, though the camera coped better with the fading light than I expected.  I managed more shots than I thought I was going to during the day, and being as this was another locomotive of which I had a model as a child, it seemed a fitting way to end the gala.

So overall?  The KWVR gala was very entertaining from a photography point of view.  Apart from a few mildly irritating scheduling conflicts around the time of the school run, I had a great time photographing the trains, and riding on them on the last Saturday of the gala.  The staff and vols were friendly as ever, and the railway put on a damned good show.

I've ended on the above picture because it is one I managed to get published in a magazine.  Might not seem much after so many pics taken this week, but given as it seemed every other railway enthusiast in Northern England was out with their cameras, and realising that, I was mainly bothered about taking photographs just for my own enjoyment, I was pleasantly surprised to get something in print.