Friday of the KWVR 50th Gala was the biggie, the day marking the actual anniversary of the reopening special train. In contrast to the day before, this was a day of big locomotives hammering up and down the branch, with a few on my list to photograph. The above one is my new favourite location, shoving the camera under the gates to get as madly low-angle a shot as possible...
With the lineside path at Damems still closed off, I got the bus up to Haworth in time to get "Big Jim" near Ebor Lane. Not the prettiest of locomotives, certainly, but it is a favourite of mine and The Childs.
Heading up towards Top Field and Oxenhope, a new angle temporarily opened up by Skipton Properties. This is probably the only time I'll be able to use this spot, as about 40 houses are due to be built here before the next gala.
The visiting Pannier was out and about, and I got a shot at Top Field, trying for something slightly more bucolic than the standard shot of "Royal Scot" I got a couple of days before.
With the stone bridge being out because of the lighting, a little paddle nearby allowed this shot of the Pannier returning later, and a nice riverbank spot to eat a late breakfast.
Heading back to Ebor Lane, and leaning precariously over the stone wall beside the footpath, I managed a reasonable shot of 45212.
The actual reopening train, with the red Ivatt, was scheduled for late afternoon, yet another slightly irritating train scheduled right for school-run time (which seemed to have been happening a lot with this gala). Assuming the timetable hadn't slipped too badly, I reckoned I just about had time to snap it near Damems then run like hell to get The Childs from school.
To my utter amazement, the train was bang on time. OK so the lighting was against me, but I really didn't have anywhere else I could snap it from.
This was one I really wanted to photograph- one of my most treasured possessions from when I was a child is a railway book with this loco, in this livery, on the cover, from the time of the reopening. I was determined I wanted to at least see it.
Chronologically out of place, but this is my favourite shot of the whole week, taken earlier in the day up near Oxenhope (by standing on the walls of the stone bridge to get a bit of elevation). This loco, "City of Wells" used to be based on the KWVR, but a bit of a merry cock-up with the loco not long after its restoration meant it got stranded away on another line it was visiting, who subsequently bought the loco. I'd never managed a nice shot of it when it was here, which was irritating given this class of loco is one of my favourites.
With it returning to visit for probably the last ever time for this gala, I knew I only had this week to get a shot. But I was away the first weekend when it worked trains, then the services it worked during the "Royal Scot" days it was always at the rear of double-headed services (it only worked solo trains at, yes, 3pm, when I was on the school run). The one day I was free to try and photograph it, and in Haworth, it broke down.
I finally managed this shot on the Friday, made all the more special to me from a personal point of view because it is decked-out in "Golden Arrow" regalia- my first 'proper' (non-Thomas the Tank Engine) model train was a streamlined West Country Pacific with 'Golden Arrow' boards.
These two shots are not from the Friday, but were taken the next morning. After a week of lineside shots in between working from home, with the family off on Saturday we were actually riding the trains. I went out early for the demonstration goods however.
As it happened some problem with this goods train after it had passed me massively screwed-up the timetable, and every train ran at least 40 minutes late for the rest of the day. With the trains busier than I have ever seen them, all we could do was stay on the train to make sure we kept a seat- enjoyable enough a day out, riding up and down with a picnic, chatting with The Childs, but no time for other photography.
The final day would be a brief bit of line siding, with the Diesel Day on Sunday...
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