The Keighley and Worth Valley Railway held a week-long gala to celebrate their 50th Anniversary recently, with a lot of extra trains, visiting locomotives, and so on, all of it coinciding with a week of utterly spectacular weather. Being as I (Ben) was mainly working from home that week, I thought I'd take the opportunity to get as many pics as possible.
The week before the gala saw the arrival, via the mainline, of "Royal Scot" (the headliner visiting steam locomotive). Actually this was quite fortunate, the loco was still stuck at the KWVR some weeks later because of the steam-loco ban caused by the ongoing heatwave, so I had chance for a few extra shots. A new location for me, the footpath crossing at Cononley, near Skipton (being as I was working out that way anyway that day).
I actually overtook "Royal Scot" getting home by the next service train, and managed the header shot at the top of the page when it was heading up the KWVR to the sheds at Haworth after lunch. The above shot was taken nearby, going for a slightly arty composition with Black 5 45212 (owned by the railway, but generally used on mainline excursions up in Scotland this time of year).
As it happened, I ended up missing the first weekend of the gala due to other commitments, so I started taking pics during the weekdays...
To celebrate the 50th, the railway had turned out recently-restored Ivatt tank 41241 in the unique house-livery it wore when the KWVR first reopened (because back in 1968 British Railways wouldn't let them paint it in the then-current scheme, as they were still operating their own steam locomotives). Frankly this loco looks utterly stunning in this colour scheme, it is a credit to the restoration team. It was working on the rear of all the "Royal Scot" trains during the weekdays of the gala, and getting a shot of this loco became my main target of the gala...
One of 'my' locations which I've used frequently over the years, accessible again now that Skipton Properties have finished building houses. Though the lighting only really works this time of year, the new-builds cast shadows a lot of the rest of the time.
Further up in one of the few bits of countryside Skipton Properties haven't built over...
I managed a morning up near Haworth, in the classic location of Top Field, amongst the astonishing number of other photographers staking the line out during the week. The decent weather had drawn people out of course, and here I managed to annoy a fellow photographer who had a veritable battery of video cameras set up, and my hay fever kicked in and I started sneezing...
The old stone bridge nearby- nice location, but the lighting was a bit off. Actually might work better on a dull day, ironically.
I hadn't actually planned to take any shots on the Wednesday, having felt I'd got enough of "Royal Scot" on Mon and Tues, but Youngest Child ended up off school due to a gas leak at the place, so we ended up on a walk out to Damems. Not great lighting-wise, but big thanks to the station staff who kindly moved some boxes out of shot for me.
My favourite shot of "Royal Scot" from the three days- quite by chance I managed to beat a load of other photographers to the classic footpath-accessible location near Mytholmes Tunnel (given the numbers of people about, I wasn't expecting to manage this one). With us unable to afford the lineside photographer permit to stand around in orange high-vis next to the track, finding footpaths and other legal access points lineside is becoming increasingly difficult, so it was nice to get this one.
Next, the Small Engines and Vintage Day on the Thursday...
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