The Worth Valley Railway is our nearest preserved line and offers the most opportunities for railway photography, but in recent years they haven't offered an Autumn gala. It's a bit swings and roundabouts, as the replacement summer galas do at least mean things look nice and green in the background, but it does mean that right at the point where I (Ben) have a bit more free time after the summer hols, and want to get out taking pictures, there's nowt worth seeing.
This has been somewhat alleviated in recent years by the Beer and Music Festival, which at least gives a few days of intensively-timetabled trains with a variety of locomotives, a kind of mini-gala. And if we can't attend as patrons, at least I can squeeze in a few hours here and there taking pictures.
This was a shot I've wanted for a long time, the climb out of Keighley. I've been using this spot for a while, but in the summer the sun was always in the wrong place. With the shorter days, I thought I'd see if it made a difference, which it sort-of does...
Along the line to Ebor Lane, and making the most of a public footpath beside the line for a shot of probably my favourite loco on the branch, 'Big Jim'.
The class 37 again, which was rostered for a couple of morning turns.
Same location, though with the sun (annoyingly) fading away mid-morning.
This spot between Haworth and Oxenhope seemed decent earlier in the day, until the clouds closed in. Oh well, maybe another time in better weather.
Last of the patchy sunlight for an unusual combination at Top Field where the 2MT paired up with the 37 before taking over the train.
Finally, Oakworth, not a location I tend to photograph at, oddly enough, though I do use it as a station quite frequently in the summer. This was just before the heavens opened and made photography a bit of a nightmare.
A positive of the Beer Festival is night-time running, and I headed out to try some arty long-exposure shots, just for the sake of experimenting (though I was also looking for some reference shots for a possible miniatures project; I wanted to see what kind of atmospherics I'd need to replicate).
The Sunday saw more trains, though worse weather. Out for a walk with The Younger Child, I just snapped a few pics here and there, being more bothered about getting some exercise than pics. She took the above one though, impressive for a seven year old with my Canon 350 SLR which is older than she is...
The taste of doing night pictures left me wanting to try something else on these lines, but I'll have to wait for nearer to Christmas. Understandably given how built-up the area is, the railway doesn't do much evening running apart from a few summer Saturdays, but at least the dark afternoons in December offer a chance of a couple of trains in the dark to go and photograph.
The print mags weren't biting, not surprising as I tend to do better off heritage diesels this time of year, but Younger Child got one of hers into an online mag, Railtalk...
...and I got a few pics into the house mag of the KWVR, a bonus of being a member.
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