The Cambrian Coast Railway, the mainline from Machynlleth to Pwllheli, has been something of a constant through my (Ben's) childhood; most holidays to West Wales featured either camping near, or going to the beach within sight of this railway, great for a train-mad kid like me. Anyway, the route has been somewhat neglected over recent years by the train operating companies that run it, so I've not put much effort into photographing it on our regular holidays to Snowdonia. The scenic splendour of the route is somewhat undone by the slightly minimalist timetable and basic service of identical trains. But, making a pleasant change, for the first time in years an excursion was running along the line whilst we were up there on holiday, so Amy and Ithought we'd have a crack at photographing it.
With a morning to kill, we headed down to Barmouth where we could go to the shops, get The Childs some fudge from the nice shop on the main road, with a plan to photograph the train here. But when we nipped up to the station, we were somewhat disappointed by the state of the place, which seems to sum-up officialdoms attitude to the line. Would it have killed them to send a chap with a strimmer and some weed-killer up here? No wonder people don't like using the trains.
Going slightly further towards the estuary, we walked out towards the bridge. Shame the sky wasn't a bit brighter.
The 'classic' view of the bridge. The problem was, we still had a couple of hours to kill, and with The Childs accompanying us (and now sugar-buzzing on all that fudge, whoops) we couldn't keep them entertained here.
Amy's test shot is the sort of angle we fancied, but we figured that this being the 'classic' shot, and so many photographers knocking around for this excursion, the herds would be crowding us here for pics and we couldn't be bothered with that hassle.
So we relocated to Talybont; this is a shot I've been wanting for a while, because this bridge is slap in the middle of the campsite where we used to holiday every summer when I was a child. Me and my sisters would play for hours in the river here, but of course, not having a camera, I never got any pictures of trains on the bridge.
As I'd hoped Talybont was off the beaten track enough to mean that (despite how many other photographers were out to see this train), we had the place to ourselves. A picnic lunch in nice surroundings sat by the river, and -thanks to a quick purchase from a seaside tat shop- The Childs were left to entertain themselves chucking a ball around whilst me and Amy snapped away.
Whilst Amy stayed at lower level, I scrambled up a wall to get a slightly higher angle.
I needed some reference pics of the bridge, as I've been working on a model of the bridge for the garden railway, so it was nice to be able to get some shots of it with something interesting crossing.
The train was due to return a couple of hours later, but the weather was turning and only myself and Elder Child were mad enough to go out in the drizzle... at least from our family. Nipping up to Criccieth for the return, there were dozens of photographers out near the beach.
Where most photographers clustered together on a gentle hillside, me and Elder Child scrambled up the base of a nearby cliff for a slightly more elevated shot.
I was glad of how the pic turned out, but it was a close-run thing as the train was clocking-on a bit here, picking up speed, and the lighting was dull. Oh for the blue sky and sunshine that turned up the following week.
To my pleasant surprise, given the number of other photographers around, I managed to get a shot in print ("Todays Railways").
...and "Railways Illustrated"
What was more, a lorry managed to clonk a railway bridge pretty severely too the week after which meant that the next two excursions due on the line were cancelled; I was glad we'd made the effort in the end to photograph what might be the only special train on the branch for the foreseeable future.
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