The Yorkshire Wolds Railway

The other week, I (Ben), accompanied by Elder Child, were on a bit of a road trip around East Yorkshire getting railway pics.  The aim was to to bag a few shots to accompany model-making articles (mainly Hornby pieces); the main bit of the day was a visit to an open garden with a full-size railway in the garden, and that'll appear in a bigger, separate post.

Between there and York was the Yorkshire Wolds Railway, a new-build preserved line near the amusingly named Wetwang.  We rocked up on what was a very, very wet Sunday lunchtime, in a gap between visitors.  We were made very welcome nevertheless by the vols on the site.

Normally there would be brake van rides, but due to a lack of guard, 'all' they could offer us was a cab ride in their flagship diesel locomotive.

Yes please :)  Shame about the weather, but always nice to cab a loco.

It's a nice little site, with big ideas (but crucially not too big to be unachievable).

I love an industrial diesel, and there was plenty of fuel for thought here for a potential future article and model build.  Maybe something in the larger scales...

 

A few pics from the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Railway

A brief post tonight; we recently took a trip on the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Railway.  This is one that I (Ben) have taken pics around a few times over the last 15 years, but we've never ridden it before.  Shame the weather was so poor on the day, after how glorious it was for the KWVR Diesel Gala I'd gotten my hopes up for a bit of sun, but never mind...

The ex-Nidd Valley loco, hauling the vintage stock, passes our dining train.

Embsay Station.

...and yard.

The Lancashire and Yorkshire no.52322 about to run-round at Bolton Abbey Station.

Not many photographs; the rain set in immediately after this shot, otherwise we might have hung around for a few more pics.  Still, the weekend after was planned to be a day of getting more railway shots for articles, so more chance for some train pics imminently.

 

Exhibitions in June

We've had a few bits of work published this Spring, but we've also contributed to a couple of Postcard exhibitions, with some of our older work.

First off, Ilkley. Their secret postcard show was loosely themes around Journeys, and Amy submitted one of her pics from Whitby last year, I (Ben) turned to a Night Trains shoot, and an unused and unpublished shot from the project.

Printed out and ready to send.

Sadly the opening night clashed with work, so we didn't get chance to see the work, but it's nice to contribute.

Next up, a new venue for us, Fronteer in Sheffield.

Postcards again.

Amy offered them pics from her long-running Light Trails series (we're off back to Blackpool again this year for a fresh batch of shots), and I submitted some from the beach shoots of "Inflate-Deflate".

We've also managed to get some work in with an art book, we'll have more on that in a future post.

 

KWVR Diesel Gala 2024; Friday and Saturday

Whilst yesterday was very succesful in terms of photography, there was just so much running at the gala that there were several locomotives we'd missed, and angles we hadn't had chance to visit, so the plan was to fit in a few more pics around various other commitments over the weekend.

Saturday was a bit of a return to the unsuccesful form of a few months ago... I'd planned for a shot from the tunnel up at Haworth, but on arriving there, and photographing 37075 heading for Keighley, I found the location badly overgrown.  With only a short amount of time until the train I really wanted to photograph (the visiting EWS-liveried 37 on the goods) I raced back through Haworth towards Top Field.  Which I failed to arrive at, making do with a shot over the river which didn't work.

Heading back towards the town, I used the better angle (that I'd also used for the morning goods train during the steam gala).

The original plan was my usual spot on the river bank at Damems for a shot of the double-headed 37's later in the morning, but as ever for a weekend, there were Baddies in the woods.  A tent had been set up by some drunk teenagers, who were busily cocking about, and I didn't fancy getting rocks lobbed at me as I had earlier in the year.  So I ended up at Damems Station itself.

Much more pleasant.

The Yoofs had left by the time I walked back, so I waited around for the shuttle train with the Teddybear on one end, and the Hudswell-Clarke on the other.

Sunday saw less sunshine, and an early trip out to a bridge between Keighley and Ingrow for the goods train.  It was full Keighley too, the only vehicle which passed me at 8 on a Sunday morning was a horse-drawn trap.

We had other stuff on, during the Sunday, but I managed a shot of D32 whirring away like mad as it did a rare full-line passenger turn, seen at Bridge 11.  

Overall, a really good event; I'd been getting worried that with how busy I've been at work, I hadn't had much time for railway photography lately, but this was a great opportunity to get out in the sunshine and get some pics.  I still didn't manage shots of all the locomotives, or angles I wanted, and whilst all three of The Childs rode the trains, I didn't get chance this year but it was a fun few days nonetheless, especially the Friday.

KWVR Diesel Gala 2024; the Friday

I (Ben) mentioned in the last post, with the Ffestiniog pics, that I was badly out of practise with the railway photography, and making rookie errors with finding locations and lighting.  To make up for it, I booked a day off work for the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway Diesel Gala.  Elder child has finished their GCSE's so would be accompanying me.  Like all teenagers however, they were still in bed when the trains started running, so I headed out by myself for the first few trains.

My favourite angle, though the lighting isn't great at this time of the morning, and I've never had a shot published from here for some reason.  GBRF class 69 climbing out of Keighley.

A quick relocation to near the Globe Inn for a view over the former goods lines, to see D32 trundle past.

Going back to the house, Elder Child slowly getting up and dressed gave me a chance to go down the road to see the Teddybear trundle by with a goods train.

We walked up to Damems, which presented us with our first problem of the day- everything was madly overgrown after a damp Spring and a sudden burst of hot weather.

In fact, to escape the overgrowth for a south-facing shot, I ended up climbing a tree... somewhat less easy nowadays as I rocket into middle age than it was a decade ago.  Western heading for Keighley.

We hung around, sitting on the grass near Damems Station and having a picnic brunch.  Surprisingly it was pretty quiet, regards other photographers, and it was a lovely peaceful break waiting for "Western Champion" to return.

Father-in-Law was volunteering at the station cafe at Keighley so we went down there for a cold drink and a sit in the shade, and to see the Western again.  I've never really managed a decent pic of this class before, and I'm happy I got some nice pics of this design classic.  Misha Black knew what he was about when he styled these machines.

The sun was turning a bit hazy (and the hayfever becoming an issue) when we went up to Haworth.  As usual, Top Field was swarming with photographers, but for some reason (and in complete with the steam gala back in April), nobody was venturing further afield, so we had these woods to ourselves.

We could have stayed later, but I was getting sick of the pollen and sneezing, so we headed back with a plan to come back out in the morning for a few more shots of locomotives we'd missed...

 

A token bit of railway photography on the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland

Usually, whilst we're in Wales, we manage quite a bit of railway photography.  This time however it seemed a bit trickier... a mix of poor weather, and actually a lack of trains.  The Ffestiniog Railway seem to be having something of an economy drive, with only a couple of trains a day, so our regular trips to Porthmadog tended to find the stations deserted.

On the last Sunday of the of the holiday, a nice day (finally!  Typical, just as we were going home) coincided with spotting a train in the Welsh Highland Railway platform at Porthmadog.

The new-build Double Fairlie, James Spooner, with what turned out to be an excursion.

Possibly because of the paucity of trains, the world and his dog were out to take pictures, and every layby and spot within 20 mins of where we were staying was staked-out.  I ended up in the Glaslyn Pass just to find a spot to get a picture.

Sadly, shooting into the light, from a distance.  I'm really out of practise with railway photography...

Feeling a bit fed-up, but knowing there was one other train running that morning, I headed over to Penrhyn on the Ffestiniog.

Whilst waiting, I took a few plant shots (there was a possible open call these would have fit in with, but I ended up choosing not to go for it in the end).

And that was that.  The only train before we headed back to England.  The weather has been quite shocking this Spring which has (literally) dampened my enthusiasm for taking pics.  I need to try and get my head back in the game before the Worth Valley Diesel Gala...

 

As mentioned last month, with the post done with the miniatures shoot for Gerry Anderson Day, I (Ben) had intended on doing all the shoots outdoors, but the weather intervened.  However, whilst out very early one morning for a location shoot, I took the opportunity to finally try the pics I'd wanted.

Early shots weren't promising, as the lighting was a bit odd.

Trying to incorporate some real vapour trails high overhead.

Switching to a different angle, I couldn't quite make the shots with the ocean work...

...at least, until I waded out into the sea.  A use of a slightly fisheye-lens effect, and a shallow bay, helped give the effect I was after.

Overall I'm happy with these, considering it was a quick experiment; just a shame I couldn't shoot these pics at the time, but it's given me some hints for future shoots to do.