I (Ben) have been struggling to fit-in doing railway photography recently, between family stuff, the Day Job, and commissioned work. Indeed, as a railway enthusiast I've not managed to do much of the Railway 200 Celebrations at all this year. One event I did manage was a morning at the Middleton Railway.
Always the glamorous locations...
Yeah, definitely wouldn't be walking around here at any time later than about 9.30am.
The abandoned Dartmouth Road branch.
It was a slightly gloomy morning, sadly. Usually when we go the galas at the Middleton the weather is stunning. Maybe it's because I was there on my own, the weather-Gods must smile instead on Amy or The Childs, not me.
The train service was a bit limited too, compared to normal. The Balm Road Branch, usually a highlight, is now shut because the level crossings can't be used, so services were just the same mixed train and three locomotives trundling back and forth on the main line.
Still, a few chances to get pictures of the trains as references for model projects.
One of the highlights of the Middleton are the carriages where you can see the locomotives up close, though another disappointment this year was the open-balcony coach wasn't in service. Luckily one with observation windows at the ends was in use instead.
For all those minor disappointments, however, the Middleton does have an atmosphere all of its own. Small, industrial locomotives, unusual stock, and an unfenced railway. And yet, when the line was first preserved, it was in a post-industrial hellscape, whereas today it's a little corridor of the countryside buried in suburbia. I've not come across a preserved line quite like it, and I do enjoy visiting.
I only had time for a morning there, riding the trains and a bit of linesiding, but I was able to add to my library of shots of the place (as a modeller of Micro Layouts, the Middleton crops up a lot in my articles).
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