Back to the RAF Museum

The Feb half term saw us paying a return visit to an old haunt, the RAF Museum at Cosford, which is both an interesting place to visit and a handy indoor, free, museum for rainy winter days with The Childs.  We've pretty much done this place to death with many visits, so not many photographs on this visit, but there were one or two new exhibits since our last trip there.  Best for me (Ben) was the rather awesome Bolton-Paul "Defiant", looking menacing in night-fighter black.

Up on the top shelf of the Cold War hangar, impressive as always with the planes hanging from the roof like so many over sized Airfix kits.

Being as we hadn't really been planning any photography this trip, we only had phone cameras, but it did mean a bit of a play for odd, abstract angles.

I really like this view, with the lines of the roof backing up the English Electric "Lightning" interceptor.

Keeping up the habit with recent posts of having an odd-one-out shot, this was taken on the same visit but at a different location.  This is the Wyre Forrest, near Bewdley, where we will be returning later in the year with proper cameras...

Tolson Museum, Huddersfield

It's no secret that we love a traditional museum (none of this modern fashion for 'everything has to be push-button, light-up stuff to keep kids entertained nonessense' for us).  Whilst killing time in Huddersfield on a Sunday whilst Middle Child was at a birthday party, we ended up travelling to this place, the Tolson Museum, on the edge of town.

This is a 'proper' local museum, of the sort which frankly every other local council in the area (and country) seem to be mothballing or outright closing to save money.  We were only there for a quick visit for an hour or so, and only took a few pics, so these should hopefully give an impression of the place.

Inside it was very creatively laid out indeed- a particular favourite bit being this area, with fake trees providing a canopy to walk through.

There was an interesting transport section downstairs (Youngest Child loved playing at being a tram conductor, in the front-end of an old local tram in the middle of the room).

An interesting exhibit, a 'sectioned' horse.

Some nice dramatic lightning in some of the exhibitis too.

With my miniatures-enthusiast-hat on, a nice model of a mine in one of the areas.

We were really taken with this museum, which frankly-amazingly is still free to get into and a pleasant survivor in this day and age.  It reminded us of the old Dudley museum in term of contents and layout, itself shut as a cost-saving exercise recently, or Cliff Castle Museum in Keighley which local rumour would have it is also due to close (or at least be mothballed).  Even on a wet winter sunday in January it was quite busy, and the staff were welcome and friendly.  We'll certainly be returning to do this place properly later in the year.

Winter on the Leeds-Liverpool Canal... some new locations

Back to pre-Christmas again, and some recce-work for possible transport shots, combined with a walk to Frizinghall Models and back for some bits for a project.  The bridge (above) on the edge of Shipley is a cracking location, though hindered by the lack of variety of stock which runs on the Ilkley services...

...by contrast, more trains of a greater variety run alongside the canal, but the trees make angles tricky even here in the winter, come the spring this location will be pretty much useless.

Up towards Thackley Tunnel, there are some interesting remnants of old buildings, and this nice cobbled path going up through the trees...

...and another possible location for shoots, again until the greenery appears with the spring.

The bridge over the Aire towards the model shop...

A little later chronologically, but back along the canal towards Keighley, this is near the top end of the 5 Rise locks.

And finally, a grubby industrial building in Keighley itself, which caught my eye.

Cold Keighley

More from the pre-Christmas backlog and the frosty weather for this little update, fitting given that the temperature out there is dropping like a stone as I type this...

Down by the River Worth, on a footpath soon to be transformed by the building of yet more houses, as the developers rush to tarmac-over any green spaces in the town.

River Worth.

Odd detailing with the frost on a bridge.

Not related to the above (but taken about the same time), fresh snowfall and stark lighting  creating an odd, stark effect on these steps behind a church up near Queensbury.

On a frosty morning in Utley...

Apologies for the lack of updates of late- some fairly serious health problems (two nocturnal trips for me, Ben, to Casualty, one of which in the big yellow van with the flashing lights on the roof, woohoo) have meant not much photography has been done since Christmas.  But we've managed to get a few bits shot and edited, so we're playing catchup at the mo.

First up, some pre-Christmas shots, taken on a walk to Utley, near Keighley, bright and early on a very chilly morning.  Time for a mix of transport and landscape shots.  The above angle looked promising...

...though typically the shot didn't come out too well.  The train was travelling rather fast, and the very nice sunrise was disappearing by the time the (delayed) Settle-Carlisle train on its way to Leeds put in an appearance.

A little more luck nearby with the sun glinting down the side of a train, a class 333 on its way to Bradford.

Shooting the other way from a bridge further down.  Skipton-bound train.

I started playing with some shots on some of the many bridges on the walk, thinking of a mini-series, but this was the only one which came out in the odd lighting of the early morning.

One with no trains, but my favourite of the morning.

All in all not too bad a walk, the landscape shots certainly turned out better than the transport ones, not least because the trains are absolutely batting along at this point, and the odd light on the morning was making non-blurred shots very tricky.

OK these next two are not strictly related except by subject matter, but I couldn't find anywhere else to group the pics.  Class 333 on its way into Bingley from late-November (still some greenery on the trees at this point).  A location I might return to for more transport shots...

...and the same location as the transport shots in the main body of the blog post.  At this point an old level crossing projects out into the trackbed, giving a brilliant rail-level shot from a position of safety, but which looks so much like a trespass-shot that I'm having trouble getting anything published from this spot.  Shame about the weather, but A4 Pacific "Union of South Africa", heading back to the sheds just before Christmas, was utterly amazing tanking along at full speed.