Gwili Railway April 2022

Whilst in South Wales earlier in the year, we paid a visit to the Gwili Railway, which has been on my (Ben's) 'to-do' list since a childhood holiday in the early 90's.

Visiting pannier tank 1369 was rostered for the day, in rather nice weather.

The sun was on the wrong side of the valley for much of the day, photograph-wise, but being as we were there as the full family, along with two old friends of ours, I didn't think I'd get away with inflicting a couple of hours scrambling around muddy footpaths linesiding.

A shot from Younger Child.

It was only a brief trip, but it allowed me to cross another line off the list, and it was a nice, relaxing day out.  The volunteers and staff on the line throughout the day were very friendly and welcoming, and it had a very pleasant atmosphere.

 

Dudley Zoo

A guest blog tonight, courtesy of Elder Child, and a trip to Dudley Zoo from earlier in the year.

She's a very talented photographer, limited only by her kit, so whilst we were waiting for her proper SLR to arrive on the Covid-delayed slow boat from China, we lent her one of ours for the day.

Who doesn't love an otter?

Snow Leopard.

Tiger.

She had a knack for getting some nice cameo-type shots of the animals.

One of mine (Ben's), though the camera was very much struggling in the bat cave...

 

Railways Published, Spring 2022

Still catching up on the backlog from earlier in the year, so here's a (frankly, slightly self-indulgent) post about some of the railway pics and articles Ben had published earlier in the year.  There was a New-Years pic above, in the KWVR's in-house mag... 

...and the Taff Vale Tank cropped up again with some twilight photographs at Ingrow.  Hopefully, with the nights drawing in (and a better camera available) we'll be having another crack at some night shots in the next few months.

This was a rather nice turn-up for the books, one of my shots in the official KWVR Callander for 2023.  The Taff Vale tank loco has become something of a favourite of mine recently...

Living near the rebuilt Bridge 11 proves to be the gift that keeps on giving; the various shots I was able to get before, during, and through the various Lockdowns by merely taking a short (and legally-approved, non-rule-breaking) walk from the house meant I was able to get lots of shots of the work in progress during 2020.  Photographs I took from there -and the day I spent officially with the Civils Team- continue to crop up in mags from time to time.

It's always nice to appear in a proper book too...

...as here.  Sadly we haven't been able to really do Middleton this year, even though it's one of my favourite lines.  The September Gala was cancelled due to the death of the Queen, and it's unlikely  we'll make it over there now before next year.

And onto model making; 'Port Eden', the competition-winning layout I built last summer got a feature in an online exhibition/virtual model railway show...

...and a multi-page feature in British Railway Modelling.

I'll try and get a fuller piece in the Model Blog when I get around to re-launching it.

I also got a Lockdown-project in print, Holyhead Breakwater, as a layout-planning article in Railway Modeller.  This was a bit more unexpected, given I hadn't heard anything since it was submitted way back in 2020.

Lastly, a return for an old pic from a few years ago, and one of the Engine Shed series which got a cover feature on the Train Collector Society mag.

They're not the only shots we've had in print during a very busy year (perhaps surprisingly busy given the new full-time job I'm fitting it all around), so there's more coming in the regular blog posts too.

KWVR; Fathers Day on the Vintage Train service

Fathers Day saw us out on the KWVR, where a joint trip with my (Ben's) dad had us out on the vintage set, which was being hauled by the ex-Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway goods loco.

I took the opportunity to get some shots from the train, making the most of the compartment stock.

The weather was a bit changeable, with patches of tuppaware-lid sky...

...and a bit of blue.

Not a lot to say, otherwise; another nice day out on the railway.  Nothing particularly new or ground-breaking with the pics, but it did result in Amy getting a shot published in Trackside Magazine.

 

KWVR Diesel Gala 2022

Having attended the KWVR's Steam Gala earlier in the year, I wanted to make the effort to photograph the Diesel Gala too, as the weather would be that better (and the valley greener too) in the late Spring.

Sadly, a rather busy course at work meant there'd be no day off on the Friday, but a later start meant I had a chance to get a shot of the convoy trundling past before I went to the job, and the visiting 50 and 33 looked good in the sunshine.

An early start netted the demonstration goods, which hasn't been a feature of previous diesel galas.  It's seen on the climb out of Keighley...

...and coming back at Damems.  I deliberately tried to make it look like a genuine 70's shot, with a bit of post-production.

Damems turned out to be the best location for linesiding over the weekend, and I was able to net some shots of the modern-image visitors, such as the DRS 68 which contrasted somewhat with the heritage station.

Down by the river Worth at Damems.

One of the biggest, arguably one of the most visually-distinctive locomotives, was another modern loco, this Freightliner class 80, as seen in these shots by Amy. 

So, not so many pictures from this gala, due to work and actually just enjoying riding the trains.

 

Feeling Nostalgic? D31 Gallery open-call

We both entered a lot of Open Calls over the summer, advertised through the excellent CuratorSpace website (which lists arts opportunities), and one of them that I (Ben) went for was the "Nostalgia" Online Exhibition open call at the D31 Gallery, Doncaster.  This is a new one to us, and we've not had chance to do a physical visit yet, but it sounded tempting.

The theme was black and white shots with a nostalgia angle, so being as we were getting some railway shots in whilst in North Wales, it seemed logical to use these as subject matter.  Most of the shots were done either at our usual haunts of Porthmadog and Tanybwlch, but we got in some nice shots at...

...Devils Bridge, on the Vale of Rheidol.  We'd had a day at Aberystwyth, and nipped up to Devils Bridge for few pics whilst we on our way home; the famous waterfall was a little uninspiring, given the summer droughts, but the station was good (and did a decent brew).  Best of all, you could get right alongside the headshunt, so there were unobstructed angles on the locomotives, such as their new Garratt loco, above.

I shot a mix of portrait and landscape pics, focussing on the mechanical gubbins. 

The generally summer weather of the holiday meant there were lots of nice shadows, and tended to show-up the lubricated, oily surfaces.

I ended up prefering the landscape shots, and entered half a dozen for the open call.  Happily, this gave them one they were happy to accept for the first, online stage of the competition.  It now goes to public vote, and a selection will be chosen for physical print.

There's a nice, and very interesting, variety of subject matter and styles in the competition- please check it out if you get chance;

D31 Photography Prize 2022 | D31 Art Gallery | Vote Now

Hopefully we'll get a free weekend at some point before Christmas to pop over to Doncaster and check the gallery out in person.