Yearly Archives: 2006

Saturday 4th November 2006

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It is time for another update, the weather had been excellent the past few days and the forecast was for more of the same. It dawned a little hazy with some high cloud but I knew it would soon burn off so head out to Culham for GB liner and then head to Didcot North for the first liner which I managed to bag but as I had posted both of the shots recentley I wont bother posting them up. After these bagging both of these workings I head out to Moreton for the Hinksey – Eastleigh engineers and the Leeds – Southampton liner.

As I was walking upto the bridge I heard a GM under power and as I got to the top I saw an EWS with a CWR train heading East so I had just missed the Eastleigh engineers. I only had to wait 20 minutes until 66542 appeared on 4O54 Leeds – Southampton with a good load in tow. A fellow photographer on the bridge infromed me that the Hayes stone and Theale tanks were both running so it was time to move on again.

The final stop for the day was to be Butterfly Lane crossing out near Grove. First up was 66155 with a late running 6C23 Hayes – East Usk empty stone working passing me in superb Autumn light! To the right of the frame you can just see the chimney of Didcot Power Station which was occupied for two days this week in protest of the amount of pollution the PS generates!

The final shot comes from the same location but using my 200m telephoto lens + 1.4 teleconvertor giving 280mm total. I was hoping there was going to be a bit more Atumn colour about today but Autumn is very late this year and although you can see the leaves are changing it is still mostly green as 60047 approcahes the crossing with 6B33 Theale – Robeston empty tanks. A good day today with fantastic Autumn lighting conditions and some good shots in the bag.

Saturday 21st October 2006

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There was plenty of action today but not at the right time. Champion was back on the mainline following an overhaul and repaint into maroon but the timings meant it would be in darkness in my neck of the woods. There was also diverted steel trains running via Oxford but I couldnt get out for them. Finally Pathfinder were running a spinner from Bristol to East Anglia and it picked up and set down at Didcot, I over slept the outward working so I had to make do with the return.

It was due back at Didcot at 22:05 but spin and win tours are notorious for running late when it comes to multiple loco changes but suprisingly it was running to time when it arrived back at Didcot. I opted for the shot from the footbridge as I was unsure of which platform it would arrive on. I fired a few shots of with the 200mm and then swapped on the 135mm enabling an overview of an almost full station. I have posted the overview shot up as I think the other trains in frame add to the shot.

Edit:- I have added a thin frame to this shot because after publishing the update I found it looked really odd as the sky is such a deep black it blended in with the page background and it looked like I have left a huge space inbetween the text and the photo!

Saturday 7th October 2006

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As the engineering season seems to be upon us again I am bringing you two shots today. The GBRF powered 4M21 Felixstowe – Hams Hall is diverted via the Thames Valley on a Saturday morning for a number of weekends due to engineering works so it provides a rare oppurtunity to photograph GBRF sheds without have to travel long distance. I opted for the shot at Culham as it is the only really decent location early in the morning and this shot will be fantastic in a few weeks with the autumn golds and reds!

I have been wanting to try a long telephoto shot at Didcot North for quite a while but due to work and bad weather I haven’t been able to but today was my day off and the weather was glorious.

I had hot footed it from my first shot at Culham to Didcot and was just testing a view vantage points on the embankment when I found a place liked. I went back to pick up my camera bag when I saw 66539 working 4O14 Garston – Southampton liner hammering into view. I dropped my camera bag and two lenses rolled off down the bank but I just had to leave them and fire the shot off. Luckily the lenses caught in some bushes so I didn’t have far to go and they were fine. I liked the result and is much better than the view with the signal in the shot.

Part Deux

I recieved a tip off that there was a stock move from Oxley – Gloucester in the afternoon powered by a Cotswold Rail class 47. As the line is currentley shut at weekends between Cheltenham – Gloucester this meant the stock move was routed via Oxford and Swindon.

The weather was glorious all day so I thought I would revisit the shot at Culham looking across the fields. I left early as the timings showed the stock move had some pathing stops which are often missed out which was the case today as 47813 with two Virgin liveried Mk3 coaches passed me at Culham about 15 minutes early. I used my polarising filter for the shot to bring out the blue in the sky and the clouds add a bit of interest to the top of the frame.