Railway Photo Gallery
April 2007
Click on the thumbnails to view a larger image.
6th April 2007 - Bagworth
After a few days at home feeling ill while
the sun shone for most of the time outside, this was the first time I had
ventured outdoors to take advantage of the sunshine and longer evenings. It was
Bardon Blue 66623 that tempted me out, but 66549 was also pulled in as it came
out of Stud Farm as soon as 66623 passed by.
7th April 2007 - Blackpool
Trams and the Quest for 623
A family day out to Blackpool and the chance
to photograph Brush car 623 which had recently been repainted into 1940's green
and cream livery. Blackpool was very busy, and it was almost impossible to get
on a tram at times as most were running full and missing out stops. This
actually worked out in my favour, as we had parked in Bispham, but ended up
walking down into Blackpool, and as we were walking past Cabin, 623 arrived and
it was possible to photograph it in the centre road. So, 623 was nailed quite
early in the day, but there were more opportunities to photograph it later in
the day at North Pier and Pleasure Beach. It was great to see the tramway fully
re-opened following the winter program of track renewal, but the day was spoilt
for many by the fact that there were more passengers than trams throughout the
day, and many passengers were left standing at tram stops as tram after tram
sailed straight past because they were already full. The condition of some of
the trams was also disappointing, and tram 700 was a case in point. This tram
should be the pride of the fleet, but it was running around coated in grime
(just look at the upper deck front windows in the first picture below - covered
in brown dust!). On a positive note though, Blackpool Transport responded well
to the warm weather by sending out Boat cars 602, 604 and 605 on specials.
11th April 2007 - Toton Shed
Fest (Wot No Tractors!)
I made an after work move to Toton for 37405
and 37422 on a Warrington to Toton train of MEA's, but they failed en route and
all I managed was a load of sheds.
14th April 2007 - Spoons and
Trams
A handful of class 47 hauled workings seemed
to focus on the West Midlands area. In between these workings, I also found time
to take a look at the street running section of the Midland Metro in
Wolverhampton.
15th April 2007 - Early
Morning Tractor + GCR
37406 took a train of auto-ballasters up the
Cambrian on Saturday night, and it was booked to return on Sunday morning.
Having been caught out with engineer's trains running early before, I got up
early and got into position 1 hour and 50 minutes before it was due, which was
just as well as it ran 1 hour and 45 minutes early! It was a shame it was so
early, as the early morning mist was still burning off, and another half an hour
would have made a massive difference to the light.
In the afternoon, a walk with the dog produced a couple of shots at the Great
Central Railway.
21st April 2007 - Tractorz!
The original plan was to go to the Shrewsbury
area for a couple of specials including a pair of Black 5's. However, these
plans changed when 37405 worked to Holyhead on 6D19. So we still went to Bayston
Hill for the kettles, but had by now heard that 37406 was doing a Bescot to
Newport via Hereford engineer's train, and so hung on after the kettles to
photograph it. Then it was a mega mileage move over to Anglesey for 37405 which
was nailed off the A55 at Valley and again at Llandudno Jcn (albeit very milky
and backlit). Two tractors on freights on the same day - I haven't had that
pleasure for a while!
28th April 2007 - Day out
with Daisy!
An EMRPS photo charter with class 101 DMU
101685 'Daisy' at the Chasewater Railway. Top lighting all day, and a fun and
relaxing charter with far less of the rushing around that we normally have. A
big thank you to the small group of photters who supported this event, and a
massive thank you to the Chasewater volunteers, especially Mark and our train
crew Andy and Mike.
29th April 2007 - GCR Diesel
Gala
A small number of shots from the GCR Spring
Diesel Gala.
