Railway Photo Gallery
November 2007
Click on the thumbnails to view a larger image.
3rd November 2007 - Freshly
Named Ped
31602 was named 'Driver Dave Green' at Derby
and made an out and back trip to Leicester with 31459 for the benefit of invited
guests.
4th November 2007 - One
Final Blackpool Tram Bash
This day was the last operational day of 2007
for the Blackpool Tramway, with the entire route closing the next day for an
extensive winter program of track relaying. I couldn't resist one last bash and
made a last minute decision to head up north. I got there around lunchtime and
benefited from about 90 minutes worth of sunshine before the light died. A rear
end prang involving 711 and 722 earlier in the week had ruled 722 out and it's
place in the active fleet was taken by 1970's green and cream liveried 702,
which was working on the Fleetwood service. However, Blackpool Transport hadn't
finished using their trams as dodgems and 712 and 643 had a coming together at
North Pier during the afternoon. After a hot tip, I was able to make it to North
Pier just as 643 was heading back to depot with a crumpled corner and smashed
quarterlight window. The sight of 712 with a massive scrape down the side and
bent handrails was very sad though, and I hope that Blackpool Transport do the
right thing and restore it's 1960's green and cream livery to a presentable
condition.
The incident happened when 643, which was going into the centre track at North
Pier, stopped so that the driver could change the points back to the outer loop.
The rear of 643 wasn't totally clear of the points and 712, which was on a
service to Fleetwood tried to enter the outer loop and side swiped the back of
643. Although the photos of this incident are not photographic masterpieces, I
have included them here purely for interest. The pile of debris where the
collision took place illustrates clearly that the rear of 643 was not clear
enough from the points for 712 to be able to pass.
After the North Pier incident and a quick meal, I took a few night shots before
heading home. And so ended my last trip to Blackpool of 2007. It's going to be a
long wait until the trams start running again at Easter 2008!
643 and 712 collision at North Pier
8th November 2007 - Barrow
Hill
A Russ Hillier night shoot at Barrow Hill featuring
ex-LNER
locomotives.
10th November 2007 - Peak
Rail Night Shoot
An EMRPS night shoot at Darley Dale with
Deltic D9016 and Peak D8. 31270 (disguised as 31421) was the shunt loco and was
thrown into the night shoot for good measure. A big thanks to Ian Holmes for the
organising and to the EMRPS lighting crew for the usual top lighting job. A big
thanks too to the volunteers and crew at Peak Rail for being so accommodating,
and thanks to Darrell for the loan of the genuine Flying Scotsman headboard.
17th November 2007 - Crich
Tramway Village Night Shoot
An EMRPS night shoot at Crich Tramway Village
which used Glasgow Standard 22 along with three Leeds trams, 180, 345 and 399.
The evening produced quite a few shots and despite the cold we could not have
asked for more from the Crich staff who were brilliant. A big thank you to Mark
Burrows and Ian Holmes who did a fantastic job with the lighting, to the Tramway
Village staff and also to the participating photographers who helped raise £625
for the Tramway Museum Society.
