Railway Photo Gallery
What is 15C?
15C was the depot code for Leicester Midland shed from 1948 until 1963, and as this website is the work of Leicester based railway photographer Jason Cross, the adoption of the Leicester Midland shed code as the name of this website seemed appropriate.
Jason Cross - 'About me'
I have been interested in railways
and tramways since childhood. The reason for this was probably because as a child, my bedroom
window overlooked the Leicester to Peterborough line on the approach to Melton
Mowbray station. In 1978 I began the much maligned hobby of trainspotting, not
just in Melton Mowbray, but also on the ECML at nearby Grantham and
Peterborough, where I was fortunate enough to witness the last few years of the
legendary 'Deltics'. During my childhood, I was also taken on several trips to
Blackpool and to Crich, and this gave me a bit of a soft spot for trams as well
as railways. Then, in 1985, I was given my first SLR camera as a Christmas
present (a Praktica MTL50), and although much of my early photography was of a
very poor standard, my interest in photography had begun. I very quickly lost
interest in noting down train numbers (I am not sure if it was the photography
that caused me to do this, or whether I just grew out of it), and tried to
develop my photographic skills while recording the ever changing railway scene.
In all honesty though, it wasn't until the early 90's that I really started to
notice an improvement in my photography and started to be happy with most of my
results.
Photography is only my hobby and although I manage to get out and about a fair
bit, photography has to fit in between my family and my job as an
engineer. I
also devote a small amount of my time to the East Midlands Railway Photographic
Society (EMRPS) of which I am the founder member. Part of my EMRPS duties
involves organising photographic charter trains with diesel traction to help
raise money for the preservation movement.
Thanks to Rob Hay for the photo.
My Photographic Style
My preferred style of photography is to take photographs of trains from a front three quarter angle. Some of the more adventurous photographers may find this a little boring, but I have always found this angle to be the best angle from which to view and record a train. Lighting is very important to me, and wherever possible I like to get the sun on the nose and at a good angle to the subject (between 45 and 85 degrees to the subject). Most of my shots are taken with a standard lens or a short telephoto, and I don't tend to take too many shots with big long lenses as I like to show the train or tram in a scene rather than just the train or tram on it's own. Whenever you look through railway books, it is the pictures that record the scene rather than just the train that stand out from a historic point of view. In this respect I have always admired and been influenced by the work of early photographers such as R.C. Riley, Ivo Peters, Eric Treacy and Derek Cross (no relation), whose photographs record a slice of history with their subjects being set in the ever changing landscape.
Artistic photography is not something that I do regularly, but there are times when the conditions may warrant such an approach, and I am often willing to 'experiment' and try a different approach - but you won't see me doing it on a full sun day when there are lots of top liveried trains knocking about!
In 2008, I won the Fylde Tramway Society's 'Jubilee
Photographic Trophy' for my photograph of Leeds 345 at Crich (click
here to see the image). The photo above shows me with the trophy stood in
front of Coronation 304 at Rigby Road depot (thanks to James Blythe for taking
the photo).
Favourite Subjects
Basically, I will photograph
anything that runs on rails (except curtains!!!), but I do of course have
certain subjects that I tend to focus on. My main interest is in diesel and
electric traction, especially the older UK traction types that can still be
found on the UK national network or on preserved lines. I find photographing
steam traction to be a completely different kettle of fish (excuse the pun!),
and I will go to preserved railways and go out for mainline steam specials in
order to photograph them when the mood takes me. Steam doesn't stir up any childhood memories for me as
I was born after the end of steam, but I know what looks right and enjoy taking
photographs of steam where the past has been authentically recreated.
I am also really keen on tramways, and I like to mix my free time between
photographing railways and photographing tramways. I find the modern trams
interesting, especially where there is street running to be found, but the
traditional style trams have something special about them. I think that is why I
visit Crich and Blackpool so often. Modern trams are nice, but you can give me a
green and cream 'Balloon' car to photograph anyday!
The Aim of this Website
The digital age is wonderful in some respects. We can all share our photographs over the internet either by email or on websites. However, this also means that there are a hell of a lot of websites full of poor quality images where there has been no attention paid to lighting, correct shutter speed or composition. However, when I look back at my own collection of photographs, my early attempts at railway photography would fall into the 'very dodgy' category, but the subject matter contained within these photographs is often of such interest that it would be criminal to throw them away just because I didn't know how to take photographs in those days. I have a lot of photographs from the late 80's and early 90's, most of which are unrepeatable shots, but very few of which are taken properly. While my main aim with this website is to showcase my photographic work while maintaining some sort of quality standard, I am prepared to upload a few dodgy old shots mainly because the subject matter is of interest, but also because it should hopefully show how my photographic skills have improved over the years.
The picture below shows me (aged about 4) standing in front of Leicester 76 at the National Tramway Museum at Crich in Derbyshire (thanks to my father for the photo).
All of the photos are on here for you to enjoy. I don't mind people downloading the photos if it is for personal use, but everything contained within this site is the copyright of Jason Cross and must not be re-used on other websites or published without my permission in writing. I am willing to exercise my legal rights against anyone breaking copyright laws with any of my material.