15C Photo Gallery - Blog & New Stuff
7th March 2010 -
WSMR Diverts
Photo update - added 7th
March 2010
WSMR services between Wrexham
and Marylebone were diverted via the WCML and as it was a fine day I decided to
have a go at photographing them. I started the day at Tile Hill where I just
missed a 57 dragging a Pendolino south - d'oh! Although Tile Hill is not off the
beaten track for the Wrexhams, it was a shot I wanted to do and seemed like a
good place to start. Next up I moved to Blisworth for the first southbound,
followed by Brockhall for the next southbound. In between these three workings,
there were plenty of Pendolinos, Voyagers and Desiros to photograph and I have
included a few of these alongside the WSMR shots.
Click
here to view the pictures
4th March 2010 -
Blackpool Tramway Upgrade
Photo update - added 5th
March 2010
A trip to Blackpool to take
part in the Fylde Tramway Society photo competition. Sadly no trophy for me this
time round and the best I achieved was a 2nd place, so I've got an empty shelf
where the trophy from last year once stood. It was a very enjoyable evening
looking at everyone else's entries and having a few laughs though. While in
town, I decided to check out some of the work sites where work continues on the
upgrade of the tramway, and these pictures are the main reason for this update.
I also paid the depot a visit where the tram fleet could be found standing
silently waiting for Easter. The silence was suddenly shattered by the sound a
tram's compressor bursting into life - I guess one tram just wanted me to know
there was still some life in there somewhere!
Click
here to view the tram upgrade pictures.
27th February 2010 -
Peak Rail Night Shoot
Photo update - added 28th February 2010
A very enjoyable evening of
photography at Darley Dale station as 37152 and 47635 starred in an EMRPS photo
charter. Both locos looked really good, and although 37152 never carried
Railfreight red stripe grey, who cares when it looks as good as that! Other
class members carried that livery, so that's genuine enough for me. A big thank
you to the Peak Rail staff who were excellent, thanks to the participating
photographers and to the EMRPS lighting team who did an excellent job on a
rather wet night.
Click
here to view the pictures
22nd February 2010 -
More scans
Photo update - added 22nd February 2010
A few newly scanned images
that have been added to the site.
20th February 2010 -
Entry Level Photography
Photo update - added 21st February 2010
Something a little bit
different. Every now and again, the moon lines up with the entry that runs down
the side of my house and the grille above the gate casts and interesting pattern
down the wall. I have often thought that this would make an interesting photo,
and last night as I returned home from walking the dog, the moon was in prime
spot so out came the camera and tripod.
Click
here to view the image.
20th February 2010 -
A Morning on HS1
Photo update - added 21st February 2010
The last time I visited HS1
there were only Eurostars in operation, and having realised that there are quite
a lot of photo locations to have a go at on this line, I decided another trip
was in order, but now of course the class 395 'Javelins' are also in service, so
it was also a chance to photograph them too.
I started at Hothfield, where to be honest the sun was a little bit too in line
with the track, but I took a couple of shots anyway (I plan to return to this
spot later in the year for a go with a better light angle). The it was off to
Westwell Leacon, now this is one of the shots that I did last time round, but I
wanted to get a Javelin here. I also tried another spot lower down and closer to
the tunnel for a bit of variety. I then went in search of a new location and
soon found one only a mile or so up the road from Westwell Leacon. There is a
mound of earth between the M20 and HS1 close to Newlands Stud where there is a
very pleasant shot on a gentle curve. After doing a few trains here, the gen
came through that 92001 was on a freight to Dollands Moor, so I moved to
Sevington, where after doing the 92 and a 'Javelin' the cloud rolled in and the
day collapsed.
Click here to view the pictures.
Now, photting on HS1 is not without it's problems. When trains are doing speeds
of between 140mph and 186mph, if you are not completely on your game, and you
fire ever so slightly late, the consequences are quite amusing - as per below
:-)
13th February 2010 -
London - Tube trains and Routemasters
Photo update - added 14th
February 2010
Another trip down to London,
this time it was essentially a family day out, but as you might expect plenty of
tube trains got photographed as we moved around. One shot I did go out of my for
though was an arrival shot at Waterloo of a Waterloo & City line service
from Bank. It's a bit of a naughty move running down the exit stairs as the
train can be heard approaching in order to get the shot, and it attracted an
aggressive shout from a member of platform staff, but I have tried asking in the
past and the answer has always been 'no - because of terrorism'. So having
looked in the mirror, I realised that I am English and not some form of muslim
extremist, and therefore not a threat to national security. Now the last thing I
would want to do on this website is to sound racist, but the last time I asked,
I was told 'no - because of terrorism' by somebody who looked and sounded far
less English than me, and I found that very offensive. So, this time I didn't
even bother asking, what's the point, I already knew what the answer would be!
Besides, I must have been on the platform all of about 5 seconds, didn't fire my
flash at the approaching train, didn't use a tripod, didn't get in the way of
any passengers and didn't blow anything up! So apologies to the 'Bert' on the
platform who must have wondered what the hell I was up to, though I am sure that
soon after I had departed he would have realised I was up to no harm.
After the excitement of the W&C, my wife and daughter fancied a bit of
shopping, and as it was getting dark, I avoided the shopping bit and headed for
the Aldwych for a few night shots of Routemasters. After a handful of shots I
gave up though as the heavens opened and it became a bit unpleasant, so after a
meal near Charing Cross we headed back to where I had left the car, photting a
few tubes along the way.
Click
here to view the tube pictures.
The bus pictures are shown in thumbnail form below (click to open larger image):
9th February 2010 -
15C Photo Books
News - added 9th
February 2010
I have put together a couple
of photo books that can be purchased via the Blurb website. The first two titles
are 'Classic Trams in Fleetwood' which is a photo book of trams in Fleetwood
between 2006 and 2009, and 'Prague's Trams' which is another photo book, this
time focusing on trams in the Czech capital. Please note I am not doing this to
make a profit and any profits made will be donated towards the upkeep of
preserved Blackpool Balloon car 715. Click the link below to go to my books page
where more details can be found.
6th February 2010 -
London Underground
Photo update - added 7th
February 2010
A trip down to London for a
bit of underground photography. As often happens the day was marred by someone
in authority trying to stop me taking pictures. According to the station person
at Highgate it is OK for tourists to take photographs of underground trains, but
not me unless I applied for a permit. I'm not quite sure what the difference is
between me and a tourist, but hey ho, I had already got the shots I wanted so I
moved on, and the guy was at least very polite if a little confusing in his
reasoning. Would a tourist know that you must not use flash and must not get in
the way of other passengers? Apart from that little incident, the rest of the
day was very enjoyable and the Victoria Line train operator at Seven Sisters who
rang his line controller to find out if the new 2009 stock was running must be
thanked for his very kind assistance. My first shot of the 2009 stock was a
complete bowl out though as there were too many people on the platform, but I
managed another couple of much better pics of it at Pimlico and Blackhorse Road.
Click
here to view the pictures
I have also added a
picture of the London Eye. Click
here to view it.
30th January
2010 - Rushden Photo Charter and a Few Other Bits
Photo update - added 31st January 2010
I started the day by going
across to Washwood Heath for my first shot of a Susan Boyle (class 70 - makes a
nice noise but it's a bit of a minger!), however, I was spared as the 70 got
ripped for 66506. Then I went to Barby Nortoft for 67013 and 90024. The sun
dipped on the 67 (razzed up shot included) and completely died on the 90 (not
included). Not a good day so far, but it was to end on a high with a very
enjoyable photo charter at Rushden Historical Transport Museum where we posed
31206 on an engineers train and a couple of TPO's. Finally, and after most
charter punters had gone home, a familiar shape found it's way under the EMRPS
floodlights - Blackpool tram 634! A big thank you to everyone who took part in
this photo charter, the lighting crew for a top job and to the volunteers at
Rushden who worked very hard and did a superb job for us.
Click
here to view the pictures
23rd January
2010 - Scotrail Skoda
Photo update - added 23rd January 2010
A quick visit to Birmingham
International to photograph 90024 in Scotrail livery on the Virgin West Coast
loco hauled set. I got the train heading north on the 1543 ex Euston, and then
waited around for it to return on the 1730 ex Birmingham New Street, but this
didn't pull up very good for a phot so is not included. A trio of unit shots
taken during my wait are included.
Click
here to view the pictures
17th January
2010 - Sunday Skips
Photo update - added 17th January
2010
I went over to the Shrewsbury
to Wolverhampton line to have another go at the two class 67 worked WSMR
passenger trains that pass around lunchtime. I opted for Madeley Junction for
the southbound and then did a slightly backlit going away shot of the northbound
at Walcott. Note to self - find a location with a better light angle for the
northbound :-)
Click
here to view the pictures