The Steam Engines
From playing with models to standing on the side of a track.
My love for Steam and trains in general, comes from a young age. I loved the Hornby model railways and had a set of my own, even today I still have a set or two hidden away. These days though I don’t have a layout set up. That is unless I pull my sons Lego train sets out and set them all up, not as much fun though as you have to put them away after a few hours.
The only way I get to see trains these days is to pop down to my local rail station. This is something I will do on days when we have a Steam Engine visiting the town, camera in hand I head off. I visit a bridge that is just down the road from the station, above the track with a clear view all the way down to the station. The same old faces are always there too, all of us older men and despite me being in my 40’s I am usually the youngest there, by a good few years. The old guys are always chatty and will always talk to you, their knowledge of trains and steam far greater than mine will ever be. Many of them chase the steam engines all the way down the North Wales coast, getting ahead of it to grab a photo and then racing it to the next point where they can grab another photo.
Black 5 Steam Engine
This Black 5 Steam Engine photo is taken from that bridge, a great vantage point. Nearly all of my steam engine photos are taken from here, I will visit the station sometimes to capture them. The problem with being at the station is the engine comes in under little steam, we are at the end of the line so it needs to stop (Otherwise it will end up in the Irish Sea). With no steam the photos don’t look half as good. Due to that I always plan to visit this bridge for its departure.
Tornado 60163 below arriving at Holyhead, as you can see there is little steam.
A1 Tornado 60163
Throughout the year we get many visiting engines here, often bringing many tourists with them who get to spend a few hours in our small town.
Passengers leaving Black 5
Whilst they are in the town the steam engine (without coaches) will head back down the line a few miles to a track triangle, where it will turn around. That is also my time to leave the station and head home.
My steam engine photos are often my most liked photos but I never really share them on my page. Following on from this blog post I will be sharing more photos of the trains on here and on my Facebook Page.
I will also have some of the photos in my shop available as backgrounds over the next few weeks.