Horsted in the sunshine May 2015

A short update today. It was a warm sunny day so took a walk around Horsted Keynes area. Just north of Haywards Heath.

Brighton Toy Museum

I thought I should try and get a post in that didn’t mention Goodwoo… …O.

I was asked to take photos at a private event at Brighton Toy and Model Museum a few weeks ago. If you’ve not been there before they have huge layout of predominantly pre & post war ‘toy’ trains. They run it for the pubic on set days but, understandably, there are plastic screens to protect the exhibits. On a few occasions a year they take down the screens and run everything.

The trains stand about 5″ tall and are mostly metal giving them real presence.

Being a toy museum as much attention is paid to the ‘extra’ details as the trains. There are also lots of vintage arcade machines and all manor of toys.

But the stars are without doubt the big trains which pull 10 coach trains around with apparent ease.

It’s right in the centre of Brighton, under the station. Go and visit it http://www.brightontoymuseum.co.uk/

Bluebell Winter 2014

Some more train pictures before I do another car update. These are all taken at the Bluebell within the last couple of months. I have been going to the Bluebell for as long as I can remember which makes photographing it quite hard. Consequently the pictures I get tend to be experimental but lead to ones like those from my Severn Valley update.

Platform staff get ready for the last train. This is taken through the bridge which gives rise to the dark edges encroaching into the picture.

Early afternoon train draws into Sheffield Park.

Steam heat on but it’s still cold out.

Taking on water before going on shed.

Birch Grove drops it’s fire. This was taken with a tripod but recent outings have highlighted I really need a remote shutter release… one day.

Severn Valley Railway

A recent trip ‘up north’ gave me a chance to again practice my night photography skills. In the end the pictures I took after dark were better than the daylight ones, probably because I was concentrating more. I am having problems with my RAW files loosing quality when switching to jpg so that the pictures end up coming out darker and with odd colour casts in places. Not so bad for the black and white pictures but for the colour ones it is a bit disappointing. If I figure it out I might re-do this post.

This was taken as the evening diner train stopped to pick up a token.

The Driver looks for the right away before they depart Bewdley on the next leg of the 2hr round trip along the river Severn.

Earlier in the day the last service train awaits departure from Bridgenorth as the dusk falls.

This is one that has suffered in the transition to JPEG from ARW, which is a shame because it is a far clearer and nicer shot in ARW.

Earlier in the day a service train pulls into a small station with the river Severn down and away to the left. After it leaves again the sound of it working hard can be clearly heard echoing along the valley for 5 to 10 mins.

A down train drifts along with the gradient of the line being emphasised by the shortening effect of the longer lens.

Finally a train departs with steam roaring up into the cold night air illuminated by the platform lamps.

Bluebell

In mid October I visited the Bluebell Railway in Sussex. After problems with engine availability it is good to see they seem to be finding their feet again. With the extension open efforts are being focused on re-grouping.

With the sun quite wintry and seemingly in the wrong place all weekend it lead to some interesting effects.

It did give a very washed out effect to the sky however, I managed to get this as the fireman looked for the right away.

The first time I used a prime lens here means I finally had the shutter speed to capture atmosphere of the shed. I hope to try this out some more. Captain Baxter awaiting it’s next turn of duty.

Training the next generation.

I’ve done a thing!

Well not a new post as such, just a repeat of the previous posts combined into one slightly dis-jointed post – much like the Best of Top Gear – I’ve done a portfolio page!

http://garagestaportfolio.wordpress.com/

 

The Bath Christmas Market

These pictures were taken on the 7th December as 2 LMS Black 5’s hauled the Bath Christmas Market through first Barnham and then Haywards Heath.

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