Many Happy Returns!

Things have been that busy lately that I just haven’t had the time to record all of them.  The weekend deserves a mention, however, as it was the hugely successful Thomas’ Birthday Weekend at the NVR.  Although I was down for Booking Office and TTI, the Thomas crowd needed a hand with various activities – and as this entailed being outside in the stifling plus 30° heat it certainly beat staying indoors in the stifling plus 30° heat.  There was an advantage somewhere, I think ….. Anyway, I was off like a shot.

Three trains ran on Saturday, all sell-outs, and were great fun to be part of.  Sunday required a bit more work, but thankfully only two trains would run as the 3 pm service was cancelled due to a lack of bookings.  Apparently there was some football game on TV, and rather than come out and enjoy themselves, people preferred to stay indoors and watch a ritual national humiliation that was only ever a matter of time.

The Thomas event was kept separate from the main line trains, and comprised of a 3 coach Wagon-Lit train hauled by Thomas to Yarwell where all the families de-trained for the birthday party.  Here they gathered for photos around Thomas and the Wansford Controller (formerly the Fat Controller but his local Burger King closed down).  

Then they all sang a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday whilst Thomas responded with blasts on the whistle.  The children were given the opportunity to present the birthday cards that they’d brought with them; all of these went onto some large pin boards to be displayed throughout the weekend.  Finally everyone trooped into the marquee where an excellent entertainer, Mark, performed some juggling and tricks.  He had a great line of patter with the kids, and pitched it well – with just enough one liners that the adults appreciated to keep everyone amused.

And you thought that the original 

Rubik's Cube was difficult!

One of several reasons why I'm 

barred from the Kings Arms.

I admire any man who can do this with his balls.

At Wansford I generally did the meet-and-greet bit, before travelling down on the train to take pictures.  Down at Yarwell I manned the birthday card boards, and there were some hugely creative cards coming in.  This was an excellent idea and really got the kids involved.  

Some of the many cards received from children at Yarwell.

Yarwell only has rail access, so the following morning three of us took the first service train out of Wansford to set up the marquee.  As we rolled up the doors, a tidal wave of trapped heat swept out and engulfed us in seconds.  My shirt was soaked through already, and the clammy heat outside did nothing to help much, either.  The other removable walls were taken down, and everything set up in record time, which was just as well as the first Thomas was only 20 minutes behind us.  There was just time neck a bottle of water (thanks Hannah) before the train arrived.  I took photos and managed the birthday card boards again as I enjoyed the interaction of this activity.

Back to Wansford on the return Thomas, followed by a light lunch and several cans of Fanta.  It said Fanta on the tin, but in the heat I knew I’d been tango’d.  The 1pm Thomas was out next, so some platform duties to get people on board, then jumped on myself for the next part of the day – the really hot and sticky part.  After the party, everything bar the marquee itself had to be dismantled, packed and stacked and returned to Wansford in the brake compartment of the service train.  This was really not a day to be lugging plastic stacker chairs down gravelled platforms, but we managed it – with yet another Fanta as a reward once everything reached the platform.  At Wansford everything had to be taken off again, and then returned to its rightful place.  Finally, a group of us stripped the decorations and balloons from the coaches used during the party, and we were done!  None of us were in any state to have done the 3pm service and all of this clearing up afterwards, so for once in my life I was grateful for the lads having a kickaround in South Africa.  I bet it was warmer in Wansford, though!

Thomas was the only one of us who ended

 the weekend as fresh as he'd started.

The weekend was a huge success, and as people got off at Wansford the railway received many favourable comments.  Having seen what goes into these events first hand, I can say that Hannah, Bill and Paul put on a fantastic event that the public really appreciated.  If the NVR organised the Ingerland Team – well, who knows!

Branch Line to Poznan

Having made various films about railways in Britain, I decided to turn my hand to the scene abroad for a change.  Unfortunately time and mostly budget are working against me, not to mention the hazards of attempting to get to foreign climes with strikes, volcanic ash and the need to cross my legs for four hours to avoid having to spend a quid in order to spend a penny on the plane.  For those reasons, I decided not to travel abroad, but let abroad come to me.

The subject of the film was the Polish Slask loco 5485 on the Nene Valley that I’ve mentioned before, operating with a rake of Danish coaches in the Cambridgeshire countryside.  Quite a cosmopolitan mix, I’m sure you’ll agree.  Most of the footage was taken around the end of May during the monsoon season, and I wasn’t overly pleased with some of the results – particularly rain landing on the lens at Wansford.  On the other hand, there is a great moment at Ferry Meadows as the train lurches and gyrates into the scene amongst the lush green vegetation, and I quite like the tunnel shots as well.

The unusual loco and coach combination looks quite at home in many segments, and if you don’t look too  closely and suspend belief for five minutes, then it could almost be an Eastern European branch line.  Of course, there are several unmistakable British items that I couldn’t change – the NVR weren’t overly keen about my suggestion to cut down the signals and the station scene needed considerable editing to remove as much of the TPO set as possible.  But even the professionals get it wrong some times – the recent filming for ITV when remaking Murder on the Orient Express saw them use a BR Standard 5 on Belgian Wagon-Lits ostensibly at Istanbul!

The musical background needed to have an element of Eastern Europe about it to create some atmosphere and help set the scene.  After much searching and experimentation – none of which worked – I eventually settled on two pieces by Yann Tiersen, an artist who has composed several soundtracks – indeed I’ve used some of them previously in Grumpy Git Productions.  

The film is called Branch Line to Poznan, which is Poland’s fifth largest city.  I chose the place simply because it sounds Slavic and therefore the viewer expects to see an Eastern European branch line.  And if you think that that will disappoint, just be glad I didn’t use the working title of Pole Dancer.  Since editing began on this film, I’ve been out and about chasing 5485 again – and if you think the premise for this video is unlikely, just wait for the sequel …..

I’ve ended up with a quaint film featuring this interesting and quirky locomotive, and the best part is that the budget for the film came in at the same price as a having a number two on Ryanair.  Beat that!

A Family Affair

Saturday was family day down at the Nene Valley Railway, an annual event consisting of a beer festival as well as entertainers and activities for the children at Wansford Station.  It looked like a case of odd bedfellows to me, as the idea of a family day doesn’t seem ideally suited to a beer festival!  Perhaps it could be called ‘Compromise Day’ – as Dad gets steadily hammered on pints of Bishops Finger or Wags to Witches in the beer tent, Mum is letting the musicians and entertainers keep the kids happy over on the platform.

Well, the event was successful enough, if a little on the quiet side – possibly due to the start of the World Cup shenanigans.  Most beer festivals were probably taking place in people’s living rooms, fuelled with cheap supermarket booze rather than carefully brewed Fursty Ferret.

So what was on offer, then?  A free Routemaster bus service connected various participating pubs in Peterborough with the railway itself, and once at Wansford the wandering minstrels Pennyless, who are seen here with Thomas who was shunting the yard for the children’s benefit, serenaded visitors.  Pennyless also performed live on one of the trains; quite an achievement to keep their footing and play note-perfect in a lurching Mk1 coach!

A pair of entertaining and talented stilt walkers called Phillipe-Phillope (flip-flop – geddit?  It took me three days so don’t worry) kept the audience impressed with their repertoire of juggling and cycling antics, and rather surprised the passengers of one bus load by knocking on the windows of the top deck when the Routemaster arrived!  They clearly thought that the Nun’s Ruin was more potent than anticipated …

In addition to all this, the railway was also running travelling post office demonstrations throughout the weekend.  These utilised 31108 with an authentic rake of postal vans, and recreated the days of collecting and sorting mail by rail.  Lineside apparatus is installed at Yarwell, and on each trip passengers detrain at the station and walk down the line to view three operations as the train runs up and down on several passes.  It is an interesting spectacle to witness, and as it was a quiet day I joined the afternoon train to film events.  I chose to remain on the train and film the mail collection from onboard – I’ll do exterior shots another time.

The timing of the operation is critical, and the mailbags fly into the train with some force.  This was at 25mph – back in the sixties, trains would have been travelling around 80 mph in all weathers.  The job for the postal workers was backbreaking as levers control everything manually – not a push button in sight.  The sorting coach, where letters and packets were sorted by hand into their destination dockets, was dimly lit and quite claustrophobic.  Working on the trains can’t have been much fun, and it was always against the clock to get the mail delivered on time.  How times have changed; the only mail that arrives on time now is junk mail from car insurance companies and special offers to sell my gold.  The TPO immediately brings to mind the classic poem Night Mail by W.H. Auden.  The prose is superb as it is written in perfect time to the motion of a train.  If you listen to an audio recording of the poem you can almost hear the wheels on the rails and the hiss of steam as the locomotive arrives at the destination.

This mail has been waiting to be sorted since 1968.  I found a Christmas card from 

my Auntie Lucy in this lot.  So she wasn't the mean spirited old bat I had her down for.  Sorry.

I rounded off family day with a complete trip up and down the line, acting as tour guide to a party of pensioners on a coach trip.  They were great fun and we got quite a party atmosphere going on the trip.  With all of this, plus my foray into modelling during the morning, I can’t remember when I last packed so much into a single day.  There’s always something different going on at The Nene Valley.

Exchange of Goods

Here’s the sequel to Times of Austerity; a new J94 film entitled Exchange of Goods.  As the first film was very much about a contemporary restored loco in passenger service, I took a different approach to recreate the 1960’s and relive No. 22’s past glories.

Many Austerities spent the vast part of their working lives engaged in privately owned industries, where they would shunt wagons and make up freight trains that would travel down to exchange sidings for onward transit by a British Railways loco.  That is essentially the story depicted here, with the J94 collecting wagons and taking them down to Midford for collection by a BR class 14 and a Fowler 4F.  Some double heading is seen, as well as a couple of fast runs by the Austerity in fine form as it runs alongside the River Nene.  To provide a direct contrast with the previous film, I chose to work in black and white that was recorded onto a melodic and understated Beethoven soundtrack.

This was all filmed during the NVR’s Somerset & Dorset event in April; hence the appearance of Midford Station which is a nice touch.

Railway Modelling

It’s quite some time since I took any active role in railway modelling as my interest diverted to the real thing ever since I took up filming and then joined the NVR as a volunteer.  However, my interest in modelling was rekindled on Saturday during my shift at Wansford Station, although not in the way that might immediately spring to mind.

Although I wasn’t booked on duty, I’d volunteered at short notice to cover someone who couldn’t make it in.  I was on the relief turn, which is essentially a spare body ready for action wherever required.  It was the Family Day on the station and a beer festival was taking place in the marquee as well as various pubs in town, all linked by a free Routemaster bus service.  (More on this later).  In addition, we were running TPO mail train demonstrations along with the normal steam hauled passenger service.  Diverse events like this often need a spare body who can pitch in wherever there is a need, and as my body is more spare than most, I took on the role for the day.

As it happened, it was a lot quieter than expected – perhaps everyone in Peterborough had dashed round Asda in the morning, filling up trolleys with cheap beer ready for an afternoon slumped in the front of the World Cup.  Still, as it wasn’t particularly busy I had time to look around and chat to people.  I’d spotted a photographer taking pictures of a girl on the platform, this seemed to be a professional shoot rather than some snaps for the album.  We had a chat, and it transpired that they were doing just that.  Photographer Harry C was photographing model Siân for her portfolio, and wanted a location that would provide some interesting and different backdrops.  With many models jetting off to Barbados and Mauritius for photoshoots, Wansford certainly was different.

Harry asked if it would be possible to use the yard for some pictures – yes, of course, but only if you’ve got an authorised guide with you wearing a hi-viz jacket for insurance / health and safety purposes.  As luck would have it, I just happened to have my hi-viz jacket to hand, and I was in a position to escort the group round the yard after popping into the booking office to let Eddie know that he was on his own for a bit and good luck – see ya!

Various photoshoots were set up, with Harry requesting Bullied Pacific 92 Squadron and the brake van as scene setters – a good choice.  Harry was interested in the trains themselves and was clearly an established photographer who knew his subject well.  Siân came across as a very genuine, chatty girl who is enthusiastic about her work, professional and very personable.  They were accompanied by Siân’s chaperone, in this case her fiancé who was also interested in her work and very supportive.  It made for a friendly and pleasurable experience, the likes of which I have never been involved in before.   Siân took the unusual setting of an uneven, dirty and oily railway yard cheerfully in her stride – no Naomi Campbell tantrums here!  I asked if it would be acceptable to take photos for publication and she was quite happy to let me snap away – it is good publicity for both her career and the railway itself, so everyone came away happy.

I’ve always wanted to do a photoshoot with a model, and as we chatted during the filming I suggested some poses that would look good in the context of the railway background.  I also thought that the bulky dark green Polish tank 5485 would provide a good backdrop, as it was surrounded by spare wheelsets and bits of machinery that provided an interesting contrast to Siân’s petite figure and purple dress.  Looking at the photos, I can say that I was right.  I’m wasted driving a truck.  One suggestion that didn’t work came on the brakevan when I said, “How about a Brief Encounter pose.”  Siân replied, “What’s that?”  Ah, before your time pet.  I feel so old.

Siân herself wanted a picture with Thomas; by a stoke of luck he was shunting Wansford Yard at the time.  Oh, the gods were smiling that day.  Ironically enough, to illustrate a point in my blog post A Bird in the Hand, I’d mocked up a photo of a model giving Thomas a titillating glance to counteract his cheeky smile.  A couple of days later, a real live model was creating the perfect look right in front of me!  What are the chances of that happening?  And to think I’d only come down to Wansford to cover another volunteer who was ill.  It must be karma.  Or a reward for delivering to all those dodgy Leicester car dealers during the week.

Of course I thoroughly enjoyed the modelling experience, and Harry and Siân were fantastic people to have on the railway.  It just goes to show that there’s always something different happening on the NVR.  I personally wish Siân great success with her future career; perhaps one day she might get to star in a Grumpy Git Production, the pinnacle of any model’s career.  Indeed, I’ve already turned down requests from Cindy Crawford and Kate Moss – they just haven’t got what it takes.

If railway modelling has evolved into activities like this, I might just take it up again.

~~~

HarryC Photography covers portraits, boudoir, weddings, model portfolio and special occasions.

Siân models Print Magazine, Swimwear, Gothic, Lingerie, Fashion, Parts Modeling, Catwalk and Hair and has portfolios at TFP Models and Net Models.  The gallery of pictures that I took may be seen here.

Times of Austerity

I’m pleased to announce completion of the film centred around the Austerity J94 that I wrote about below.  Back in April I captured some great footage of this loco on freight duties, but decided to wait until I had some decent passenger workings to throw into the mix.  As it happened, I was so pleased with the footage taken around Yarwell and Wansford last weekend that I ended up devoting the whole film to last weekend’s activities and the freight doesn’t get a look in.  Not that the footage is going to waste; I have a cunning plan in mind and it doesn’t involve a cabbage.

I was lucky to get a windless day during filming of these scenes, thus providing some excellent sound effects provided by No. 22.  These are particularly prominent during the climb from Yarwell to Wansford Tunnel.  This meant choosing a muted, gentle background score that simply links the scenes together rather than dominate the soundtrack.  Bach’s Air on the G-string seemed the perfect accompaniment to the peaceful countryside and branchline scenes.  So I present Times of Austerity, starring No. 22.

Austere Times - A Leap of Faith?

Our current lords and masters who reside in grace and favour accommodation with chauffeured cars to ferry them around inform us that we are now living in austere times and a new period of austerity lies ahead.  For us, not them, presumably.  Well, I’m ahead of the game, as this weekend was all about austerity, and it was by personal choice.

One of my favourite locos currently down at the NVR is Austerity J94 number 22.  This loco only arrived in April, and made her debut working some demonstration freight trains at the Pines Express event.  22 looked and sounded in fine form during the day, and the finish on the loco is superb – one of the best paint jobs I’ve ever seen anywhere.  The Austerity was then booked onto passenger duties in early May, but unfortunately failed with big-end problems on the first run.  Repairs were commissioned immediately, and at the weekend 22 made a triumphant return to traffic on passenger duties, hauling the six-car Mk1 rake with ease and producing some great audio and smoke effects into the bargain.

Naturally I hastened down to Wansford on the extremely hot Saturday morning for a photoshoot.  Because the weather conditions were favourable, I decided to try my hand at filming at Yarwell, the NVR’s westerly terminus.  The station is located at the site of Yarwell Junction, where the Northampton and Rugby lines diverged.  No station existed here, and for many years NVR trains used the line purely as a run round loop.  In 2007 the station opened, giving passengers the chance to alight and watch the locos couple up.  The former quarry adjacent to the station was converted into fishing lakes, and a number of attractive countryside trails start from here.

The station and short line in the area present interesting opportunities for the photographer – most notably because a path now exists from the station down to the TPO equipment and onto a viewing platform that provides excellent shots of the tunnel mouth.  I’d not used Yarwell as a location before, except briefly last weekend in torrential rain, but had seen the possibilities and fancied giving it a go.

5485 with the Polish Plumber's Special last weekend.

There’s only one way to reach Yarwell – by train!  By taking the first service out of Wansford I had an opportunity to film the runround and departure through the tunnel.  It would be two hours before the train returned, so I set off to climb the pathway that leads onto the top of the tunnel for a great view of the line.  Because the area around the Nene is so flat, this is the only place that offers a panoramic vista of the line.  How I spent the two-hour wait is covered in my other blog here, before the train reappeared and filming began.

22 runs round, viewed from above the tunnel - a cracking location.

Once the train had departed, I now had another 2-hour wait – or a walk to Wansford, which I reckoned would take around an hour.  Well, it was far too hot for that sort of thing, so I decided to wait at Yarwell and read a bit.  However, I met up with some walkers at the station and we got chatting, which passed the time pleasantly enough.  I’d intended to simply return to Wansford and go home – there weren’t really any more photo opportunities available down the line with half the services now run.  But once on the train I started chatting with the crew, of course, and decided I might as well go to Ferry Meadows for an ice cream, and then catch the train on its way back up the line.

As we approached Lynch Bridge, it was clear that the sunny weather had brought out the teenagers in large numbers.  A footpath runs on the bridge alongside the railway track, and on hot days it’s a popular hangout for the Peterborough teen scene.  Usually they’re pretty laid back, but there have been occasions in the past of lunatic behaviour, as well as vandalism and obstruction of the railway track itself.  A story told with some relish to all newcomers on the NVR is that several years ago, two clever idiots placed their bikes across the tracks at this spot.  The crew alighted from the loco, took one bike each and put them on the tender.  The bikes were then held at Wansford until the angry kids with even angrier parents turned up to demand their return.  They got them back, but only after paying a donation to the Railway!  There are many other tales about incidents down at Lynch Bridge.  The bridge itself has a speed restriction of 5 mph, which gives these youngsters plenty of time to devise up various forms of entertainment.  Between trains they amuse themselves by the sport known as ‘Tombstoming’.  This entails jumping off the bridge into the River Nene below.  It’s a sport confined to teenagers, which is a pity – I wish bankers, politicians and traffic wardens would take it up.  I have breezeblocks going spare …

The lads wished they'd checked first, as the M6 hurtled up to meet them ...

The most common activity is the age-old custom of ‘mooning.’  If I’m working as TTI on a sunny day I usually advise passengers that they can expect to be honoured by a 21 Bum Salute as the train crosses the bridge.  Reactions range from taking a sudden and deep interest in the Ferry Meadows brochure right up to, “I’ll get my camera.”  Forewarned, and all that … Personally, I think that as long as they don’t interfere with the running of the train or get abusive, then they can do what they like.  A bit of friendly banter out of the train is customary, and of course they just love getting attention.  It’s always nice to see pretty girls in bikinis in summer, and far more preferable than the sight of middle aged men in mandals.  I rest my case.

Down at Ferry Meadows I got my ice cream, which I ate in my customarily messy fashion.  I don’t know how I do it, but I cannot for the life of me negotiate my way round a Magnum in summer without wearing half of it and end up looking like a toddler who’s just put his face in his dinner.  I’ve learnt from this experience and always carry baby wipes with me in my camera bag.  They’re more important than a spare battery these days.

Ferry Meadows station lies opposite the golf course, which provided something to look at after I’d cleaned myself up with babywipes, now new and improved with ‘ello-vera and carbon monosodiumglutimates and enhanced with enricher VT7, for a longer lasting enrichness.  Yes, I watch all those ads on TV; they’re not wasted on me at all.  The course was doing good business, and it was interesting to see a lot of young blood enjoying the sport – and pretty good at it too.  It was in complete contrast to the tombstoners, and proves that there is always a balance, despite what the Daily Mail would like you to believe.  Golf is not my sport – setting up the DVD recorder to tape A Touch of Frost is my idea of activity – but I have dabbled in the past.  I could never get the ball through that damn windmill on hole 18, though.

I took the train back to Wansford, past the tombstoners who pushed a girl off the bridge as we trundled past – and I missed the shot!  (She was willing; I mean they didn’t just pick up a passer-by and chuck her off).  I decided to film departure of the train and call it a day, but I was invited into the signalbox and that was far too good an opportunity to miss.  Consequently, I stayed until the last train returned, and the railway closed down for the night.  It was an interesting and entertaining excursion, and as austere days go, not half bad.

Polish Plumbing Saves The Day

What do you do when your fifty-year-old boiler breaks down just before a bank holiday weekend?  There’s only one answer – call in a Polish plumber!  And that essentially was the problem down at the Nene Valley this weekend, with a three-train passenger service scheduled to run, but with the two principal steam locos (44422 and 73050) both sidelined with maintenance issues.  The Austerity J94 is out of action with big end problems thus compounding the shortage even more.  Whilst the ever dependable Thomas could be relied on for his Yarwell shuttles, the main line needed urgent assistance to provide the advertised service.  Unlike Notwork Rail, we don’t believe in simply giving up and going home at weekends with the vague promise of a bus to take you home.

Enter the ubiquitous class 14 diesels to work the Mk1 rake, and call in the Poles to provide us with a new boiler – in this case the recently overhauled PKP 0-8-0 Slask locomotive number 5485.  This would haul the Danish (DSB) set of coaches.  During the course of last week the loco has been named The Meg, but no one seems to know why. Or indeed, who Meg is.  This was great news for me as I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to film and travel behind this unusual machine ever since it emerged from the works in April after a lengthy rebuild.  5485 doesn’t generally work weekends, but instead works our midweek ‘Schools Specials’ with the four-car DSB rake.  These coaches are open saloons; for some reason the teachers of the schools groups prefer these to the compartments of the Mk1 stock!  I mean, what mischief could fifty schoolchildren possibly get up to in compartment coaches?  (Here’s a clue …)

A period poster advertising The Great St Trinian’s Train Robbery from 1966.  A lengthy and highly entertaining chase involving a number of trains was filmed on the former Longmoor Military Railway - well worth watching, with a top-notch cast.  Perhaps because of these scenes, present day teachers prefer to keep their pupils where they can see just what the little darlings are up to!

As 5485 works these services it usually has weekends off when the other locos take over.  So it made a pleasant change to be able to ‘go Continental’ over the Bank Holiday period.  Meg is an interesting loco, and has a highly individualistic character of her own.  Built specifically to move long and heavy coal trains back home in native Poland, finesse is not one of her strong points.  Control of the loco is all-or-nothing according to the crews who work her on a regular basis.  Open the regulator a little to move away and nothing happens.  Open a tad more – still nothing.  A smidgen more, and Meg suddenly leaps into a life like an unsuspecting MP who’s just picked up The Daily Telegraph on expenses day.  Once on the move, 5485 truly has a life of her own. The long body overhang extends fore and aft over the eight close-coupled small-diameter driving wheels, which means that the loco bounces, twists and sways along all at the same time.  Regular crews take seasickness pills along for the ride.  Every rail joint and piece of pointwork is transmitted and magnified up through the bodywork and onto the footplate.  Standing still is an achievement in itself – grab hold of a handrail as the cab twists and lurches, then gyrate in time to the unpredictable motion in an attempt to stay more on less upright.  The whole crew resemble a party night down at The Bigg Market on Saturday night – and of course all of this explains the origination of the term ‘Pole Dancer.’  See, you’ve learnt something.

I spent all three days down at the NVR, with Saturday nominated as a filming day (rained dawn till dusk, naturally), Sunday as TTI on the Mk1 rake and relief booking office on Monday.  These turns allowed some breaks to get the odd bit of filming done, in addition to the very soggy photography session on Saturday.  Indeed on Monday I finished early enough to lurch down the line as far as Ferry Meadows on Meg’s last turn, in order to film the return trip back to Wansford.  It was a varied and enjoyable weekend, and I plan to produce a Polish film in due course.  In the meantime my washing machine has developed a fault, so as soon as the lads have finished coaling up Meg ready for next week, I’m off to have a word.