Steam & Cream

44422 leaving Wansford in the 1950's.

It was our autumn steam event down at the NVR over the weekend, and rather enjoyable I thought.  Rather than compete with the big Steam Galas currently on offer around the country, the NVR did everything in house with an emphasis on small and personal.  Locos in steam included the Fowler 4F; Austerity 22 and the Polish Slask tank loco 5485.  Passenger trains ran with the 4F and Austerity operating alternately on the Mk1 rake and 5485 on the DSB’s, resulting in prototypical consists.  Highlight was the operation of several freight trains hauled by the Austerity and 4F in between passenger duties.  Thomas was also in steam, sans face, operating top n’ tail shuttles between Wansford and Yarwell.  Our flagship loco, City of Peterborough, is out of service under repair so was not available for traffic, but was moved to the bay platform to facilitate cab visits.  This positioning permitted some great evening shots as the sun gradually descended on Saturday.  Finally the Bullied Pacific 92 Squadron was shunted into the café platform (known as the loco crew drive-thru!) for inspection by the public.  Members of the Battle of Britain Locomotive Society were on hand to discuss the loco’s restoration with interested visitors.

You need one hell of a tin opener to get inside this spam can.

My role for Saturday was TTI and the atmosphere was good with well-filled trains throughout the day.  Towards the end of the afternoon I was preparing the last passenger train for departure when a family group approached, led my Vicky Pollard in her size 39 tracksuit.  They’d bought tickets for Ferry Meadows because they wanted to go there for the day.  At 4:10 pm.  With their disabled mother.  I told them that as this was the last train, they’d only get half an hour at Ferry if they left the train on the outward trip and rejoined it on the return leg.  They weren’t happy about this, and complained loudly.  The only other option was to travel in the freight wagons, and then they complained even more loudly.  I suggested they simply upgrade their tickets and have a round trip.  No way; they weren’t going to spend anymore money than strictly necessary.  Need the rest for fags n’ booze innit?

I thought that was that, but got accosted again on my way down the platform.  “This is all a con you know,” Vicky Pollard informed me.  “We’ve brought our kid down ‘ere special to see Thomas an’ he ain’t ere.”

Oh for f…

I pointed out that Thomas was not only here; he was in steam at the end of the platform complete with nameplates and Number 1 on the tanks.

“Yeah but he ain’t got ‘is face on.”

“Madam; if his face is anything like yours then we can say thanks to the Lord for making it so.”  Okay, okay – I didn’t really say that.  I wanted to, but protocol and all that … instead of which I tried to explain about the steam gala; the fact that Thomas was here every other day of the year and that just for this weekend we remove the face and run it as an 0-6-0 shunting locomotive.  Just as it states on the website.

“We ain’t got no website,” was Vicky’s reply, although I think what she meant was, ‘I can’t read but I can watch my 54 inch TV what you bought me with your taxes.’

Fortunately, thanks to Vicky’s inability to tell the time I only had to put up with her group on the final train and not for the whole day, which otherwise was a great success.

If it says Thomas on the nameplate but you can't read, 

does it still say Thomas?  Discuss.

Sunday was a whole new experience for me.  I wasn’t on duty as such, but Jayne was doing catering on the trains and was desperately short of staff.  Short enough to ask me to help out.  The lunchtime train was serving Ploughman’s lunches in the Club Car; when it returned to Wansford it would be turned round for afternoon cream teas on the 14:45 service.  This was an excellent idea, and I’d seen how popular they were the previous day.

I turned up at Wansford nice and early in order to get some good pictures of the freight trains, before starting on the lunch service.  Only three of us were doing the catering, but we were well prepared and the Ploughman’s went out smoothly and successfully.  It was proper food service as well; plates, cutlery and crockery – the works.  None of your cardboard and Styrofoam rubbish on Jayne’s Trains at the NVR!

The cream tea service wasn’t pre-booked as the lunches had been, so it was all done to order.  With tea, coffee, scones and a choice of three types of cake the service was very ‘bitty’ and I’d have appreciated the services of an octopus as I tried to manhandle the teapots, coffeepot, milk pot, cashbox and take orders – plus take the platter with the different cakes around to show people.  Methinks I got the short straw …  It didn’t help that tea was the most popular option, and the teapots held around four cups before running out – and this got more problematic the further I walked down the coach because the walk back for refills got longer each time.  I also need to teach young Steven how to make tea.  He was fine with gnat’s piss, but the train was populated with lots of pensioners who know exactly how tea should be made.  Take away their pensions and heating allowance; confiscate tartan rugs and comfy slippers and you may get a glance of disapproval.  Dick around with their tea and you’ll never hear the end of it.

To complicate matters further, the adjoining coach had a party of 30 old folk on an outing – and they got a sniff of what we were up to.  Well, it would have been churlish to refuse and make them walk to the bar car where they’d get a Styrofoam cup, so we served those who wanted them as well.  Mark 1 coaches have never seemed so long!  We also began to run short of hot water so I was glad when Peterborough hove into view.  

Despite the logistical problems everyone got served on time and only the last table served received cold tea – which we replaced with fresh cups at Peterborough where we had an urn brewing away waiting for our arrival.  Everyone was happy, and we even served a few bonus afternoon teas on the return leg of the trip to Wansford as well.

Working the trains makes you appreciate just how hard the catering staff work on a day to day basis, and you come away with renewed respect for what they do – very much the unsung heroes of the operation.  There’s talk of doing more of these services next year.  I think I’ll stick to eating the leftovers!

The sun sets on another successful event at the NVR.  

The full photo set may be seen here as part of my Steamy Scenes Photo Gallery.

Delivering The Mail

I mentioned last time that I’d been offered the opportunity to work on the Thomas and The Travelling Post Office (TPO) event this weekend, which offered something a bit different to my usual TTI duties.  Essentially I gathered that I was required for crowd control purposes as the event has its own Tour Group Leader (Marilyn) who takes care of the talky bits, and the TPO Group themselves handle the operation of the train.  So, it would be a nice easy day with only three trains to worry about, and all I had to do was escort the participants to and from the viewing gallery at Yarwell.  How hard could it be?

Well, anything that sounds too good to be true invariably is, and I really should have known better.  As there wasn’t much information about what would happen, I decided to wing it once the first load of passengers arrived for the 11:00 departure.  Passengers ride down to Yarwell inside the TPO coaches as part of the experience, but as they are parcels vans this means they are rather dark and gloomy inside.  Especially as the lights didn’t work because of a problem with the alternator!  However, everybody boarded and – we sat in Wansford.  I was aware that there was a complicated shunt movement going on, and this overran to the extent that we were some 30 minutes late in departing.  Not ideal when you’ve got 60 parents and small children confined to a parcels van by any means.

At length we arrived at Yarwell and our passengers alighted from the vans.  Fiona (another TTI) and I escorted the party down to the lineside apparatus that handles the dropping off and collecting of mailbags.  It took me back to school trip days, as we had to chivvy people along who kept stopping to go to the toilet / pick blackberries and stop to watch Thomas as he propelled the stock back to the tunnel mouth in readiness for the run up.

As I have the loudest mouth at the NVR I gave the group a short talk as to what was about to happen before Thomas did his three run pasts, dropping bags and collecting pouches on the way.  The audience was quite enthralled, especially the children who had a rare chance to witness Thomas in action from the lineside.  Normally they only see him at the station, so to witness a high-speed run is something of a novelty.  After the third run we escorted the group back to Yarwell and returned them to Wansford.  People were polite rather than effusive with thanks when they left; however we sorted out all the issues raised on the spot and placated those who were rightfully upset about the initial delay with some responsive action that kept everyone happy in the end.  Apart from a party of Americans, who just wanted to complain because – well, because they’re American and that’s what they do best.  Presumably if we’d been dishing out burgers on the train they’d have been happy, but basically they simply personified the stereotype American tourist that is often parodied on TV.  I don’t take Americans seriously as life is too short, so Marilyn handled that one.

Once the train was empty we had a chance to discuss what had gone wrong, and more importantly, how to build on the experience and improve it.  Now that I’d seen the operation I knew where the problems lay and how to sort them out.  By working closely with Marilyn we created a good PR team and worked off each other like a double act instead of getting in each other’s way.  This proved to be successful as the second and third trains ran very smoothly, and we received many compliments as passengers left us when we returned to Wansford.

When Sunday dawned everything was in position, so we began the day on the right foot with an on time departure and a full (84 passengers) complement.  By now we were familiar with each other and our roles, so the operation was slick and professional.  The crocodile to the apparatus was the slowest part, but you can’t hurry a toddler who doesn’t want to be hurried!  To help out, the TPO crew held the train at Yarwell until the group reached the viewing gallery so that they wouldn’t get distracted as Thomas trundled past and hold up the operation.  I also discovered that I could use the opportunity to create a party atmosphere down at the gallery.  I began with an explanation of what would happen, then each time Thomas reversed the stock down the line, I asked all the children to shout ‘Hello Thomas!’ as the loco passed.  With three runs taking place I urged them to shout louder each time, because if Thomas could hear them, he’d respond in kind on his whistle.  This duly took place on the third run thanks to an arrangement with the footplate crew who joined in the fun to make it special for the visitors.  During the mail drop runs, I scrambled up the bank to get a few pictures before returning to my temporary role as Butlins Redcoat – clearly I’ve missed my vocation in life.  Or I just like the sound of my own voice.

Each of the three trips loaded to capacity on Sunday which created a great atmosphere each time, especially the ‘Hello Thomas’ bit – the TPO crew told me later on that this could be heard all the way back at Yarwell Station!  Once the third run was complete and the groups returned to Yarwell, they had an opportunity to watch Thomas run round and get photos with him, and the TPO crew opened up the nets so that people could examine the equipment in detail that they’d just seen in use.  The train then left for Wansford, where the children had an opportunity to sort the mail into the original dockets inside the sorting coach; a great chance for more interactive fun that they enjoyed very much.

Overall, once the less than successful first run was over with, the event was very successful and up to the high standards of customer service we pride ourselves on delivering.  I was pleased with way that we acknowledged the problems and got together to tackle them head on in a straightforward manner, rather than shrug our shoulders and carry on regardless as some ‘service-led’ operations do all too often.  The end result was great teamwork all round, and more significantly, lots of happy and excited faces departing from the TPO coaches at Wansford.  That’s what makes being a volunteer on the railway worth doing in the first place.

So what next?  Well, next week a steam event is taking place and I’ll be here, there and everywhere, as it should be a busy and varied day.  More later!

A Smashing Bank Holiday at Yarwell

The Bank Holiday weekend was a busy one at the railway with a great atmosphere on the packed trains, especially the Thomas shuttles.  I worked as TTI on both Sunday (44422 and the Mk1’s) and again on Monday in the DSB’s that had class 14 D9516 up front.  Although the Mk1’s are the pick of the coaches to travel in, I must say that on a busy train the DSB’s are a lot easier to manage, being open plan.

Time keeping was good both days, and everything seemed to run rather smoothly except for a single instance of vandalism on Sunday; amazingly enough at Yarwell Junction; hardly downdown Orton to say the least.  A child picked up a stone and threw it at the DSB coach in the platform.  It bounced off the bodywork, so the girl chose another stone and lobbed it straight through a window, shattering it.  Had a family been sitting there – it was a Thomas shuttle, remember – they’d have been showered with broken glass.  Not an appealing thought by any means.  What made the incident worse was that the girl’s father was with her throughout the incident and said absolutely nothing.  So that’s another Vicky Pollard in the making it would appear.

Despite this, the weekend was good fun, and the people certainly enjoyed themselves on the trains I was working.  On Monday there was time for a spot of informal photography as the diesel hauled DSB’s tend to be quieter than the steam hauled Mk1 trains.  I had some lovely chatty family groups on board; a real pleasure to have time for a chat after a week in my lorry speaking only to dodgy car dealers!

Next weekend is promising another new experience for me as I’ve been offered the opportunity to work on the demonstration TPO trains that will be hauled by Thomas between Wansford and Yarwell.

Corrie Trolley Dollies!

Viewers of Coronation Street will no doubt be aware of the storyline involving Haley’s Wedding.  As I don’t watch it I am in no way qualified to comment on the programme.  The reason behind this post is to advise that a rather interesting episode is due to be shown on 30 August – the wedding episode itself.  The storyline involves a steam train, and the relevant scenes were shot on the East Lancashire Railway.  On a more personal note, however, an item of rolling stock from the Nene Valley Railway makes an appearance in the programme – the pump trolley!  This vehicle has a starring role with two bridesmaids hand-pumping Haley to her nuptials as part of a very convoluted – but entertaining – set piece of the inevitable wedding-becomes-a-disaster scene that are de-rigeur of soap operas.

This trolley recently featured in my own photoshoot Railway Modelling, so it certainly has the ability to attract lovely young ladies who just can’t wait to jump aboard for a bit of action.  I know what I mean, ahem.  

Back in the eighties all you needed to get the girls swooning was a set of keys for a BMW or a Porsche.  These days it would appear that the line, “Eh up pet, fancy a hand pump?” will no longer get you a smack on the jaw.  Now that’s progress.

So does Haley make it to her wedding?  Tune in on 30 August* and find out!

*Date given in good faith.  If ITV decide to show some pointless football match and rearrange their schedule at the last minute to suit, as they so often do, I am in no way responsible.

Monsoon Season Brings Steam!

With the monsoon season well and truly underway, I’ve found it increasingly difficult to explain to customers on the trains the necessity for continuing the steam loco ban on the Nene Valley Indian Hill Railway.  The risk of lineside fires gets fixed vacant stares as passengers gaze out over flooded fields that can almost be seen through the torrential, driving downpours that afflict the area every time I even glance at my camera bag and think, well maybe …

This weekend the battle was won, and steam returned to the Wansford – Peterborough section of the line, a most welcome development for visitors and volunteers alike.  Ironically we were running the mixed traction timetable anyway, with class 40 D306 on Saturday and 31108 on Sunday hauling diesel services.  The steam loco on offer was Fowler 4F 44422 making a welcome return after some lengthy repairs kept it out of traffic for a while.

On Saturday I was filming at Ferry Meadows – so called because the only way to cross the meadow is by boat – but popped over to Orton Mere to catch the afternoon steam hauled service as it passed Yacht Club Crossing, looking and sounding in fine form.  This train coincided with the three minutes of fine weather that graced Nene Park during the day.

On Sunday I was working as TTI on the trains, and of course it turned out to be a very pleasant day, but I wasn’t in a position to take any pictures as the mixed traction timetable keeps us rather busy with a turnaround of only 9 minutes between services at Wansford.

I keep thinking that one day the pleasant weather will coincide with my photography days, but then I wake up and return to reality.  But it still doesn’t stop me from glancing at my camera bag and thinking, well maybe …

Tornado Rushes By

Whilst in general conversation with fellow volunteers at the NVR on Sunday, I heard that Tornado would be running through Grantham with a railtour on Monday.  The down service to York coincided with a visit to the dentist, and with last minute dentist appointments being as rare as hen’s teeth (did you see what I almost did there?) I had no chance of making it out for a photograph.  The evening would be better as the return to Kings Cross was booked through town at 19:00, although as the day wore on I got into one of those, ‘do I really want to drag my carcass out of the house’ moods.

Early evening brought with it clear skies and a hint of a warm sunset, so I decided to schlep off for a photograph.  My chosen location was near to the village of Marston on a farm track that leads to a pedestrian crossing.  A gaggle of photographers had already assembled there when I arrived, but I chose to remain on the lane a good quarter mile further down as it offers a superb panoramic vista of the line in both directions.  This would be the ideal opportunity to give my new Canon a workout, and I fancied having a go at panning a fast moving train as I’ve never tried this before.

I practised with East Coast HST’s and 91’s prior to the railtour, and was fortunate enough to capture two trains passing each other.  When Tornado arrived – bang on time – she was travelling at full tilt and working incredibly hard; a truly glorious sight to behold from my vantage point.  I was pleased with the pictures that came from this shoot, and feel vindicated about spending my hard earned on a new SLR package!

Tornado on The Cathedrals Express may be seen in my Steamy Scenes gallery.

Tunnel Vision

One of the first duties of the signalman at Wansford every running day is a walk through of the 616 yard Wansford Tunnel, in order to check that there is still a hole at the other end.  This intrigued me, and one of regular signalmen, Steve, was kind enough to allow me to accompany him on a walk through on Saturday morning so that I could take some photos.  I know that ‘tunnel interior’ doesn’t sound the most exciting of subjects, but I like things a little out of the ordinary.

I already have a PTS certificate, so access was no problem.  Duly armed with boots, hi-viz and a torch – don’t forget a torch – we set off on a very gloomy and wet morning.  The walk through duty also includes a visual check of the rolling stock parked up in Wansford Cutting; this is to ensure that all the carriage doors are properly shut and therefore wouldn’t swing open when a train was passing.

The tunnel itself is one of the longest in railway preservation, with a very tall arch that creates cathedral-like echoes.  It is dead straight all the way through, so the pinhole of light gradually grows as you walk towards it, just like being in a film!  Long abandoned rolling stock resides inside the tunnel; a couple of Mk1 coaches, a Mk1 buffet car still in blue and grey livery, a cannibalised class 14 and a couple of other wagons that may never see the light of day again.

Two thirds of the way in, Steve showed me the treadle that operates a light operated ghost painted on the tunnel wall.  When working on the trains during family and Thomas days we always get the children to look out for this ghost; it creates an element of excitement and is a great icebreaker at the start of their journey.  With school trips we get the entire coach to keep an eye out; then shout and cheer out loud when they see it.  This creates a great atmosphere on the train, I have to say.

At the Yarwell end of the tunnel I took various photos as the line curves to the southwest in the steep cutting before we retraced our steps back to the most important part of the day – one of Jayne’s full English breakfasts at the Turntable Café!  Following one of these banquets, you’re ready for anything that the day may throw at you.  Steve went back to his signalbox for a long shift on our pink timetable, whilst I prepared to get very wet – it is August – on a photoshoot at Yarwell and Ferry Meadows Country Park.

I took the first train down to Yarwell Junction, hauled by 4F 44422 that has been out of service for ages awaiting repairs.  I needed to be here as the 4F would return shortly with the demonstration TPO service, and I wanted to be on hand to capture it emerging from the tunnel.  Predictably, no sooner had the nice, warm and dry passenger train departed then the first of monsoons descended.  Yarwell is a nature reserve and has absolutely no cover of any kind, bar a shelter on the tiny (but closed) station waiting room.  I decided to sit there, but once the train’s arrival was imminent and the rain eased off, I made my way down the path to the spot I’d chosen for photography.  Now safely out of reach of any kind of shelter, the second monsoon rolled in.  Whilst the train most notably didn’t roll in; annoyingly I could hear the loco whistling at Wansford every so often, but this wasn’t accompanied by any noticeable movement whatsoever.

A good 20 minutes late, however, the TPO finally turned up, and I could almost forgive the delay as it coincided with a brief respite in the weather.  The train runs to Yarwell so that passengers on the TPO experience may de-train and make their way to the viewing area and watch three run pasts with mailbags dropped and collected each time.  Then the train picks everybody up and returns to Wansford, although I elected to stay put in order to get pictures of 44422 on a red and cream MK1 passenger train.  I don’t need to tell you that of course the heavens opened again, and when the passenger train turned up, it had class 40 D306 at the head because of operating difficulties at Wansford.  I wasn’t too bothered, the 40 in green livery looks great on the Mk1 rake so I was able to come away with some pleasing shots.

That was the end of my railway based shoot, as I was now staying on the train and travelling to Ferry Meadows for a landscape photoshoot to get some practise in with the camera and various lenses.  I’ll cover this in my other blog while I go and dry off ….

Many thanks to Steve for arranging the tunnel walk through and explaining all the finer points of the task that is one of the hidden aspects of railway operation that rarely come to light.  Fans of the tunnel may see it in action during some extended scenes during the James Bond film Octopussy.  The tunnel mouth also appears in the awesome Queen video Breakthrough that was filmed entirely on location at the NVR.

Crash, Bang, Wallop ... What a Photograph!

31108 arrives under barbeque skies at Wansford.

After the frenetic activity of last weekend at Wansford, this week’s duty on Saturday was an oasis of calm by comparison.  Not that the journey down to the Nene Valley was quite as tranquil, however.  I was following a flatbed lorry, and around the Stamford area a large chunk of wood fell off the truck and bounced into the path of a car that was travelling in the outside lane.  This duly ricocheted across into my lane and hit the nearside front headlamp unit, which promptly disintegrated in a shower of glass.  I wasn’t best pleased, although had the wood bounced a foot higher then it would have been through the windscreen and I don’t suppose that would have been a pretty sight.  Cheaper, mind you – windscreens are replaced free of charge under my insurance policy but headlights aren’t covered.  You can quote me unhappy on that clause.  Once at Wansford I promptly undertook emergency action – get a good photo for my Facebook page.  I’ll worry about repairs later, but let’s get priorities sorted out for now.

Amazingly, all the lights still work!

My shift today was Booking Office, and things were rather quiet although the second train filled up nicely.  The steam ban is still in force, because although there’s been some rain of late it tends to descend in short, sharp bursts but evaporates in the heat rather than have the opportunity to soak into the ground where it would be of some use.  Consequently we were running Austerity 22 on the Wansford – Yarwell segment, with trusty 31108 on the main leg down to Peterborough.  The loco change caused delays as expected, so that the last train ended up running a good 45 minutes late.  People generally seemed happy enough, and the mood was good.

I had a brief chance to try out my latest purchase towards the end of the day – a Canon EOS DSLR camera.  My interest in photography has evolved throughout the year and I’m keen to learn more and improve my technique.  I used to have a Canon in my old film camera days, so I chose the brand this time round hoping to get a piece of kit that would match the results I last got in the late 90’s.

The camera came from Ebay, as new camera prices range from ridiculous to the truly sublime.  It’s an American refurbished model sold by a firm specialising in such things – but seems new in every aspect when opening the box that was delivered the day after ordering.  As it’s for the U.S. market the battery pack has the American two-prong plug fitment, but the company thoughtfully provide a UK adaptor free of charge, which is a nice touch.  I duly charged the camera up last night and packed it ready for today, so had no time to read the book or try out any settings – charge it, pack it, drive!

By late afternoon when I had the opportunity to nip out for some pictures, the sky was leaden in between short but frequent downpours.  I managed a few shots around the yard before a shower drove me back indoors, and also snapped off a few shots as the last train departed from Wansford.  Difficult to assess the performance from these hurriedly obtained photos, but I did get some half decent shots, which weren’t bad in the conditions.

No. 22 has been exchanged for 31108

which prepares to depart from Wansford.

This isn’t the end of my trusty Panasonic TZ6 by any means!  Although it’s a point-and-shoot it’s an amazing camera and was used throughout for my recent foray into model photography – the results of which may be seen here.  Once you explore the various settings and menus, it can cope with a huge range of permutations.  It’s also my default video camera, and being pocket sized makes it ideal to take with me on NVR shifts so that I can always record interesting moments.  The Canon is for proper photoshoot days; an opportunity to learn more about creative photography skills and to capture scenes that are beyond the capability of point and shoot.  The Fuji S1500 is destined for Ebay as I’ve never really got on with it and recent shoots such as the Bus Rally were disappointing.  I tried some scenes with Sian the model at Wansford and it just seemed to give up, resulting in the TZ6 carrying out the entire session on its own.  Not that my description on the auction site will say that of course – it’s a truly wonderful piece of kit that I’m reluctantly selling so that ‘er indoors can buy a new pair of shoes.

So I have my first set of pictures – and what a picture, but shame it took a crash, bang, wallop to get it!

Looking the other way from Nene Bridge presented this reflective scene.

Wedding Belle & Alarm Bells

Sunday was the busiest day that I’ve ever worked at the Nene Valley, which in one sense was unfortunate as I wasn’t in my usual peak physical condition to appreciate everything that was going on.  I wasn’t rostered in to begin with as I was attending a wedding on Saturday and expected to get a bit – ah, tired – during proceedings.  But the railway was desperate for staff with the extra activities, so I agreed to pop down and help out.

The wedding itself was excellent and celebrations continued long into the night, assisted by a glass or two as might be expected.  I was staying overnight at the hotel to avoid driving and eventually retired to my room for a good night’s sleep so that I’d be fighting fit and ready for duty.

Naturally, things didn’t go quite to plan.  The hotel was, like all British hotels, ridiculously over heated with radiators on even in the middle of our Lincolnshire heatwave.  I opened the only window to the regulation 6 inches before it jammed but that didn’t help.  Teams of navvies were practising riveting in my head – possibly related to all the free alcohol, but there’s no absolute proof of that.  Consequently sleep was impossible until I finally drifted off in the wee small hours.  And promptly awoke again, because I’m at that awkward age where waking up in the night is a daily occurrence.  Off to the bathroom where I made the catastrophic error of turning the light on.  This was connected to an extractor fan, which in turn was connected to a jet turbine in the car park and made enough noise to wake up everybody in the hotel plus several surrounding streets.

Return to bed, where I managed to get to sleep for a good five minutes before the alarm woke me up ready for the new day.  Oh goody.  Back into the bathroom, but this time sans illumination so that at least the jet turbine didn’t kick in.  The shower had two temperature settings, flay the skin or frostbite, so I was in and out as quickly as possible and wishing that I hadn’t left my burns kit bag at home.

Down to breakfast at the appointed hour of 08:00, only to discover that the appointed hour applies to guests, but not the staff who were having a lie in.  At 08:15 a waiter turned up and offered coffee and toast, but anything else was out of the question because the chef wasn’t in, and even when she did turn up she’d need to ‘turn everything on’.  I was too under the weather to argue, so accepted lukewarm coffee to go with toast that I consumed with those horrible packs of butter that had been left out in the restaurant all night with the radiators turned on during a heatwave, plus those plastic packs of marmalade that can only be opened by an arc welding kit.

I had to leave by 08:30 to get to the railway on time, so that ended my experience at this establishment – I won’t embarrass the Kings Hotel of Grantham by naming and shaming them – oops.  Sorry.

At Wansford I was able to get breakfast from Jayne’s ever reliable café and remedy that particular problem, but I still generally felt shattered from the previous day’s events.  And the NVR was in for a busy time as it was a major family fun day, with two mainline trains running as well as Thomas on the Yarwell shuttles, a Routemaster bus service, a kids play park had been set up in the fields and it was the peak holiday season.  I was working as TTI on the DSB rake of open coaches, and were we busy or what?!  All trains loaded very well and the atmosphere was great.  I also worked a couple of Thomas shuttles during the layovers at Wansford, as it was helpful to have extra bodies available to load and unload bikes, buggies, prams and toddlers.  The day passed very quickly and only on the last train of the day did I have the chance to sit down as the service returned to Wansford.

Unusually I was too busy / knackered to take photos, so those on this page are representative of the services we ran.  For the record, Thomas top n’ tailed with the Polish Tank (Piotr?) on two coaches up and down to Yarwell, whilst the Mk1 rake and DSB stock were hauled by our class 14 diesels due to continued ban on using steam locos on the eastern end of the line.

By the time I got home I was ready only for bed – or scrap heap depending on your point of view.  However, my initial task was to get the wedding photos uploaded and onto Facebook; such are the rituals of life in the 21st Century!

You Ask For a Shed, & Get a Couple of ED's!

Sunday proved to be quite an interesting occasion at the NVR, when no less than three visiting locomotives turned up and presented us with the opportunity to hold a mini Diesel Gala.  In truth, we were expecting a visiting GBRf class 66, which we got – what wasn’t anticipated was a pair of class 73’s attached to it!  It transpired that the class 73’s were ‘in the way’ to use highly technical railway jargon, so rather than move them, they were tacked onto the 66 and sent down to Wansford.

It was all part of a GBRf Gala Day, which offered a carboot sale at Wansford and, er, some other stuff I didn’t really notice.  The carboot sale was pitiful; four cars selling tat and a man punting wicker baskets seems a little underwhelming to me, although I’m no expert in this field.  Perhaps it was all part of the ‘less is more’ way of thinking.  So let me assure you that less is definitely less in this case.

Fortunately the visiting locos provided recompense for the dismal attractions not on offer.  They did, however, bring their own particular brand of problems – notably contemporary diesel fans.  These people are a totally different breed to your average railway enthusiast, and cause so many behavioural problems that a lot of regular volunteers won’t work at the Diesel Galas.  Indeed, I recounted my own experiences at the last gala in March.  Different loco classes attract different fans, and whilst some – notably the class 31 followers – are the most laid back, friendly and down to earth group you could hope to meet, the class 66 followers are often bullish, arrogant and downright rude.  They carry a couple of grand’s worth of camera kit around, but will jump a fence to avoid paying the £12 fare to ride behind their dream loco.

To even the score up a bit, the NVR relied on its secret weapon – THOMAS!  Yes, Thomas was in steam as booked, hauling the Yarwell shuttle.  The same coaches then worked the Wansford – Peterborough section behind a diesel with our resident class 14 on the first train; the 73’s on the second, class 66 on the third and back to the 14 for the last train.  The coaches were our Danish (DSB) open vehicles that added to the pot pourri nature of the day.

Now I have to say that when a train’s passenger list consists of 50% Thomas kids and parents having a day out, and 50% diehard class 66 groupies waving Nikons around, the atmosphere onboard the trains was interesting to say the least!  Some of the 66 group got into the spirit of the day, to be fair, and were quite laid back about Thomas’ haunted tunnel.  But later on at Wansford I was trying to herd passengers onto the already late running afternoon service when I was told, “We’re not getting on this train until that bloody kettle thing is removed!”  This lot were all in their late 40’s / early 50’s, so I can only assume that with the level of maturity on display, they must work for Elf n’ Safety.  Or a Town Council.  Or the Highways Agency.  And I'm sure some of them must have designed the new junction on Grantham's High Street.

I also got another telling off by one irate idiot, sorry, passenger, who bemoaned the fact that he hadn’t been issued with an authentic Edmondson style card ticket.  These tickets were extremely important, he informed me at length, because he logs every detail of the trip and then attaches the ticket to the relevant page.  Printed till receipts don’t cut a lot of ice, it would seem.  I tried the sensible and rational explanation, which got me nowhere – so I turned the argument on its head.  “Sir, you’re travelling in a Danish carriage behind Thomas The Tank Engine through a haunted tunnel in the middle of Cambridgeshire.  Just how much authenticity can you take in one day?”  He didn’t seem to like that much, although the family in seating bay opposite certainly did!

More daft comments were heard by a colleague, Old Arkwright, who works at Orton Mere Station.  You can read his accounts about the day here.

The event was not particularly well publicised by the organisers so passenger numbers were relatively low, which as far as being on duty on the trains went was a good thing.  We were able to keep control of the coaches and do full ticket inspections – during Diesel Galas you simply can’t get from one end of the train to the other, and two or three TTI’s are required on each train.

Overall it was an interesting, albeit hard day to be on duty.  It made a nice change to ride behind different locos and get some novel photos.  Although I have to say that I dropped an almighty clanger here, and set up the camera with ridiculous settings that resulted in enough noise on the photos to make them look as if they were from 1926.  It took a fair bit of editing to get a set suitable for publication.  Normally I’d just delete them and try again, but as this was such a unique event I just had to bite the bullet and sort them out.

A Brief Encounter

One of the great railway films of all time is Brief Encounter, a classic and timeless story that showed how an unexpected meeting can set off a chain reaction that would never have occurred had just one of those people not been in a certain place at a certain time.

My own brief encounter happened in June, and I recounted the full story here.  Briefly, I was on duty at the Nene Valley Railway quite by chance as I was covering for a colleague who was sick.  A photographer and model (Siân) came to the NVR for a photoshoot and I mentioned that I met them quite by chance, as they needed a guide to take them into the yard.  At the end of the piece I flippantly wrote, ‘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.’

Well, fact can often be stranger than fiction.  After some thought I contacted Siân through one of her website portfolios and asked if she’d be interested in doing a photoshoot with me, bearing in mind that I am a complete amateur and have no experience at working with models whatsoever.  As a photographer I have to be honest (as indeed I was in my communications with Siân) and say that I am at the bottom rung of the profession.  Well, I’m looking up at the bottom rung, but it gives me something to aim for.  My photographic kit is restricted to one good quality point-and-shoot style camera (Panasonic TZ6), a Fuji Finepix S1500 that I don’t much care for, a tripod that accompanies me everywhere and a reflector, which is actually a silver sunshield, scrounged out of a car at work.  When I say basic, that’s exactly what I mean.  This was brought to home in January at the Great Central Railway Winter Steam Gala when I joined a line of photographers who looked as if they were filming a Hollywood blockbuster.  Out came my diminutive Samsung point n’ shoot (at the time) and tripod which I set up in all of 30 seconds.  A group not ten feet from me openly scoffed between themselves at turning up with such kit, although when I glared across at them with a lorry driver’s hard stare, they shut up.  For these reasons I didn’t I really think that a professional model would be interested in a shoot, but Siân had seemed a very pleasant and outgoing person at the railway, and I felt that if I didn’t ask I could miss out on a great opportunity and regret it later.

Therefore, I was delighted when Siân replied the next day, which impressed me a lot, and agreed to a shoot.  Many emails passed between us, and I was struck by her helpful advice and suggestions as things progressed.  It was clear from her emails and portfolios that she loves her job and gets a real buzz from it, but what makes her stand out is that she wants the best possible results for the photographer as well.  Frequent communication also built up a rapport in readiness for the shoot, which meant things were relaxed from the moment we met on the day.

I have no studio experience at all, and as I mentioned above, I’m somewhat lacking in the equipment department.  I enjoy working in the field, shooting variations on landscapes or transport scenes, particularly railways.  So a location shoot was required, and I have a reasonable imagination when it comes to composing pictures.  Therefore I planned a shoot that would be varied and hopefully interesting for both of us, set on a local farm that sits in a beautiful and undulating valley.  Perfect – and everything was set for the shoot.  Except, being Britain, the prolonged heatwave and clear skies over Lincolnshire turned dramatically into storms five days before the shoot.  It soon became clear (to me, not the weather) that conditions were going to be ‘unsettled’ as the BBC weather Wombles like to say.  They meant, ‘It’s going to rain a lot’, and it did.  Wednesday was crunch time – the forecasts were poor and an evening thunderstorm rather proved the point.  I cancelled the farm as they didn’t have any boats to get up to the meadows, and hurriedly devised Plan (b).  This was, of course, the Nene Valley Railway.  It was a natural choice – I’m familiar with it, and could work around poor weather with undercover shoots if necessary.  I hurriedly blagged some Peterborough deliveries at work on Thursday and popped down via Wansford to sort out a shoot.  As always, I got terrific and enthusiastic support from my colleagues at the railway with access to the locos, yards and a bundle of useful props for the specific shoot I had in mind.

Siân wasn’t put out by the sudden change of plan, in a flurry of texts she proved that she was game for anything and looking forward to the shoot regardless.  That was a relief; it’s not very professional to change things around at short notice, but needs must in the circumstances.

Friday dawned with bright and sunny skies, ironically enough, and the forecast had changed from unsettled to bright spells with showers – which is the same thing as far as I’m concerned.  Siân arrived early, which was great – good timekeeping is a fad of mine – and turned up with a veritable Aladdin’s Cave of clothes and props.  This girl comes prepared for anything, and in a suitcase and two large bags had an entire wardrobe available to suit any kind of look at a moment’s notice.  She was accompanied by her chaperone and fiancé, Spike – who is also a photographer and occasional model.  Some photographers dislike chaperones; personally I found it useful to have people who could add ideas and enrich the shoot with their experience.  Spike in particular spotted some brilliant photo opportunities that I’d have missed, and these were fantastic shots that look amazing.  He was unstinting with suggestions and ideas that added a great deal to the shoot, and I really appreciated his enthusiasm to help me get some great pictures.

I’d planned a shoot that would be structured and themed, as this is how I create videos.  Plan the work and work the plan, always allowing for those unexpected issues that crop up along the way, of course.  Many models are photographed on heritage railways as they provide a nice, historical background for a shoot.  I was after a totally different theme; by dressing Siân in appropriate uniforms I’d picture her undertaking the various jobs we do around the railway.  When I say uniform, I should point out that I wasn’t exactly after historical accuracy here.  If the sort of people who go to model railway exhibitions point out that her cap badge doesn’t match the era of the type of tail-lamp seen in some pictures, deal with it.  Preferably a long way away from me.  Yes, there really are some people out there who notice these things, and are only to happy to wax lyrically about them ad infinitum.  I know; in a previous life as a trader at railway exhibitions I’ve met them.  My costumes would be a nod to traditional railway dress, but with a twist to make the shoot light hearted, humorous and sexy.  Imagine St Trinians on the Orient Express and you’re on the right lines.

The shoot began in the glamour of the yard amongst bits of old scrap components, boilers and machinery.  So much nicer for a model than a beach in Barbados!  Spike spotted the hand trolley beloved of old movies from the Buster Keaton era.  Indeed I discovered only on Saturday that this particular trolley had just returned from a far less exotic photoshoot of its own, as it had just been filmed for a role in Coronation Street as part of Haley’s wedding.  I don’t follow Corrie, but if you watch it that will no doubt make sense.  Siân jumped straight onto this and struck a fantastic pose without even being asked; she knows a prop when she sees one and instinctively interacts with it to create the look you want.  Indeed, as the day wore on and we got to know each other, I’d often start a sentence to suggest the next pose and she’d be in it before I’d got half the sentence out!  She’s definitely a natural model and made the shoot easy to direct as a result.  Even her throwaway moments between shots were great; so much so that I then asked her to repeat them for the camera.

From the yard we moved to the rolling stock itself.  Donning a grey driver’s jacket to go with her rakish cap, heels and short skirt, this was her moment that every girl dreams about - yes, I’m talking about driving and firing real locomotives.  First call was for some exterior shots on a class 14 diesel, mimicking the sort of pose struck by models at the Motor Show on brand new Ferraris.  The difference here was that Siân was posing on enough horsepower to give Jeremy Clarkson wet dreams for a week.  Leaving that pretty picture behind, we moved onto the Polish tank loco for some firing shots.  This meant shovelling coal and Siân got stuck right into the task.  Having earned her stripes with a shovel, she was rapidly promoted to driver on our flagship loco, Standard 5 City of Peterborough.  Siân settled straight into the role and soon got to grips with the intricacies of the regulator and brake, whilst keeping a close eye on the gauges.

A spot of maintenance beckoned, and as we passed the Fowler 4F with the smokebox door wide open, Siân asked if she could pose inside it!  It was an inspired moment on her part, and the pictures look fantastic.  How many girls can claim to have been inside the smokebox of steam loco?  One for the grandchildren, that.  Another great set of scenes were filmed around her job as an oiler on 73050, getting stuck into the valve gear with some amazing facial expressions.  Siân’s hands-on involvement with the task was now literally showing with coal, grease and general muck all over her legs and hands, so with a couple of dabs to her nose, her initiation as a railway-woman was complete.  It seemed like a good idea to break for lunch and general clean up, so we retired to Jayne’s café for sustenance and soap.

Once fortified, it was a change of outfit for one of the most important railway jobs – signalwoman.  Our regular signalman doesn’t often sport white high heels, but once he’s seen the set I hope that this might signal a change of direction at the NVR.  Together with an appropriate tie and dinky waistcoat Siân set off to learn another new job in Wansford Signalbox.  This would be quite a tricky shoot for me, being indoors but backlit with daylight streaming in through the ‘box that is entirely glazed on three out of four sides.  It took a while to do this bit of the shoot, as I took many identical photos at different settings to cope with the lighting.  Some fantastic pictures came out of the box; I particularly like the reflections in the mirror, the close up headshots and the raunchy pose taken opposite the ‘box as she stood on the window sill giving me a ‘don’t mess with me’ look.

One task remained; one of the most prolific railway jobs available.  This was, of course, Guard.  I had a rake of coaches available and the traditional task of waving the train off with the green flag suited Siân admirably.  She had some interesting moments placing the tail lamp on the bracket, as it was far heavier than either of us expected.  She doesn’t give in, however, and created a great look by swinging the lamp in a pendulum movement to get it in place.  She also managed to get herself onto the headstocks and pose ballet style next to the gangway – no mean feat, I can tell you.

Siân had never been inside an old ‘proper’ train like the Mk1 coaches and was really keen to take a look inside.  She adored the compartments, and instantly presented me with a great photoset that I hadn’t considered.  Discarding her hat, waistcoat and kicking off her shoes, I got a great end-of-the-shift look as she languidly stretched out and reclined on the seats.  These are lovely, natural photos and really capture the moment of ending your duty after a busy day and relaxing ‘on the cushions’ as the train returns to the depot.

That was the main shoot of the day completed, but Siân was eager to carry on modelling; she has real passion and enjoys her work immensely.  I was surprised as modelling is incredibly hard work and thought she’d be ready to drop by now.  There is a general assumption that modelling is easy, simply a case of posing whilst having your picture taken.  Well, I am happy to dispel that myth.  During the day Siân had clambered in, out, under and on steam locos, old boilers, piles of ash and coal, dirty and greasy machinery and balanced one legged on a bufferstock.  Throughout this she’d had to hold and change pose time and time again, and have the same photo taken several times at different settings.  The idea that models are airheads was also totally turned on it’s head.  Siân brought incredible concentration to her roles, and as we walked around the site she was constantly looking for and suggesting ideas or props that could be used.  She gives herself totally to the shoot, and throws herself into roles with great enthusiasm.  She enjoys new things; well she certainly got that!

The shoot ended with a bit of freestyle modelling in the fields near Wansford Station, where Siân put on her own clothes and posed as if on a picnic in the countryside.  We tried some ball games for action shots and ended with some relaxing poses next to the river.  To add in a really authentic British picnic feature it began to rain at that point, although in fairness it was the first rain we’d had all day.  We carried on shooting in the rain for ten minutes, but then it turned into a deluge so that was that.

Surprisingly, the shoot had gone for eight hours, but where the time went I just don’t know.  It was great fun, particularly working with Siân who loves modelling and has incredible energy and dedication.  The nerve racking came bit at home when I uploaded the 753 photos I’d taken – would any of them actually be any good?  Fortunately the overall result was pleasing, and I ended up with around 350 pictures that I like.  I got good and very complimentary feedback from Siân and Spike, particularly about my creativity regarding the locations, theme and style of pose.  I have a penchant for full-length shots of a model, sometimes taken from a striking angle.  I favour a model to be pictured in a setting so that she becomes part of a scene as a whole and not just standing in front of something.  In many of my scenes Siân is interacting with various props to create striking poses that look in keeping with her surroundings.  I went for a teasing look to the railway set to suit the idea of a young girl taking on the traditionally male dominated roles of the industry, and with Siân’s impish facial expressions and natural coquettishness this came across beautifully.

Overall I found the entire experience a fantastic challenge, extremely creative and great fun to undertake.  It has taken my photography to a new level that I would like to develop further.  Both Siân and I have many ideas for great shoots in the future; indeed I was so impressed that I immediately rebooked her for a second shoot the following week.   Perhaps our initial brief encounter could become from here to eternity!

These sample photos clearly demonstrate Sian's enthusiasm and versatility as a model.  A good selection from her extensive portfolio may be seen here.

Update: The full set of photos from this shoot may now be seen in my Modelling Portfolio.