My obsession with photographing steam trains has survived successfully into 2025. I am still enjoying it immensely, to the point that I went out on New Year’s Day – a day that was cold, and wet, and under an official Met Office yellow warning for wind – to attend the Bluebell Railway’s New Year gala. Part of that persistence was the fact that the railway enters its winter shutdown after this event so it would be my last chance until mid-February to venture trackside.
The weather being the state it was, I didn’t do my usual thing of getting down there in time for the first train of the day – although this was also partly because the first train was just No. 65 pulling a brake van, and partly because after that train there would be a 50-minute wait until the next train, 72 Fenchurch pulling the observation car, which wouldn’t be particularly photogenic as Fenchurch would be running backwards on that trip. So instead, I arrived in time for the first true passenger train of the day, which would be hauled by 34059 Sir Archibald Sinclair.
As is typical for me, I popped into the signal box to make sure there were no non-timetabled movements about to take place, then headed out onto the rails. It’s also pretty typical for me to photograph the locomotive on steam whilst its at platform, usually from past the public access threshold where I can get better angles.
I didn’t have much of a solid plan for the day, not least because the weather was a but unpredictable. All I had was a starting plan, which was to head to one of my lucky spots about half a mile up from Sheffield Park, and break out my telephoto.
The good thing about the weather – other than it was blowing the smoke and steam about in unconventional ways compared to my previous trips – was that Sir Archie had its lights on, making things look a little bit more interesting.
I’m learning that I can probably rely on Sir Archie for some beautiful puffs of smoke.
Since the last time I used this spot a lot of the undergrowth had been cut back, probably for the Christmas lights by the trackside. Unfortunately that, combined with the usual winter dieback meant that a big green box, which I don’t remember seeing before, was a bit more noticeable in my wider shots.
And just like that Sir Archie was puffing off into the distance.
Next up would be 73082 Camelot. I decided to hold my ground and shoot from the same spot, as it had worked so well previously. Turns out Camelot is a less smoky engine.
For reasons I should probably try to understand I got better results when switching to landscape as the trains went past than I did when trying for the same shots back during Giants of Steam.
The crew of Camelot seemed pretty content with themselves.
Considering it’s something that hadn’t even occurred to me until Giants of Steam, I’m loving shooting trains using my telephoto. It’s getting just the sort of results I like.
That said I do like to mix things up, so for the next train – which would be No 65 pulling the railway’s Goods Demonstration Set, an assortment of old wagons and other goods coaches – I decided to trek a little further down the track and use a wider angle.
I have only used this spot once before, at the tail end of Giants of Steam, and on that occasion I set myself up closer the the curve of the track, working on the theory that I wanted less of the bald bit in the foreground. Since then I’d seen other photos taken from the same spot so I realised it was better to move further back, so this time I did.
I haven’t actually photographed No 65 since my first trip lineside back in April, so it was nice to see it again.
For the next train, which would be Sir Archibald Sinclair pulling its second service of the day, I decided to stay in the same spot, but switch out to my 16mm lens for a wider angle.
I am learning some of the limitations of the AutoISO setting. Most of the time it’s the way to go, as it’s one less thing to think about – and it’s definitely saved me more often than it has let me down. But it’s clearly working on the general rule of photography that to avoid camera shake the shutter speed should be 1 over the focal length (1/focal length), which is fine a lot of the time, but not when you’re shooting something moving quickly at a focal length of anything less than, say, 100mm or so. I knew this shooting with a 16mm lens, and intended to make use of the override to counteract this, but apparently my camera stopped listening to me as I was shooting, which is why there is some motion blur on the front of the train.
Shooting with a 16mm prime also means there’s less useful shots of each train, because you’re just sitting waiting for the train to move into your frame, rather than being able to zoom out as it approaches. That might be part of the reason why a wide angle zoom lens has snuck onto my kit wish list.
It was around this point that the weather took a bit of a turn for the worse. With there being almost an hour until the next train was due to come through, I decided it was time to get out of the cold and damp, so I started walking back to the station.
When I got within sight of the station I realised that Camelot, which had returned earlier, still needed to run around its coaches for its next service. This meant that, although I’d have really preferred to continue heading back, I was stuck waiting for Camelot to finish its light engine movements before I could safely cross the bridge to get back. To be fair I wasn’t too upset at a last photo opportunity, but it was in that annoying sort of drizzle where you don’t feel wet in the moment, but are getting more soaked than you realise – which isn’t ideal for camera equipment, even if the lens is supposedly weather-sealed.
On the bright side, the atmospheric conditions made for some moody shots of Camelot.
Once Camelot had backed up onto its coaches it was safe for me to cross the bridge, and go back home to warm up and dry off.
Despite the weather it was a worthwhile trip, not least because the handful of images I sent into the railway ended up on both the front and back pages of their monthly e-newsletter – and being on the front page it then got used over their social media to advertise the issue.
As has become tradition, below is a fuller set of images from the day.
