Matt and Carolyne announced that they were going to do some railfanning of the main line north of Peterborough, and would I like to come along. So I decided to take the day off and try out my new digicam on trains for the first time. We went to Helpston where the four track main line is paralleled by the non electrified double track line to Stamford and the midlands. One of the first trains we saw was this GNER "White Rose" King's Cross-Leeds with a Eurostar set in GNER colours.
This Chinook caught our attention as it circled very low over some farm buildings before heading away. I had the camera on max zoom for the shots.
The ECML hereabouts is not easy to photograph, due to catenary masts and vegetation, which is much more prevalent than in the old days. I just squeezed this zoom shot of a class 91 hauled DVT between obstacles!
As I was shooting against the light and the sun was beginning to come out, I crossed to the west side of the tracks. This is Helpston Signal Box (obviously!). The two non-electrified midland line tracks are nearest then after a few yards gap the four track main line. First train photographed from this location was the Leeds-King's Cross "White Rose" with the Eurostar set still in the original (and best!) paint.
A class 91 propelled train, dvt leading. I had thought that it would be very quiet in the dvt cab compared to the locomotive, but a driver we know assures us that the air conditioning fans in the cab are louder than the electric locomotive! The propelling class 91 "Durham Cathedral"
Another example of the obstacles to photography. We have now moved north a little, to near Maxey. A Central Trains class 170 approaches the crossing. This Central Trains class 158 is caught amidst the clutter of a modern railway! [ 09. January 2004, 21:44: Message edited by: Alan ]
After another move north to West Deeping we had to stop at the barriers, so I excited the car in time to capture this EWS class 66 on a northbound container train. [ 09. January 2004, 21:46: Message edited by: Alan ]
North of Tallington at Greatford, this class 91 is captured through the barrier! And an HST over the barrier..
As most of these trains are travelling at, or close to 125 mph this was a good try out for my camera. Once I got used to the shutter lag it became a bit easier! I have definitely decided to take more days off this year to do some railfanning
Excellent photographs Alan, the infrastructure is very siilar to what is used here in Australia. I think I'd feel right at home working there lol. Glad you had an enjoyable day and had good weather.
Alan - Does the barrier swing or lift. Quite different from the protection used in the US. I believe I remember the crossing protection on the State Rail of NSW was similar to that used in the US. Paul can correct me.
Gil, there are four barriers, two on each side. The siren sounds and the lights flash, then the barrier on the entry side of the crossing (left side for us) lowers, then after a pause to allow any traffic already on the crossing to clear, the exit ones lower and the siren stops but the lights continue to flash. Here is a general view of the lowered barriers at Helpston.
Thanks Alan. The barrier must be quite a lot heavier than the standard fiberglass gate arms in the US and would need a larger operating mechanism than used in the US. I doubt it would be a one man job to replace one that had been damaged.
I don't think the barriers are very heavy Gil, although they do have a counterweight on the other end. I think they are made of aluminium, including the drop screen strips (where fitted), this screen just hangs down by gravity so closes up when the barrier is lifted. I have a crossing a few yards from my house, so I will go take some pictures of them in the raised position. (Would have to wait a long time for them to lower anyway, as we only have two trains per hour, and none on sundays!)
Thanks Alan. When we get a day with no rain and a little sun I will get some photos of crossing gates around Redding.
Wow, a very productive day there Alan! Some great pics, I'm very impressed that it has coped with the high train speeds, mine won't (but then it doesn't need to in this part of the world! ) What camera is it BTW?
Thanks Martyn. In about three hours we saw about 25 trains, not bad! It was the first time I had used the camera for other than macro shots of my models! I forgot to take the camera manual with me and could not remember how to set it to take multiple exposures (found out afterwards that it has a button on top to do this!) The camera is a Fujifilm Finepix 5000. 3 megapixel, with all sorts of bells and whistles. I tried a few, and all worked fine. When I really get used to it I am sure it will do a fine job Edit: BTW it has an optical zoom up to the equivalent of 300mm on a 35mm, and digital zoom to about 500mm.
<font color="336633">Its good to see the pics came out ok wasn't a bad first outing that, we must try south of Peterborough next time. Oh and to get a new battery for my SLR so I can take some pics.</font>
The main line South of Peterborough would get you the same trains, minus the freight, plus WAGN units... If you are after a suggestion for somewhere with *lots* of freight, try and work-in a weekday at Barnetby I managed to get up there in October for 3 hours, my count was 18 freights plus a better-than-hourly stopping passenger service. It's still fully semaphore signalled, and has no catenary clutter! Do-able by train too if you felt like it. It's on my "to do" list for a return visit this year, I'd like to get to Ipswich as well to shoot some intermodals...
