Five Crazy Railway Photography Ideas You Won't Believe Actually Work

It's like having a magic wand. Guaranteeing a sunny shot even when it's cloudy...

...And would you like some sunshine in that picture? Details in the body text, further down the post.

The images in this post may look deceptively normal. But their creation path was anything but. Whether the surprise was in how they were taken, or what happened after they were taken, these images are proof that railway photography is not always quite as simple as pointing an SLR at a train and hitting the shutter release.

In the rundown you'll find impromptu optical jiggery-pokery, Stonehenge-era detective work, some extremely un-digital restoration, and an almost godlike plan to change the course of the weather! So let's not delay any further. It's time to ascend into the unseen world of unconventional rail photographers' tactics...

The Central Trains / London Midland / West Midlands Class 153 Diesels

The class hit the headline news in November 1999, when two separate Central Trains units' engines fell off, in separate incidents, in less than a week.

In the summer of 2000, Central Trains 153383 lends its extra seating to the operator's green liveried 158844.

After witnessing a collection of former Central Trains Class 153s tootling off to Long Marston in a final shift away from the West Midlands, I thought now would be a good time to pictorially review their years in the area. Whilst I'm founding the article on the Central Trains period, I'm carrying the progression through into the London Midland and West Midlands Railway eras, taking a look at where each vehicle ended up after Central Trains dissolved, etc.

The 153s were never without some controversy in the Central region. The class hit the headline news in November 1999, when two separate Central Trains units' engines fell off, in separate incidents, in less than a week. 153356 and 153334 lost their engines on the 11th and 16th of the month respectively, both whilst working very early morning services. But there was another reason why Central Trains' 153s took a more persistent verbal beating, as we'll see...

The Almost Accurate History of Railway Gen

"I will give you three bona fide Travellers Fare sandwiches, all made within the past twenty-eight days and still recognisably triangular in shape..."

What goes up, must come down. 31419 and 31413 provide unusual power for the 16:28 Sundays only Paddington - Hereford, on 24th May 1981.

Gen. Advance information relating, in the context of this article, to specific railway vehicles on specific train services. In particular, anything unexpected.

Even though we now live in an age of information overload, it's still not a given that we'll be able to find out what's going where until it's been and gone. But railway gen is a lot more accessible in 2021 than it was in 1981, and sweeping changes to the way the railway operates have meant that most of the chaseables now run outside of the working timetable.

Back in the Day: Dudley Port Junction

Dudley Port Junction offered the area's largest volume of loco-hauled passenger trains, coupled with total freedom to roam and relax.

For the rail enthusiast of the millennium period, it had everything. A relaxed, canalside setting, a range of photo vantage points within walking distance, and in the thick of the day an average of six or so loco-hauled trains per hour. Diesel and electric. Passenger and freight. Located on the Stour Valley line between Dudley Port station and the site of the former Albion station, it was (and still is - although things have changed in the past two decades) Dudley Port Junction.

Dudley Port Junction is so-called not because of any railway divergence, but because it sits on the junction of Thomas Telford's BCN Main Line Birmingham to Wolverhampton Canal, and the canal's Netherton Branch, leading across via Netherton Tunnel to the Dudley Canal.

The Old Normal: Classic British Rail Traction in Procession

In 1999, Dudley Port saw the passage of over a hundred scheduled, loco-powered runs per weekday.

Loco-haulage. A relentless stream at Dudley Port canal junction in 1999.

We're now deep in the era of “bespoke trainspotting”. We usually know what's coming before we leave home, and we can monitor the journey(s) of the train(s) so that we don't have to wait around long at the location. For some, “bespoke trainspotting” has been the norm since the Blackberry era of the early to mid 2000s. For others, decades earlier. I can remember advance summer Saturday gen being shouted out from a soapbox on Sheffield station in 1981 - to a large and very captive audience, and a round of applause.

So gen, and the bespoke activity it encourages, predated the Internet by a long time. But until the early to mid 2000s, we didn't actually need to know precisely what was happening in order to head off for an enjoyable spell at the lineside. Before that, the general UK rail traffic - the normal - carried inherent interest.

Tamping Machines: The Trains We Love to Ignore

Post 1978, after a flurry of 07-16 incomings and the arrival of a new batch of thirty-seven 07-32s, Plasser's 07 series tampers rapidly became a very familiar sight across the British Rail network.

Three classic British Rail era Plasser & Theurer machines in a lineup at Wolverhampton (WolverTampton?) on 11th January 2001. At the front, 07-16 No. 73241. More details on this lineup later in the post.

How would rail enthusiasts treat a train that they couldn't travel on, couldn't underline in their spotting books, and whose fleet number they struggled even to find? Well, as is evidenced in the amazingly scant coverage of tamping machines on the World Wide Web, the vast bulk of railfans would comprehensively ignore it.