LarryG's general album

[oldravendale]

I was hoping my shots on the Llangollen Railway might inspire some members to visit the line after lock-down even though I was aware the line was in very serious difficulties.

But that's it....No steam or sights like this winter and summer and a halt to the slow dash for Corwen, a town that is about as lively as Blaenau Ffestiniog on a wet Sunday. Will the line be purchased? Who knows? It was a long suicide.
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Hi Larry.

I knew nothing of this and am much saddened. I've travelled on the line a couple of times and it's a delight. If it actually fails it'll be a big loss to preservation and a bigger loss to Llangollen itself. It'll perhaps be a salutary lesson to those volunteers who complain about their particular project not being financed, although in no way am I suggesting that this is the cause of the problems.

As with any business financial stringency is essential and the larger preserved railways are big concerns financially with turnover of several millions of pounds.

I sincerely hope there is a way out of this.

Brian

 

[cbrailways]

I don't think it will fail. Like a number of other Heritage Railways the management is divided into a PLC and a TRUST. in this case its the PLC that has gone into receivership. Generally the TRUST owns the infrastructure and rolling stock (some of the latter may be owned by other groups), so there is hope that the railway will continue to operate under a new PLC.

 

[LarryG]

Not all the losses are revenue losses, but for anyone interested, I am sure the full story will be found on Google and in forthcoming railway magazines. I can live off my memories until tings are sorted. 25th March 2017...

 

[Martin Shaw]

Just doing a bit of catching up, there are some stunning pictures here Larry which certainly reminded me of earlier day, thank you. The Llangollen situation is pretty sad and of course the overhaul of Morayshire is one of the casualties here, which is going to suffer further delay as a result. I understand the trackbed at least is leased from the county council so that can't be disposed of piece meal, I hope and expect when the dust has settled a way forward will appear.
Martin

 

[simond]

I do hope the council are prevented from selling trackbed for housing. Seems to be the fashion at present.

 

[oldravendale]

I'll put my optimistic knickers on and hope that the situation can be sorted out.

Brian

 

[LarryG]

A view from above Bangor Tunnel showing an unidentified Class 37 departing the station with a Holyhead-Crewe working on 23rd September 1993. My future wife and I enjoyed a drink in that pub across the road in 1960 while waiting for our train. No doubt the locals were used to the smell of ale, tobacco and steam engines wafting in through the open sash window. Luvely!...


Locomotives from both ends of the country at Bangor. Class 47 No.47701 Saint Andrew was running in from Crewe and back on the 14.17 for Cardiff on 19th March 1986. The train engine was Class 33 No. 33035. I also took this in colour for the press. Scotrail livery looked terrific when new...


In what seemed like a much earlier era, Class 24 No. 24035 reverses its train into the middle road at Bangor following a bout of shunting in the yard. This move was to allow a DMU to leave for Holyhead. 24035 then followed, it's next port of call being the yard at Valley. 20th January 1978...

 

[LarryG]

Random thoughts on equipment:

The saying was; 'All things being equal, a big negative beats a small one every time'. It's the equal bit that counts. Nikon's Nikkor lenses for 35mm cameras were amongst the best optics around. When I moved up to a bigger negative and a Mamiya camera, I was depending on the larger negative, but ignoring the poorer Mamiya optics.

Nikkor lenses gave their optimum sharpness over a much wider range of apertures, say from f4 to f9.3, which is why the prime lenses were and still are expensive. Also, there was less depth of focus on a medium-format. I took to panning fast moving trains so I could use slower shutter speeds and smaller apertures to increase depth of field.

Looking back, the best camera I ever used was a Nikon FM with a 50mm/f1.4 lens and 100mm/f2.8 lens. Even on 400ASA Tri-X, the sharpness shone through so long as I carefully developed and produced thin negs. Yet I particularly liked using the Mamiya 645 waist-level viewfinder.

Until I started this thread, I had not looked at my photos for years. In fact, my trannies are the hidden hoard.

Nikon FM. 50mm Nikkor. Tri-X

 

[Focalplane]

Larry

It’s always interesting to learn of others’ experiences with camera makes and their lens quality. A good friend from my Houston days is Ellis Vener, professional photographer now living in Atlanta and contributor to several photography magazines.

We met at a local processing shop, AZ Photo, and became good friends. We were both Nikon men and started to compare lenses. Then one day Ellis announced he was selling up and moving over to Canon. To put it mildly I was surprised as my own Nikon experience had always been satisfactory. Not long after, though, he changed his mind and switched back. It was the lenses that did it.

My first Nikon was a Nikkormat, followed by an FM. Then I bought an F2 in 1975 and I still have it, complete with its ever ready case! That camera body and standard 50mm f2 lens was dunked in a stream in Sulawesi and survived, smashed against a rock outcrop in Tunisia 17 years later and survived and never let me down in remote places. It will still take excellent images, given a battery for the light meter and a cassette of film.

I then “moved up” to an F5. A good camera body, it was too advanced for my rough and tumble life and had to be molly coddled. The F5 was sold and I went digital with a D200. And with it all my creativity seemed to disappear.

I still have the D200 and a suite of quality Nikkors but hardly ever think of using them. Yes, the iPhone 11 Pro has taken over and my photographic expertise has festered.

Which is why I am enjoying your photo stream so much!

Keep ‘em coming, Paul

 

[LarryG]

Thanks Paul. Photos were taken at many location along the C&H route, but some places were simply no longer photogenic and will not appear in this thread. I did a lot of 'gardening' beside the line in my time in order to keep location open for photography and sometimes the local S&T gang laying troughing helped if I asked for a bit more land clearance! Goodness knows what my old haunts look like today though.

 

[LarryG]

On a cold and misty day, Class 47 No.47519 in well-worn Large logo livery curves off the bridge over the Menai Strait with the 13.18 Holyhead-Euston on 15th March 1991. This bridge suffered a disastrous fire on 23rd May 1970, and the opportunity was taken to put a road above the railway during the extensive rebuilding...


Class 47 No. 47096 Rook hauling the very last 4D53 12.37 Crewe-Holyhead container train across the Britannia Bridge over the Menai Strait on 13th March 1991. The Freightliner trafiic began in 1968 and ended on 15th March when 47096 hauled the last train out of the Holyhead terminal.....


37425 Concrete Bob passing the neat little crossing box at Llanfair PG with a Crewe-bound train in the summer of 1993. The box is an original Chester & Holyhead structure...


Class 37 No. 37408 Loch Rannock was a celebrity on the North Wales line in its Large Logo livery, pictured here passing Star Crossing with the 12.00 Holyhead to Llandudno Junction on 11th November 1993.

 

[Deano747]

Hi Larry

I've done a bit of amateur photography during the years, but have never managed to achieve the depth of field you have, particularly in the last post.
i'm really enjoying your look back to the past and you photography skills even with the older technology. Keep 'em coming!!

Regards, Rob.

 

[Overseer]

Class 37 No. 37408 Loch Rannock was a celebrity on the North Wales line in its Large Logo livery, pictured here passing Star Crossing with the 12.00 Holyhead to Llandudno Junction on 11th November 1993.
View attachment 139517

Larry, you will be upsetting the Scots. Bad enough having pinched one of their locos, misspelling Loch Rannoch could be a step too far.

Another vote for more photos.

 

[LarryG]

Moving on down the line, we reach Gaerwen, now a closed station. Under a threatening sky, 37422, Robert F Fairlie was passing with the 13.30 Holyhead-Manchester on 16th October 1993...


Gaerwen is the junction for the branch to Amlwch, which was kept open after passenger traffic ceased in December 1964 to serve Associated Octel. Class 37's No. 37261 Caithness and 37218 were returning from Amlwch with 'The Mabinogion' (Hertfordshire Railtours) on16th October 1993. The train was tailed by 47513 Severn. 29 years previously, we had pulled into the back platform here on the steam push-pull from Amlwch....


Class 47 No. 47513 Severn is seen picking it way along the freight-only branch between Gaerwen and Holland arms en route to Amlwch. The sun was in and out all that afternoon and we linesiders were constantly adjusting our camera settings...


Another day, another railtour. Class 20's No. 20066 and 20138 (failed) with 37422 Robert F Fairlie pushing, were passing Llangefni with Pathfinder Tours 'Anglesey Odyssey 2' on 9th October 1993. This tour had originated at York...


Back on 'The Mabinogion', the railtour was pictured forther down the branch at Rhosgoch with not far to go to Amlwch. 16th October 1993. It seems over-endowed with motive power for six coaches...

All photos on a Pentax 6X7 : 105mm lens: Tri-X film

Associated Octel Company at Amlwch on 3rd September 1986. I was invited along and covered the story for one of the magazines. 31 296 after the ceremony with plates for Tre Nwyddau Amlwch on one side and Amlwch Freighter on the other...

 

[LarryG]

Back on the main C&H and we're approaching Bodorgan. The Isle of Anglesey looks very flat on the whole, but it does have a few rises in places. The railway here crosses a large expanse of flatland and crosses a steam and a river before hitting a rise. Class 37 No. 37407 Loch Long was crossing Troderavon viaduct with the 11.33 Crewe-Holyhead on 11th November 1993...


The land was beginning to rise sharply at this paint giving a panoramic view of the flat land with the viaduct in the background. Class 37 No. 37429 Eisteddfod Genedlaethal was humming along with the 10.15 Blackpool-Holyhead on 5th August 1995...


The sharp rise was a ripple before the next hillock that caused the boring of Bodorgan Tunnel. Class 37 No. 37425 Sir Robert McAlpine/ Concrete Bob was climbing steadily away from Bodorgan with the 13.30 Holyhead-Manchester Victoria on 18th September 1993...


Diesel locomotives outshopped from Crewe were regularly tested on the North Wales line ether on service trains or with a special rake of coaches. The stock on this train consisted of a Waterman Railway support coach in LNWR livery plus Res ex.post office vans. BR/Sulzer-Brush Type 4/ Class 46 No. D172 Ixion cuts through the driving rain at Bororgan Station on 18th August 1994. Class 47 No. 47834 Fire Fly was harnessed inside....


Was there ever a better looking diesel loco than the 'Peak'. If only that had sounded like Class 40's, they would have been perfect!

 

[Focalplane]

Peaks were indeed one of the few diesel electric locos I enjoyed seeing. Most others were a big turn off. But a rake of coaches pulled by any sort of loco is better than a dmu/emu. I most recently enjoyed the Chiltern Mainline trains from Warwick Parkway to Marylebone. Well, that was before I retired! Now I don’t go near trains.

 

[Tim Humphreys ex Mudhen]

I remember speaking to a Western Region fitter a few years ago who said the the Westerns would have been great locos if they had been fitted with Sulzer engines and Crompton Parkinson electrical equipment.

Tim

 

[LarryG]

Next station along the line is Ty Croes. 37421 before being named The Kingsman, was speeding through at line speed hauling the 13.36 from Llandudno Junction on 17th September 1993. The integral signal box and booking office of 1872 is thought to have been built by the LNWR but accommodates Saxby & Farmer equipment...


Ty Croes has staggered platforms either side of a level crossing. The driver of Class 156 Sprinter No.156452 was looking for passenger I think as his unit crawled into the Down platform forming the 13.22 all-stations Llandudno-Holyhead on 17th September 1993. The remains of the crossover from the cattle siding to the down main line can be seen....


The C&H runs through sparsely populated areas of Anglesey and it shows. Class 37 No. 37425 Concrete Bob was climbing steadily up the 1 in 132 gradient past Rhosniegr on 14th September 1993....

 

[LarryG]

The sun was trying to break through as InterCity livered 37407 Loch Long sped past Rhosniegr Lake with the 14.20 Holyhead-Crewe on 11th November 1993. It later carried the name Blackpool Tower.


37402 was a new conscript to the RCMC Pool at Crewe for working north Wales services when it was photographed at Rhosniegr working the 14.30 Holyhead-Crewe on its very first trip on 7th October 1993. It had lost its 'Oor Wullie' nameplates only six days previously. The plates were transferred to 37275, but this loco too joined the north Wales 'fleet' eventually sporting an all over blue livery. 37402 was named Bont-Y-Bermo on 28th February 1994......


North of Rhosniegr station is marshland. 37425 was speeding over the flood bridge with the 13.36 from Llandudno Juncton on 7th September 1993...


Final photograph of the day with 37407 making a dash for Holyhead on 18th November 1993....

 

[LarryG]

I looked in at Abergele station while shopping one morning and watched this Class 24 trundling through with the morning goods. I forgot about shopping in the chase to photograph this train in all the goods yards en route to Holyhead! With three miles still to go, 24035 was leaving the yard at Valley on 20th January 1978. Some 11 years later the yard was converted into a triangle for turning steam locos.....


Finally, Holyhead. Class 37 no. 37408 Loch Rannoch was drawing empty stock out of the station before propelling it back to form the 14.30 to Crewe on 6th September 1993. The gradient here is 1 in 90. The level ground on the right was once the motive power depot, reduced in later years to a fueling depot for diesels...


On a bitterly cold 9th February 1991, Class 47 No. 47508 S.S.Great Britain was arrivng at Holyhead with the 09.45 from London Euston...


Class 47 No. 47444 University of Nottingham prepares to depart with the 14.25 to London euston on 27th December 1983. The 7.800 Tons St.Columbia was working the shipping service to Dun Laoghaire.....