All aboard for an early start!

Well, maybe not, but driving from Chorley to Bury at rush hour always takes a little longer than I think it will, especially when going the scenic route to avoid the dick-dance that is the M61/M60 in the morning. The reason for my brisk cross-country drive was Richard Newtons latest charter on the East Lancs Railway, for which we were requested to meet at 8 at Burrs. However, the East Lancs is not known for its punctuality, and bang on 0830, the Super D came charging up the valley at the head of an unusually long freight train.

Not sure why, but the engine appears to be leaning forwards, like the old 1900’s photos, making it look like it’s going really fast.

The beauty of charters is that unlike regular timetabled services, the train can be in just the right time and place for the best light. Actually, change that to right light, rather than best light, as this was Lancashire in November, where any kind of light is at a premium. So this being Burrs, we decamped to the east side of the north facing line to try to get some nice morning light on the train. Alas, the sun never quite broke through the morning gloom.

Still, the multiple runpasts did give me the chance to play around with locations at Burrs, a location I don’t tend to frequent that much, probably because everyone else does and I’m a contrary sod. Learning from my mistake at the recent night shoot, I took three zoom lenses which covered me from 16mm through to 300mm.

For this first one, I wanted to make a feature of the trees, but in retrospect, I could have done with some steps, as I’m probably a little bit too low to have got enough of the engine in.

Another try, but with a bit of a crop on it. Inspired by the title of the Colin Gifford book ‘each a glimpse’, the train is but a small part of the overall picture, but I’m not sure if there is sufficient interest elsewhere in the scene for this to have worked.

A more conventional scene from a popular location on the hillside. Works quite well.

Lineside but with a 70-300. Quite like this one.

From about the same place but with a 16-35mm lens on and cropped square. Originally portrait orientation, I found there was just too much foreground.