#503. The Didcot dash

By Paul Perton | Travel Photography

Aug 10

The last twenty four hours of our stay in the UK and something is nagging at me. Something I’ve forgotten, something important.

 

No, not to everyone. Just me.

 

My many trips to the UK in recent years have always left me time to indulge my passion for steam trains. This time, lots of other things have demanded my attention and with just hours to go before heading home, I realise I’ve been steam deprived and decide a quick morning dash for some super-saturated moisture is called for.

 

Didcot's shed

Didcot’s shed

 

Didcot lies about 100km west of London, a significant hub on Brunel’s original Great Western Railway, standing as it does at the confluence of the line to the west, to Somerset, Devon and Cornwall and to the north, the Midlands, especially Oxford, Worcester and Birmingham.

 

Nestled in the junction of these rail arteries is the Great Western Society’s Didcot Railway Centre, an engine shed that survived Beeching’s swingeing axe and a tiny stretch of demonstration track on which the Society-chosen locomotive(s) of the day chug sadly back and forth, for want of access to the real main line.

 

Just a whiff of the past

Just a whiff of the past

 

King Edward II on a demonstration run

 

Drysllwyn Castle

Drysllwyn Castle

 

In the engine shed, a selection of the Great Western Railway’s finest steam motive power waits, either between assignments, or more likely, waiting patiently for restoration to begin. Some have been in the queue for half a century already.

 

Most railway photographers want to recreate the ‘50s and ‘60s through their lenses; the filth, poor maintenance, overdue for maintenance motive power and the atmosphere that only coal smoke and fresh steam can deliver.

 

Me too, although like my peers, I’m only too well aware of the impossibility of the task. With as much as £1m invested in the restoration of a single locomotive, the owners and operators of these engines are hardly likely to permit them to look like they’ve not been cleaned and serviced for years.

 

No wonder Beeching had such an easy task selling his (now largely discredited) modernisation plan.

 

Between roads 1 and 2

Between roads 1 and 2

 

Sun dappled - they only ever looked this clean when they were new

Sun dappled – they only ever looked this clean when they were new

 

Coming off shed for Paddington to haul an express to Birmingham. I wish.

Coming off shed for Paddington to haul an express to Birmingham. I wish.

 

So, east London to Didcot, a couple of hours trying to recreate the past and back to London in time for a final dinner with the family, before an early start the next morning for Heathrow and many hours later, Cape Town.

 

All of these images were shot with the increasingly impressive (to me) Fuji X-Pro2 and most with the 35mm f1.4 in the X-Pro’s Acros (red filter) JPG mode. Little or no editing was done to the OOC JPGs.

 

A final note; several of these shots are of the GWR’s “King” class loco no. 6023. It’s had a chequered career since being sent for scrap in the early ’60s. From scrapyard to salvation, decades of patient waiting for restoration, which was then botched and a couple more years while the errors were resolved. Today King Edward II is sublime – one of the UK’s most powerful steam locomotives, magnificently restored and doubtless itching to hit the mainline at the head of one of the many enthusiasts’ special excursions hurtling daily to the north, south east and west of the country’s rail network.

 

King Edward II

King Edward II

 

Acuity and polish aside, this could be 1962

Acuity and polish aside, this could be 1962

 

Built 1911, still going strong

Built 1911, still going strong

 

Classes named after Kings, Castles, Manors, Granges and these, Halls

Classes named after Kings, Castles, Manors, Granges and these, Halls

 

Open cab - wonderful in winter when steaming tender first

Open cab – wonderful in winter when steaming tender first

 

Industrial architecture

Industrial architecture

 

Between roads 3 and 4, Didcot

Between roads 3 and 4, Didcot

 

Vacuum brake hoses, couplings, buffers and a Great Western tender

Vacuum brake hoses, couplings, buffers and a Great Western tender

 


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  • jean pierre (pete) guaron says:

    Fine shots of them, Paul.

    As a young man, I used to knock around with a friend of mine who now lives in England, and his passions were (first) trams and (secondly, when trams weren’t around) steam – took thousands of photos** of them, in his company, before he left this island and headed for fame & fortune in that other island, across La Manche from Calais. So I have a fair knowledge & understanding of the problems involved in shooting steam. **[Gave them all to him, when I moved from my previous house. He’s still a close friend, some 60 years on.]

    That was the attraction, for me – bizarre things like shooting a double-header with black locos, at 11:30 on a moonless night – climbing onto preposterous things like water towers to get a different perspective – racing to get ahead of an express, and slaloming through the level crossing to get ahead of those other pestiferous motorists that were getting in the way. Lord alone knows how we never managed to kill ourselves, at times.

    And the wait – because it was all film in those days, and I did my own processing & enlarging.

    What I learned about grain, then, is helping me now, with digital. Some people are way over-excited about pixels, but in one sense, we’ve ALWAYS had that issue, and used wisely, it can contribute to the overall result. With steam, it’s particularly important to get a handle on it, because of the sharp lines on the subject matter and the patches of the image where anything of the kind will show up much more than with shots of natural scenery. Shooting steam can be a hard master, but an excellent teacher.

  • pascaljappy says:

    Wonderful Paul, thanks. After the inspiring Scotland episodes, this feels like the gricing on the cake (ahem). Have a pleasant trip back.

  • Joakim says:

    Great set of photos Paul and a good choice to go for b&w here! I am not an entusiast myself but those machines looks really impressive and certainly something I would have enjoyed shooting myself.

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