Chris Taylor Photo Blog

I got to lounge about in the sun once again for the North Norfolk Railway Driver Experience day, capturing the day on film (actually that should be ‘capturing the day on memory card’ but it just doesn’t have the same ring about it).

Below are a few of my favourite shots of the day, the link to the full gallery is at the bottom of this post…

The shot below is the Driver’s Eye View while on the footplate of the J15 (yep, I’m even starting to learn the names of the trains and I can now recognise the shrill whistle of the J15 while sitting in my garden. I haven’t quite got a notebook and anorak for recording the train numbers but maybe this time next year…)

The shot below might look like just a shot of the 18th tee at Sheringham golf course but look more closely and you can see the shadow of the train and the steam billowing out too.

This is Alan, an encyclopedia of information about the trains and some quite rude poems about guards too! Alan was driving the trains around Norfolk when the steam train was the primary source of public transport for the region, a real old Norfolk booty!

Some well-used oil cans, great texture and shape.

The Oilseed Rape is in full flower at the moment, a great contrast with the deep blue skies.

..and finally, the below shot is the expression you get if you shout ‘Roger!’ just as he’s off to do some track maintenance with his tiny spanner.

For the full gallery of these images click here.

I spent the day yesterday at the North Norfolk Railway once more photographing the chaps that had come along for the driver experience day. It was another grey day but at least there wasn’t snow this time!
Below are a collection of some of my favourite shots and below the last shot is a link to the full gallery of shots, the shots can be viewed individually or using the ‘View Slideshow’ button - I recommend the slideshow.

Please feel free to leave me some comments on the blog (link at bottom of post).

Under the engine, I had to be careful not to get the camera wet here as the ash pans were being flushed (I think that’s what was happening but I’m probably going to get all the terminology wrong here!).

Alan, a Guard on the railway and the Driver Experience Day guide looks on as the rest of us climb down into a pit under the engine.

I like the motion captured in this shot - the technique I’ve used here is known as ‘dragging the shutter’, the shot was taken with a slow shutter speed to capture the blurring of the wheels but also using flash which has frozen part of the picture so it’s not a complete blur.

Jeffrey on the footplate holding onto ‘the big red go-faster bar’ (I have no idea what it’s proper name is, must pay more attention to what the driver is saying next time).

Fireman Ray, lit by the light coming from the ‘firey bit what heats everything up’, it’s probably just called ‘the fire’ but I’m not going to pretend I actually know, I do know that it’s incredibly hot and at some points it was actually burning so fiercely that it was too bright to look at directly.

The driver sorts out the coal while the water tank is filled.

To view the full gallery of images click here.