Sun Chariot
Established Member
I can hear the burble of the idling Sulzer. Happy memories...
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lostwin - BR in the mid 80's
- Thread starter lostwin(m)
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lostwin(m)
Member
May 86. Detail of 20093 at the head of its ballast train.
Good spot sir! I'm viewing on my phone and didn't zoom in until you mentioned it! That is indeed a complete hot-potch of anything they could find lying around in Craigentinny! At least the front and back of the train match though!
I recognise that 20 and seacow/lion combo from earlier.....there was a bloke with a big reel of cable! Both shots are great!
lostwin(m)
Member
May '86. 45022 departs south in charge of a mail. An example how a crop - in this case removing the sky - can change the dynamic of the image.
lostwin(m)
Member
I did warn of potential bouts of deja vu!
Rover
Member
You certainly have an eye for a good photograph. loving the pictures please keep them coming, the 80s was my era too, takes me right back.
Have you had to deskew any so the verticals are vertical. What do you use to do that. I use the photo editor that came with Windows 10. But I am editing scans of old documents, not photos.
lostwin(m)
Member
The 'skewing' tool in Photoshop is part of the cropping tool. I'm not familiar with the Windows photo editor, but it might be the same
Sun Chariot
Established Member
Always a pleasure to see your thread updates appear on my RUK feed, @lostwin(m) 
In your opening post, you'd made mention of a Flickr thread. Do you maintain that as well? Does it contain 1980s railway images over 'n' above those you've treated us to, here?
In your opening post, you'd made mention of a Flickr thread. Do you maintain that as well? Does it contain 1980s railway images over 'n' above those you've treated us to, here?
lostwin(m)
Member
I started by uploading 30 or so images to Flickr before joining this Forum, nothing that hasn't been seen here though. Maybe I didn't optimise the way I listed them, but I found that whilst the views clicked up steadily, there was virtually no feedback so it was all a bit soulless. Contrast that with then joining this vibrant place, where the interest was immediate and not only with complementary feedback, but also a huge amount of contextual information around the images, some of which I had forgotten in the mists of time but much of it new to me. It has added so much to my own enjoyment and proven a strong motivation to put the time in to prepare images for posting.Always a pleasure to see your thread updates appear on my RUK feed, @lostwin(m)
In your opening post, you'd made mention of a Flickr thread. Do you maintain that as well? Does it contain 1980s railway images over 'n' above those you've treated us to, here?
Anyway, time for another rummage...
lostwin(m)
Member
Pushing the boundaries a little with a couple of these images of 27's out and about in Scotland
09/07/86. 27005 looks somewhat abandoned, Dundee West.
09/07/86. 27005 looks somewhat abandoned, Dundee West.
lostwin(m)
Member
14/07/86. 27054 caught from a passing train heads a short PW at Inverness.
lostwin(m)
Member
18/10/86. Looking somewhat lost, 27056 attempts to find the right way back into Waverley.
Sun Chariot
Established Member
Interesting observation and it's my exact same stance about Flickr.
A fellow local (to me) rail photographer religiously uploads his images - current era, 1980s - to Flickr; other than "faved" hits, I see none of the wonderful banter and insight that we see on threads such as this one.
And - your latest uploads here, remind me just how closely I missed the class 27s in BR revenue service: My first Scottish Rail Rover, in August 1988 - they'd all gone.
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That really is from a bygone age.....that view has changed hugely since you shot this.....it takes me right back.
(Also, the greatest night club on the planet is just off to the left of the picture!)
I share both your views on Flickr BTW. No chat, acknowledgement or clarifications at all ....just the clicking up of views by silent dorks!
Feedback, clarifications and corrections are miles better on here! I need to get scanning again......!
Rover
Member
My favourite class is 27, lovely photos.
eastwestdivide
Established Member
Think the machines might be ballast cleaners.
lostwin(m)
Member
I didn't realise it was so soon afterwards that they disappeared. In '86 they were the primary motive power on the Edinburgh - Dundee's and could pop up on other passenger work if there was a shortage of motive power. Based on some other pictures I have seen recently, many of they seemed to end up in Leicester at Vic Berry's. I missed out not being active in my photography when 'the stack' was being created, it looked to be amazing - if somewhat surreal - sight.
lostwin(m)
Member
Way back on the first page or two of this thread, we had an image of 50008 rescuing a stricken HST at Plymouth. I mentioned that the Hoover was fresh out of a repaint at Laira. You can tell just how fresh on this close up of the nameplate, it still looks positively sticky!
Sun Chariot
Established Member
My teen self was producing the very same paint finish on my OO models. Trouble is, on OO scale it looked ruddy awful!
27s were common as muck for us, and the 1s and 2s were on the push pulls all day everyday. We used to specifically try to avoid them with the one loco hauled rake that ran in each direction every day.....the 7.40 to Glasgow and the 17.15 to Edinburgh. Ironically, it was sometimes a pair of 27/0s!
An Eastfield driver friend from Bishopbriggs said they were fantastic little engines, but the 1s and 2s were worked to death on the high intensity Glasgows....they were hammering their engines all day (with ETH as well), and it's no wonder they had a reputation for catching on fire.
I grew to enjoy them more as a basher, as they have fine thrash! And being lineside taking photos when a push pull went past opened right up to 90mph was also a great experience....just as the thrash of the front engine moved into the distance, the sound of the rear one got louder!
I now consider them cracking little engines, along with the 26s, and I wish I hadn't avoided them so much on the PPs back then.
lostwin(m)
Member
One area where digital image capture appears to hold a significant advantage over film is in low light photography, even camera phones can seemingly see in the dark these days. Film was more un-predictable as you started to push it beyond the limits, naturally, that didn't stop me trying.
23/12/86. It's 02.50 at Woking, 73116 "Selhurst' and 73133 double head the 22.38 Weymouth - Waterloo which presumably means they were running significantly behind schedule, which was lucky for me as I had managed to intercept them at Southampton. I have a vague recollection they were running on diesel as well.
23/12/86. It's 02.50 at Woking, 73116 "Selhurst' and 73133 double head the 22.38 Weymouth - Waterloo which presumably means they were running significantly behind schedule, which was lucky for me as I had managed to intercept them at Southampton. I have a vague recollection they were running on diesel as well.
lostwin(m)
Member
21/10/86. 47456 has charge of the 18.35 Glasgow service and will shortly get the train underway from Stranraer.
lostwin(m)
Member
01/11/86. 73002 at Dover Western Docks, it had worked in on the 03.30 from Victoria.
Gloster
Established Member
No: bang on time. Due Woking 02.46-02.55.
lostwin(m)
Member
09/08/87. Really pushing the limits of the film stock, 73001 stands outside London Bridge at another un-earthly hour.
eastwestdivide
Established Member
Is the ”glow” of the lights in those night shots down to a wide-open aperture and long exposure?
lostwin(m)
Member
Blimey, 4 hours to get from Weymouth to Woking! From my notes (where I had jotted down the time of the picture) I just assumed that they must have been running late.
lostwin(m)
Member
I have it noted at 1/2 second exposure for the last 73 shot and wide open aperture (f1.8), due to lack of tripod. The floodlights are so much brighter than the rest of the scene that they have just 'burnt' the film emulsion. This has had work in Photoshop too, particularly on the loco cab, to brighten the image.