Old Railway Transparency Scans

[Bill EWS]

Here are a good number of photos, mostly taken between the 70's & 80's. Most were never accepted due to poor exposure or errors in processing. I home processed my own transparencie and cine films and these were early days when erros easily crept in. However most of these photos have recently been make more acceptable, either with a good clean-up and/or converted to black & white in my graphic programme, where the colours just wouldn't come out right. I have forgotten where few were taken and would appreciate anyone letting me know. I hope some will be of interest due to the passing years.

http://billreid678.fotopic.net/c1868722.html

 

[jimrbrobinson]

Thank you for sharing those, Bill. Some great and fascinating images in there. 8) The 'unknown viaduct' one looks vaguely familiar, but I can't place it. Maybe it'll come to me at some point!

 

[CarterUSM]

I'll echo that Bill, i do enjoy old photographs very much, the ventnor tunnel looks amazing, is that still in situ? @ Jim, do you think the viaduct is in the North of England?

 

[CallySleeperKid]

Lovely collection of photoe, especially the Scotland ones.

 

[stuartmoss]

Love them, especially the Penistone photos, happy memories of a bygone era. Don't suppose you have any of Worsborough Bank, the line through Wombwell to Mexborough, or Cudworth / Darfield from the 70s / 80s?

 

[jimrbrobinson]

I'll echo that Bill, i do enjoy old photographs very much, the ventnor tunnel looks amazing, is that still in situ? @ Jim, do you think the viaduct is in the North of England?

My initial thought when I first saw it was Darcy Lever Viaduct, on the old disused Bolton to Bury line but quickly realised it wasn't that (though similar - will try to get down and take a photo of that one for comparison!). I was thinking Northern England, and not too far away though still - but I still can't place it.

Hopefully someone will identify it before I strain something trying to track down why it looks so familiar (unless I'm just confusing its similarity to Darcy Lever). I'll go and complete my 'senior moment' now.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Brainwave!!!! Just gone on Google Streetview and checked and its definitely NOT Darcy Lever Viaduct!!!! Looking now, it's nothing like!!!! I really, really want to know where it is now!!!!

 

[JohnB57]

Hi Guys

I'm pretty certain that the unknown viaduct is on the Chinley south curve over the A624 Hayfield Road between Chapel en le Frith and Hayfield. The road off to the right, with the 40 mph speed limit signs, is Bowden Lane.

One of those that is instantly familiar but takes a bit of brain racking to work out.

Great pics on here Bill. Wish I'd kept all my old trannies...

John

 

[jimrbrobinson]

Well done and thank you John!!! I knew it was familiar, but you got there ahead of me. Then again, it's been a number of years since I was last down that way.

 

[The Engineer]

I had come to the same conclusion! Note the train on the furthest viaduct, it's a Tunstead area to Northwich area (ICI) Limestone train in the old bogie hoppers used until the 1980's....

 

[JohnB57]

We had a ride out there yesterday - the village is Chapel Milton - and took a shot from the exact spot (plus or minus an inch or so) and you can barely see the viaduct now. Partly due to the trees at this time of year but mainly due to the foliage which thrives in these comparatively pollution free times. I don't know how to post images without an external host like Flickr but I did a quick "then and now" montage if anyone's interested and can advise.

John

 

[jimrbrobinson]

I cheated and took a look on Google Streetview! Not quite the same angle, but close enough to determine that it's near enough the same view. Strangely, the map view doesn't show the existence of the line or the viaduct, though it shows the further one. I'd love to see your then and now montage, but I have no idea how to post images either!

 

[Bill EWS]

Thanks for all your helpful comments guys. I wasn't too surprised that someone would eventually pin down the area of the viaduct but it was a nice surprise to find it on Google Street Views as it is today. I couldn't quite get the same spot but this crop from Google Street Views proves it spot on without doubt.

I can remember going up through Chapel En le Frith way back then. However it was the limit as to how far I could go for a day out from home and be back by a reasonable time that I didn't spend very long in the area.

Another photo where some memory is starting to creep back in is one of the two station site photos marked 'Unknown'. I am starting to feel that it may be at Cupar Angus. I remember going through the town and stopped by the station site. The line terminated there, with just a daily goods from the Perth direction. I remember too that it was very dull when I arrived there and this photo seems to be just right. However, I have only been in Cupar Angus that once and can't quite picture the buildings and surroundings.

Here is the link to the photo. Perhaps someone will know Cupar Angus well enough to confirm this one way or another.

http://billreid678.fotopic.net/p65774916.html

You need to have a Photo store web site so that you can enter your photos and have a link, which you enter in the text editor for others to see your photos. I use Photobucket as my main photo store but I also have an account (free) with TinyPic, which I use for miscillanious photos that I want to add to Forums such as this. You can find TinyPic at: http://tinypic.com. Just open an account and start uploading your photo.

You can make folders/albums to direct grouped photos into. To enter a photo into the Text Editor you need to copy the

link to show a photo directly on the Forum page. For Web sites you need to copy the H t t p:///Photoname.jpg[/url] link. You will see these when you open up your photos in TinyPic. I have had to space the h t t p to stop it becomeing a useless hyperlink.

You photos need to be reduced to 72dpi (resolution) for web site use. The photos in my photobucket and TinyPic storage sites are usually 9 inches wide by 72dpi for oblong images and 6 inches by 72dpi for vertical images. 72dpi is the standard size for the internet but with faster internet connections and larger storgage sites, for best quality, I make them 80dpi. You will use up more storage per image and will have to decide if this is worthwhile.

 

[JohnB57]

Thanks for the advice Bill - I'll sort it out.

Think you're right about Coupar Angus. I found this website - http://www.railbrit.co.uk/location.php?loc=Coupar Angus - and image 17111 looks fairly conclusive when compared with your own - the bridge and waiting room are identical. The Railbrit one says it was taken in 1982 and yours looks more recent. A bit too far to nip out and do a "then and now" on this one however!

Fascinating stuff.

John

 

[Bill EWS]

Thanks again guys for the great search work. Below is the photo that I meant to link. It shows the north end of the station with the level crossing and the church spire.

Cupar Angus Station. Looking North. April 1981.

I tried to find the same spot on Google Street Views. It was a little difficult as the area appears to have been completely built over by a housing estate. However, now knowing this was indeed Cupar Angus I went to Street Views and did a search using the church spire as a guide and the side road, which is now called Brodie's Yard, where the level crossing was. I am pretty certain that the view above is very much at the same spot, or as close as you are likely to get on Street View.

It looks as if the powers that be have been determined not to allow any possibility of the railway being returned to Cupar Angus, ever again!!

 

[JohnB57]

Bill

For interest, my photo taken yesterday alonside yours. Mine's not really a great shot for a rail forum considering how much of the viaduct is now hidden, but possibly fascinating to those like me who love seeing how things have changed - and stayed the same. The repair on the garage/shed roof by the phone box is still recognisable after 30 odd years!

Strange place for photography as the perspective is weird. Everything looks to be leaning.

Thanks for the advice - Tinypic now just goes to Photobucket by the way and it's very simple to use as you said.

John

 

[Bill EWS]

JohnB57: Thanks for your update on the viaduct scene. The problem with Google Street Views that they can be quite old. Your new image proves, as with most of the UK, how everything has been left to get heavily overgrown, compared to how it used to be.

The age of Google street scenes isn't always bad as I have used it many times in my web site pages to show a particular scene as it was. The present day scene usually obliterates the sne or buildings as tye were at the time I was describing. It is well worth taking a screen grab of any view you are interested in as Google do update areas every now and again and you will lose the older view.

My thanks once again to everyone who has helped in pinning down these scenes. I hope that we will see many more members sending up photos once they have TinyPic up and running.