Photography at railway stations

[Karenallan]

Hello I am new here. I am looking for advice I am a photography student at a local University in England. I would like to take images at railway stations and to be able to use them for possibly to enter into a student photography competition and also to use images for end of degree exhibition. Would this be classed as commercial usage or personal usage.

Any help most appreciated

 

[8A Rail]

Here are the Network Rail guidelines on photography at railway stations etc - https://www.networkrail.co.uk/commu...sts/guidelines-for-taking-photos-at-stations/

Personally, as long you are NOT intending to sell images for personal gain (i.e. commercial use) then you should be fine.

 

[thecrofter]

Hello I am new here. I am looking for advice I am a photography student at a local University in England. I would like to take images at railway stations and to be able to use them for possibly to enter into a student photography competition and also to use images for end of degree exhibition. Would this be classed as commercial usage or personal usage.

Any help most appreciated

An interesting question that I expect many people may not appreciate the significance of. The guidelines for Railway Enthusiasts posted by 8A Rail above are of course those for Network Rail's own 20 managed stations. It does mention that all its other stations are leased to the various Train Operating Companies that may well have their own guidelines and views (thinking of Blackpool North here) on station photography. I agree with Doug that your case would seem to fall into the category of personal use as no financial gain is envisaged.

Under those terms however, I wonder how many enthusiasts who submit photo's to the plethora of Railway Magazines, realise they could fall under the banner of commercial photography as quite a few publications pay a modest fee for such submissions. Also Rail Magazine in particular, regularly uses photographs from Stock Agency Alamy which the guidelines also consider to be commercial photography - there must be hundreds of photographers that have railway station photo's on Stock that technically haven't had formal permission for - me included. I'd also be interested whether those YouTubers who are monetising their work from railway vlogs realise the potential ramifications. I guess the issue is who is going to contest their definition of "commercial" for an individual in what are in essence just guidelines. Perhaps only a legal challenge would clarify? P.S. I've run a wordsearch of the Railway Byelaws and there's no mention of the word photography in them!

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Under those terms however, I wonder how many enthusiasts who submit photo's to the plethora of Railway Magazines, realise they could fall under the banner of commercial photography as quite a few publications pay a modest fee for such submissions. Also Rail Magazine in particular, regularly uses photographs from Stock Agency Alamy which the guidelines also consider to be commercial photography - there must be hundreds of photographers that have railway station photo's on Stock that technically haven't had formal permission for - me included. I'd also be interested whether those YouTubers who are monetising their work from railway vlogs realise the potential ramifications. I guess the issue is who is going to contest their definition of "commercial" for an individual in what are in essence just guidelines. Perhaps only a legal challenge would clarify? P.S. I've run a wordsearch of the Railway Byelaws and there's no mention of the word photography in them!

There is a general understanding that the railway won't go after people who simply submit pictures to the magazines - but I have no idea how official this is or if it's simply an application of common sense at management level.

They'd certainly go after people doing a full commercial selling operation without a prior agreement in place. However, this of course only applies if you're on railway property when you take the picture. If you're doing pictures from a public place such as a park that is located next to the railway, the only thing you'd have to watch out for would be if the council owning the park would consider it as trading from the park.

 

[lisamerlot]

Photography in public is allowed by anyone but would a railway station be classed as private property? We always ask attendance if its ok to take photos and they give us a free ticket to wonder about the station. As long as its not people or photos are used to make money I think its ok.

Lisa

 

[malc-c]

As someone who has a youtube channel which mainly features trains, often taken from platforms I've often wondered about that definition between personal and commercial use. My channel isn't monetised, but given their subscriber count, there are many that would be. As such I've wondered if they would be deemed commercial as a level of revenue would be generated through the number of views any video makes.