Viewing points for photography and filming

[Chris October]

Hi all, hope you are having a lovely day.

I am trying to find some amazing spots where i can easily put up a camera/tripod and get some lovely shots of railway tracks and trains without having to go into any stations or private land.

Any ideas.

I am looking round the North East area, York etc.

Thanks

 

[ac6000cw]

I can't help directly with locations (as it's not my local area), but it might help people suggest places if you said what sort of pictures/video and locations you're interested in e.g.

Locations you can easily get to by train or ones you need a car to get to (or are a long walk/cycle ride from a station)?
'Trains in the landscape' more distant shots or more 'close up' shots (where the surrounding scenery isn't so important)?
Overhead shots from bridges or at ground level from the side?
Quiet locations for video recording (so not next to a busy road etc.)?
Some nice curves to give you more choice of shooting angles?
Passenger trains, freight or both?
Electric trains, diesel or both?
Lots of different train types?

 

[Chris October]

Hey.... i am thinking more distant shots, trains on the landscape... moving along.

 

[12LDA28C]

Plenty of overbridges just south of York with good views each way near Colton Junction, Church Fenton etc but remember the OHLE will obstruct your view somewhat. Doesn't stop a decent sized group of photographers gathering to record charter trains passing or anything else of interest though.

 

[ac6000cw]

Another way of 'scouting' for locations is to search photo/video sharing websites like Flickr & YouTube (and the 'images' part of Google search etc.) to get an idea of popular locations for railway photography in an area. Then if the location on or near a road, use Google Streetview to have a look around (I've done this often for foreign trips).

And of course there's tons of UK railway photos published in magazines and books to get location ideas from.

 

[Fleetmaster]

It's old school, but you can't beat an OS Map for identifying a few likely spots within walking distance of wherever you intend to park or alight. It shows you gradients, rights of way and fields/forests. And obviously it shows you North (so you know where the sun is.

Check out the local library or Waterstones too, I know of at least one book that gives a summary of heritage railways in Britain that includes a small OS map with photography locations already identified. Almost too easy.

 

[Flange Squeal]

The Trainspots website may prove useful. Some of the information is getting a bit dated so might require a bit of additional research (such as TOCs/classes of train, local bus routes/parking, etc), however it might give you some to start off with. The bottom of each listing usually has a few example shots.

Trainspots (Ver 2.60) Established 2003 - A guide to Railway Photographic Locations

Trainspots is the hub of a web network. We are here to help the railway photographer. The idea behind the site is to answer the question -

www.trainspots.co.uk

 

[occone]

It's old school, but you can't beat an OS Map for identifying a few likely spots

Absolutely agree with using an OS map, though I've found using both the online OS maps with Google Map satellite view helpful for identifying otherwise unmarked foot level crossings where you can usually get a good angle - from a safe distance in a way that won't scare or worry any drivers of course.