Train Photographs

[Toby Webster]

There are a number of steam train enthusiasts posting to the forum at the moment (amongst whom I count myself), and I was inspired to dig out my copy of a book which I found to be a great inspiration back in the 1970s when I was cutting my photographic teeth at college. 'All Trains to Stop' by Hans Steeneken documents the final days of steam across Europe and the UK in a series of marvellously atmospheric black and white photographs. Although it includes plenty of the classic 'three quarter approaching' shots that can border upon cliché (or at least repetitiveness) in anything less than the most capable hands, there are also lots of more challenging but dynamic movement blur takes, along with close-up, shed interior, nightime and human documentary photos, all of them imbued with a wonderfully redolent, gritty atmosphere. It can be picked up for pennies on Abebooks. I highly recommend it.

A sample of the plates, photographed not scanned, so reflective and not representative of the quality in the book.

 

[John2]

...................Although it includes plenty of the classic 'three quarter approaching' shots that can border upon cliché (or at least repetitiveness) .....................................................

Maybe it's just the best angle to capture the whole of the subject Toby which is perhaps why it is repeatedly used?

 

[Toby Webster]

I would think it's the only angle to capture the whole subject, certainly so if the engine is hauling a dozen carriages. Assuming, of course, that the subject is the whole train. Perhaps the point I (and Hans Steeneken) makes above is that it doesn't have to be.

 

[Glenn]

Very nice Toby. I still have a book on how to draw locos somewhere. Must dig it out.

 

[Flack]

Nice the images portray the Industrial Age of Steam power.

 

[John King]

They are some of the finest static railway pictures that I have seen for a very long time. Full of atmosphere and that gets the message over. I have seen first hand of locomotive preparation for a days running on one of todays heritage lines and what a filthy job it can be. I don't know if it is the after-duty work that has to be done when the days running has finished, not quite as dirty, and there is not a lot in it, but the crews are tired after what can be a 10 hour day.
Yes it was on the face a glamourous job, but take of the rose tinted specs........

 

[Steve]

Very nice, I like gritty images. Even though as an engineer I find locomotives unappealing (I know it must just be me) I find the pictorial qualities of some of these images very appealing - especially the silhouette of the fella hanging off the train....