grebeman
Old Codgers Group
- Name
- Barrie
I dusted off my old Olympus E-1 and used it today to photograph some steam engines working the mainline between Bristol and Plymouth and back
The cows running up the hill were the first sign of the approaching train, then the plumes of steam. This is the down run approaching the bottom of Dainton Bank between Newton Abbot and Totnes, a section of which is a 1 in 45 incline made more tricky by the curves.
Hall class locomotive 4965 Rood Ashton Hall pilots Castle class 5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe
Shortly after leaving Plymouth on the return trip the engines face the 2.5 mile incline of Hemerdon Bank, a steady climb at 1 in 42. Steam engines pulling more than 9 carriages needed to be doubled up to tackle these south Devon banks, the leading engine being known as the pilot. Such doubling was only required between Plymouth and Newton Abbot, in both directions, a very challenging and undulating stretch of line
Pilot locomotive Rood Ashton Hall reaching the top of Hemerdon Bank, both locomotives have their safety valves feathering (just lifting) indicating a full head of steam on this 14 carriage train
Photographs 1 and 3 were processed using Photo Ninja (which I don't think has a colour profile for the E-1), 2 and 4 using Aftershot Pro. Photo Ninja does a better job of bringing out detail in areas such as the sky and the lack of a proper colour profile matters not when converted to black and white.
I was using shutter priority which I don't normally use and set a high shutter speed to suit the subject, but with rather poor light the photographs suffer somewhat from limited depth of field.
Barrie
The cows running up the hill were the first sign of the approaching train, then the plumes of steam. This is the down run approaching the bottom of Dainton Bank between Newton Abbot and Totnes, a section of which is a 1 in 45 incline made more tricky by the curves.
Hall class locomotive 4965 Rood Ashton Hall pilots Castle class 5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe
Shortly after leaving Plymouth on the return trip the engines face the 2.5 mile incline of Hemerdon Bank, a steady climb at 1 in 42. Steam engines pulling more than 9 carriages needed to be doubled up to tackle these south Devon banks, the leading engine being known as the pilot. Such doubling was only required between Plymouth and Newton Abbot, in both directions, a very challenging and undulating stretch of line
Pilot locomotive Rood Ashton Hall reaching the top of Hemerdon Bank, both locomotives have their safety valves feathering (just lifting) indicating a full head of steam on this 14 carriage train
Photographs 1 and 3 were processed using Photo Ninja (which I don't think has a colour profile for the E-1), 2 and 4 using Aftershot Pro. Photo Ninja does a better job of bringing out detail in areas such as the sky and the lack of a proper colour profile matters not when converted to black and white.
I was using shutter priority which I don't normally use and set a high shutter speed to suit the subject, but with rather poor light the photographs suffer somewhat from limited depth of field.
Barrie