Loose_Grip/Pete's photos with the keyword: noir

A 05.30 am sign-on to fire British Railways Standard 5 4-6-0 73156 saw us work a Driver Experience at 09.30 followed by the 11.10 passenger service to Leicester North. Here with 2 minutes to go we have the road from platform 1 but await the guard's tip to depart with the 11.10.

My first visit to the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway 55 years ago! The only engine running was British Railways-built North Eastern Railway design J72 0-6-0T 69023 Joem. Back then the reversal at Keighley was quite long and involved shunting the coach out of the platform and running round south of the station. Presumably because BR wouldn't allow the KWVR to do this alongside the yard to the north. HFF to everyone. Have a great weekend.

The line up of cranes in Southampton Docks taken from the footplate of British Railways Standard 4-6-2 70013 Oliver Cromwell as we crossed the River Test en route from Swanage to Bristol. We were running tender-first from Swanage engine & coach to Southampton where we reversed to take the line to Salisbury. We were stabled overnight at Bristol before working The Devonian the next day.

On a very grey rainy day Southern Bulleid West Country Light pacific 34092 City of Wells adds to the grey with a volcanic exit from Loughborough station.

A view of Theatreplatz with the St Trinity Cathedral on the right, the roof of the Semperoper bottom left and the Augustus Bridge over the river Elbe. An early Sunday morning stroll while the streets were still empty & for the first time it wasn't raining so I managed to fly the drone to get this aerial view.

We were living in The Hague at this time and made a Sunday visit to nearby Delft. A fairly quiet day generally but ideal for wandering around the streets and canals of this beautiful town. This view is from Catharijnebrug looking along Oosteinde towards the Nieuwe Kerk on the Markt in the centre of the city. The Kleine Oostpoortbrug is behind the camera. HFF to everyone & have a great weekend.

A post-Christmas walk in the Peak District took us to Hulme End and the disused trackbed of the narrow gauge Leek & Manifold Railway. Instead of the expected fog & mist we got brilliant sunshine. The L&MVLR was converted into a footpath and road in 1937 a few years after the closure of the railway. HFF to everyone & have a great weekend.

Arran & Dave disappear in a puff of steam while watering British Railways Standard 2 2-6-0 78018 at the north end tank! HFF to everyone & have a great weekend!

British Railways Standard 5 4-6-0 73156 heads the 13.00 non-stop dining train through Quorn & Woodhouse. On this sunny, cold & crisp day we were clearing the undergrowth alongside the Down Lie-by and I put my loppers down to grab a few shots of the train passing.

I lived in Birmingham in the 1970s and the Broad Street area of the city was fairly unexciting and the canals, while atmospheric, were run-down. This all changed in the 1990s and the area is now the hub of Birmingham's regeneration with a good blend of old and new. It's still possible to get a virtually unchanged view of the old at the junction of the Birmingham Canal Navigation & the Worcester and Birmingham Canal in the city centre of Birmingham. This bridge was build by the Horseley Iron Works of Staffordshire in 1827. HFF & have a great weekend.

Signing on at 05.45 for a morning turn at the Great Central I found British Railways Standard 9F 2-10-0 92214 waiting on the pit. With Callum's help I cleaned out the remains of the previous day's fire and coaled up the grate for today's fire. Here the 9F waits to be lit up in the early morning darkness. There was still 20psi pressure in the boiler so we were ahead of the game & she came round pretty quickly.

Under the pier at Paignton Sands.

A heavy mixed freight train heads south at speed out of Changchun double-headed by 2-10-2 QJ 120 & QJ242 on the evening of 21st October 1983. Our RT&P group had flown to Peking on Pakistan Airlines via Islamabad & after a few days around the capital flew to Harbin & from there, always with minders, made our way south through Manchuria to Dalien on the coast - steam all the way!

Shadows.

Looking like a black & white negative in the morning mist these are the Qilian Shan mountains in Qinghai Province from 30,000 feet up. The city of Xining is just visible by the plume of steam centre left. The snow covered Amne Machin mountain range in the distance is on the Tibetan Plateau and are the eastern extent of the Kunlun Mountains. The river in view is the Huanshi River but the mist in the half distance outlines the horshoe curve of the Huang He, Yellow River, valley We were on KLM flight KL891, Amsterdam to Chengdu.

The sleek lines of Great Western Railways 4-6-0 7802 Bradley Manor double-heading with Modified Hall 6990 Witherslack Hall as they depart Loughborough during the Winter Gala.

The north end of Loughborough station and diesel inspector John steps out with steam action on all three tracks behind him.

Visiting LNER B12/3 4-6-0 8572 bursts out from under the Great Central Road overbridge with the 09.45 departure for Leicester during the Winter Gala.