Loose_Grip/Pete's photos with the keyword: geotagged

Waiting to board a Pilatus in the Sahara desert south of Hassi Massouad. We were en route to a seismic crew shooting a survey in the Lasmo-operated El Ouar drilling permit, Algeria. It was pretty cramped for the first stage of the journey from Hassi with a full complement of passengers in the small aircraft but after dropping off most of them at this wellsite the two of us flying on to El Ouar could spread out. It was said that El Ouar meant "the worst" in Arabic referring to the the sand dunes being the most impassable. They had a relief of up to 1000ft and were so dense that it was impossible to drive/walk around them. This meant some serious climbing was needed to progress through the area. While the dunes gradually increase in size & density from the north to the south the dune belt stops very abruptly along a southwest-northeast line. I have flown over the area since on the way to West Africa & from 30,000ft this change from sand to rocky desert is very clear & hence it is easy to locate yourself.

Dinting Station British Railways. LNER EM2 electric E26055, Prometheus, on a Sheffield to Manchester passenger train on the Woodhead route waits at the west end of the platform, Autumn 1969. The crew wait for the "rightaway" to Manchester Piccadilly in the weak sunshine. Despite being a modern electrified railway the Woodhead closed completely in 1981. One nameplate from this engine was sold in December 2002 for £10200. The nameplate is not obvious in this view but the small oval 1953 Gorton Works, Manchester, maker's plate can be seen on the cabside. The rail glimpsed in the bottom left is the line to Glossop. The current limit of the truncated Great Central/LNER Woodhead route is to the east of Dinting.

GCR. My first firing turn on LMS Black 5 4-6-0 45305 with Craig driving. We were on the 13.15 dining train so I had time to drop down for a photo while the soup was being served as we stood on Swithland viaduct. A beautiful sunny day but that steam heat was still needed. It was 45305's 2nd day in full service so felt honoured to be trusted with it! What a great engine. Swithland reservoir is one of the highlights of the Loughborough to Leicester trip on the Great Central Railway with views across to Bradgate Park & the varied birdlife. I'm always impressed by the number of herons around the banks of the lake.

British Railways Standard 2MT 2-6-0 78019 is brand new & just out of its box being in steam for the first time in Loughborough yard. Alongside is GCR 8K LNER O4 2-8-0 63601.

Ribblehead viaduct with southbound Class 60 diesel hauled freight train.

Our last night before returning to the UK was spent sleeping on a Dunkirk beach after a six month road trip in my minivan around Europe & Turkey & a rail excursion to the Lebanon. See where this picture was taken. [?]

Burnley Rose Grove, Lancashire outside the steam shed. Stanier 8F 2-8-0 48348 is on a coal train heading west, 1st August 1968. Note the gaggle of enthusiasts on the cutting side in the background enjoying the view before the final end of steam on BR 3 days later when Rose Grove shed (one of the last 3 steam depots - out of sight to the right) closed. Rosebay willowherb is forever associated with August 1968 in my mind and its alternative name of fireweed is very appropriate.

Burnley Rose Grove shed. Various Stanier 8F and Black 5 steam engines including 48237 & 45110 near the pits in front of the shed building, 1st August 1968. A gaggle of spotters observe a white-shirted, and hence not a railwayman, cleaner working on 45110 - now preserved at the SVR - while other engines move about the yard near the shed entrance. The road bridge in the distance spans the Rose Grove station platforms. Only three more days to go before the end of working BR steam but all the atmosphere of a large shed was still there. The motorway now runs through this scene. See where this picture was taken. [?]

The End of Steam on British Railways. A few days before the end at Copy Pit signal box , between Burnley and Todmorden. LMS Stanier 8F 2-8-0 48519 had just banked a diesel hauled freight westwards from Todmorden. There is only one Brownie b/w photo of its progress because my 35mm film had run out. This shot is taken at the summit of the climb after the freight had dropped away down to Burnley off to the right. The mountainous nature of this part of the Pennines is obvious in the background. I had taken a day off from working in the labour pool at Lysaughts steelworks in Scunthorpe, borrowed my dad's car & drove for hours from South Yorkshire over the Pennines - no M62 in those days - & caught this banker before visiting Rose grove and Lostock Hall sheds. A reboot of an early posting to celebrate Happy Fence Friday while we can't upload any new images! Have a great weekend and stay safe.

Sidings just east of Guide Bridge station on the Great Central Woodhead Route from Manchester to Sheffield in May 1968. EM1 electric E26014 waits to leave the up sidings. A line of at least 3 stabled electrics can be seen behind. This photo was taken from the footplate of British Railways 9F 92118 (curve of the tender bottom left-thought about cropping it but would have excluded other locos) while en route from Heaton Mersey shed in Stockport to Newton Heath steam shed in north Manchester. Our train was made up of the 9F and 2 Stanier 8Fs.

Manchester Victoria station Platform 17, Stanier LMS Black 5 45202 on a parcels train 4th May 1968. Today the overall roof has gone, this platform is underneath the Manchester Evening News arena and steam a memory! And what is that archaic wheeled contraption on the left? 45202 has a very clean smokebox door compared with the rest of the engine. Maybe some enthusiast got busy with an oily rag because by this late in the steam day cleaners were very thin on the ground. See where this picture was taken. [?]

Birmingham Snow Hill's disused signal box from just inside the tunnel. No chance of a King or Castle running me down by this time - through trains had been withdrawn in 1967. In 1969 it was the world's largest unstaffed halt - the only train using the station's 12 platforms was the single car dmu to Wolverhampton Low Level which still ran from the bay platform in the left distance until 1972. The station lingered on in grand decrepitude until June 1977 when it was finally demolished. In 1987 a new station was reopened on exactly the same location. What a waste of effort all round.

Manchester Victoria station - a shadow of its former self with Stanier Black 5 45407 (as 45157) & BR Standard 4MT 76079 on "The Cotton Spinner", a steam special train around the Oldham Loop. The trains ran from Victoria to Miles Platting & forked right at Thorpes Bridge to Oldham & onward to Rochdale returning to Victoria via Middleton. The platform on the right is the old Platform 11, at one time the longest in the world. The view is looking north & east so Rochdale & Oldham are to the right. 35 years earlier a Black 5 would have been standing on the banker's siding located near to where the roof pillar on the left is located today.

Jakarta Docks sailing ships with wood from across the Java Sea in Sulawesi. Indonesian holiday 1997-8. What a fantastic old-fashioned atmosphere - nothing but sail in sight with at least 13 vessels in view. Note the man walking down the gangplank carrying timber on his shoulder. Only the bike on the right tells you it's not a 100 years ago!

Locoshed atmosphere on the Great Central Railway at Loughborough. After lighting up Nick is pumping axle lubricating oil for his driver, who is under the engine in the inspection pit, as they prepare British Railways Standard 9F 2-10-0 92212 for the Steam Gala. Framed by Empress Road bridge, BR Caprotti 5 73129, GWR Large Prairie 4141 & LNER O4 63601 are also being prepared in the background, the latter by myself.

Ivatt 4MT 2-6-0 43106 darkens the skies over Lancashire while filling its tender from the archaic looking water column. Her blower is hard on to lift the smoke & get up steam ready to depart the shed for the Severn Valley Railway at Bridgenorth and a new life in preservation. The only life Stanier 8F 48476 can look forward to is a short one before withdrawal in 3 days time & scrapping in December 1968. Although on this day there were two other Ivatt 4s on Lostock Hall shed this is the only one to survive & in fact now is the only one of its class in existence.

Paris Gare du Nord 2-8-2T 141TC12 departs September 1969. A second 141TC simmers in the adjacent platform on the left. All the atmosphere of a main line capital terminus. With the services out of Gare de la Bastille these were the last suburban steam trains in France. Quite a change from the Eurostars that arrive at these platforms today. My girlfriend of the time studied French at Aberystwyth University & was in Paris for an induction course at the Sorbonne to prepare for her year as a teaching assistant in Verdun. While she studied I photographed. She obviously took the course very seriously as she ended up marrying a frenchman! Still I took my photography seriously too & I still have a liking for french steam, paticularly these modern looking tanks.