The Limbo Connection's photos with the keyword: GWR

Three lost balls on the track.

East Somerset Railway, Cranmore. The boiler belongs to GWR 2.8.0T number 5239 named Goliath which came to Cranmore in October, 2017 from the Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway for an extensive overhaul. Nikon D40 and AF-S Nikkor 28-200mm VR lens. Shot at a focal length of 24mm (multiply that by 1.5 for the equivalent field of view for a full-frame camera).

Nikon D2Xs and Nikkor AF-S 70-300mm lens at 300mm (like 450mm for the same result with a full frame camera). 400 ISO; f/8; 1/500th.

The old HST 125s no longer ply this route. I rather miss them. If you want to see them now, Great Western Railway retain 24 powercars and 48 carriages to form 11 four-carriage sets for use on local services between Cardiff and Penzance. Additionally, 26 HST sets, each with four or five carriages, have been assigned to Abellio ScotRail and will operate on services from Edinburgh and Glasgow to Aberdeen and Inverness. Nikon D2Xs at 100 ISO. Tamron 35mm f/1.8 lens at f/8. 1/125th.

Built in Swindon in 1939 this is a 2884 Class 2 - 8 - 0 locomotive numbered 3803.

Built in Swindon in 1939 this is a 2884 Class 2 - 8 - 0 locomotive numbered 3803.

A Victorian railway station, built to last. Attractive, in a utilitarian way. Yet like so many things in Declining Britain, it presents an air of defeat and neglect. Nikon D50 + AF Zoom-Nikkor 28-80mm f/3.3-5.6G lens.

Another Sprinter in Trowbridge, this one in green GWR livery. Canon EOS 30D + Canon EF 35-135mm f/4 - 5.6 lens.

There was once a timber-built halt here which provided a railway service for the village between 1926 and 1965. The Beeching cuts did away with it. The village has since grown quite considerably, though not enough to justify a train stop yet. Even Corsham, a much more populous village some ten miles down the line from here, and which also lost its railway service to Beeching's vandalism, cannot breathe life into their ambitions to restore trains to their community. Nikon D700 + AF Nikkor 24mm f/2.8 lens.

As the railway nears Chippenham the land rises a little and here at Kellaways are the last of the embankments before the contours change. There are two bridges: this is the northern one on the road from Maud Heath's monument at Kellaways to Sutton Benger via Sutton Lane. The flat land does not, however, persist for long, for just beyond Chippenham station are the Western Arches where the railway is once again elevated to keep it nice and even. The railway is very close to the river Avon at this point, much as it is at Christian Malford where the bridge building was a big undertaking. Nikon D2Xs + Nikkor DX AF-S 35mm f/1.8G lens.

Brunel built bridges for ramblers and farmers and horse riders as well as road users. It's exhausting cataloguing all of them. Nikon D700 + Nikkor-O.C Auto f/2 35mm lens. 200 ISO; f/16; 1/80th.

HST arriving at Westbury at 16.24 with a power car named 'Reading Panel Signal Box 1965-2010' at the front. Photographed with a Nikon D50 and an AF Nikkor 28-80mm f/3.3-5.6 G lens.

The London - Bristol main line is being electrified. The visual effect will be great in a village such as this where the railway is carried on a high embankment all the way through the parish. Just to complete the misery, a switching station is being built next to this bridge. Oh joy. Nikon D700 + AF Nikkor 35-70mm f/2.8 lens.

The train in the picture has just crossed the River Avon as it heads north-east towards Swindon. This section of the original Paddington to Bristol mainline presented engineering challenges necessitating deep cuttings and high embankments. There are streams and tributaries draining into the Avon and quite long stretches of standing water. The place is blissfully quiet save for birdsong in Spring and passing trains, but here and there along the line mysterious packs of materials are being put in place for the electrification project. In 1840 the locals would have lamented the changing scenery as the railway came through. At least they were spared ugly gantries decorating the skyline. Nikon D700 + Nikkor 20mm f/3.5 AI-S lens.

Nikkor 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5D lens on a Nikon D700.

East Somerset Railway. The Nikkor 28mm f/3.5 AI lens provides a field of view of 42 mm on a Nikon DX SLR. All the characteristics of a wide angle lens, such as plenty of depth-of-field, are nevertheless preserved. The f/3.5 maximum aperture is a bit slow but on the plus side performance is good even wide open and impressive when stopped down. The advantage of using it on a crop sensor is that you are experiencing only the centre performance and not much of the fuzzy edges. It's interesting and fun to use a lens which for all practical purposes behaves like something between 35mm and 50mm lenses on a full frame camera. Nikon D2Xs + Nikkor 28mm f/3.5 AI lens.

For almost forty years these elegant machines have been plying the London to Bristol railway. Soon they will be superseded by new electrified trains. Canon EOS 30D with Canon 100-300mm f/4.5-5.6 EF USM lens.