Day into night four hours apart
GETTING to know the Severn Valley Railway – or any section of a line intimately – should encourage you to think differently. How can you go to the same location over and over, getting similar shots – perhaps the only difference being the locomotive or stock?
Often going down Station Road in Highley to the river, the short girder bridge over the road was studied. Would a locomotive fit on it side-on for a photograph? With trains departing for Kidderminster, they would be working away from the station. Picking the right time of day for the daylight shot was not so difficult because there is not much time in winter when the sun gets onto the bridge, so a window between 12.30pm and 2.30pm appeared the best option – and then it had to be a tank engine to fit on the bridge.
On January 3, GWR 0-06-0PT No. 7714 was working the last day of the SVR’s New Year service and the sun shone. The daylight shot was taken at 12.55pm and then three hours later, at 4.56pm, it was followed by the night one.
This was my second attempt at the night shot because with the first I fired too early, not being able to see the locomotive at all in the dark. With flash photography you have one attempt because the flashguns take time to recharge and by that time, the train has passed.
A large portable LED lamp was placed behind a road sign to shine on the bridge and give an idea of the position of the locomotive, as I did not want it to reach the bridge supports. My son Daniel helped by holding the tripod with two of the flash guns attached. The road sign was removed in Photoshop and a little tidying up done underneath the bridge.
In both shots, the pannier is not quite in the same position but were taken from around the same place, making an interesting comparison.