Celebrating a noted railway photographer
RAILWAY PHOTOGRAPHER, Geoff Warnes died in 2015. Shortly afterwards his family arranged for his vast colour slide collection – numbering over 5,000 – to be digitised. They included numerous railway scenes around Yorkshire during the last years of steam on main lines, branch lines and operating in local collieries.
‘Geoff ’s father had a pre-war Kodak folding Brownie,’ explained wife Sue, ‘At the 1948 Doncaster Plant Works exhibition he took some pictures of Geoff and a friend standing alongside a steam loco. Then he let Geoff take one or two pictures. Having experienced the joy of photographing two locos Geoff decided he wanted to take pictures of some moving trains. So, he stole his dad’s camera – well, he borrowed it really – and took some photographs from Hexthorpe Bridge.’
‘Of course, his dad was annoyed that he’d used the camera without permission, but in those days, it was quite a thing for a family to have its own camera. That’s virtually all his family had, a bicycle each and a camera.’
Geoff ’s father then agreed he could borrow the camera as long as he bought the films and paid for the processing using his own pocket money. Geoff travelled around on his bike to various locations to take pictures, or on public transport, and never learned to drive. Around the mid-1950s, Geoff started using an Agfa Silette 35mm camera. His father’s Kodak was becoming a little battered. Geoff subsequently employed this to take some of the sharpest colour slides I have ever seen. He never set out to copy any noted transport photographers like the former Bishop of
Wakefield, Eric Treacy. He tended to think of people who had their pictures published as professional photographers and himself as a mere amateur.
During August 1959, Geoff took bicycle rides to both Barnsley and Mexborough Motive Power Depots. He captured engines allocated to these locations and waiting their next turn of duties. The MPD or locomotive depot is the place where steam locomotives were usually housed, repaired and maintained when not being used. Facilities were provided for refuelling with coal and replenishing water, lubricating oil and grease and disposal of ash. The Barnsley Depot was situated on the east side of Barnsley Exchange railway station. It had opened in 1865 and comprised two through roads with a turntable at its northern end. The building was given a gable-style roof around 1956 but closed on January 4, 1960 and the site cleared.
Two engine sheds preceded the one that opened at Mexborough in 1875 by the Great Central Railway. A ‘dead-end’ shed, it included 15 roads, a coal stage, water tank and 60ft turntable. Locomotives were supplied from Mexborough mainly for coal trains. For a period, they were in great demand at Wath marshalling yard. Mexborough shed closed in February 1959. In December 1966, Geoff travelled to Mirfield shed, Kirklees, West Yorkshire, and challenged his capabilities with several interior views of the facility. On the whole the clarity and detail of the engines has turned out well. Usually, images of this type turn out to be under exposed. The Mirfield shed was opened by the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway in 1885, surviving until April 1967. On an outing to Leeds Holbeck depot in January 1967, Geoff pointed his camera at locomotive no. 45001 at the coaling stage. Bounded by Bridge Road, Nineveh Road and Sweet Street West, Holbeck Shed, comprising two roundhouses, was opened in May 1868. In October 1967, it closed to steam. The concrete coaling tower could hold 300 tons of coal and service two locomotives at a time. It was demolished along with other buildings in 1970.
Geoff took many of his shed views when part of an organised group of rail enthusiasts. Visits were often arranged at weekends when individuals could roam around the shed snapping happily without disrupting daily activities too much. Geoff was fascinated by locomotives working in local pits. He captured rare views of engines running along the private railway line stretching between Manvers Main and Barnburgh Main in South Yorkshire. Although Manvers became a colossal complex in the post-war years, it had started from humble beginnings. The Manvers Main Colliery Co. turned the first sod for their Nos 1 and 2 collieries, approximately 650 yards apart, on 21 May 1867. The event took place on land, some freehold, and the remainder leased from Earls Manvers and Fitzwilliam. Barnburgh Colliery, situated half a mile south west of Barnborough village, and just over six miles west of Doncaster, dated from June, 1912, when sinking was begun by the Manvers Main Colliery Company of Wath-uponDearne. In fact, the colliery was really an extension to Manvers Main, some three miles away.
Alan Hill in The South Yorkshire Coalfield (2001) states: ‘In the 1930s the [private] line carried 25,000-28,000 tons of coal per month between the sites. Barnburgh was linked to the LMS railway, and to both the LMS and LNER via Manvers, thus providing a number of alternative routes for disposal of the collieries’ outputs.’ Geoff took several shots of the steam locomotives working the private line early in March, 1966. Manvers Colliery closed in March 1988; Barnburgh June 1989. At the same time as the Manvers/ Barnburgh photographs, Geoff captured ex-War Department locomotives running on the nearby Dearne Valley Railway at Goldthorpe. Always wanting to inject life into his pictures, one Dearne Valley image shows a driver peering from his cab while concentrating on a particular manoeuvre.
Photographing from Yorkshire’s prominent railway stations had a special attraction for Geoff. In April 1960 he went to Skipton and Hellifield stations. At Skipton he saw locomotive no. 45564 working on ‘The Waverley’ train. Originally titled the ‘Thames Forth Express’, The Waverley express passenger service first ran in September 1927. It was operated by the London Midland & Scottish Railway. It travelled on the Midland Main Line from London St Pancras to Edinburgh Waverley. Amongst the stops made along the route were at Leeds City, Skipton, and Hellifield. The service took in the scenic Settle – Carlisle route.
Following the amalgamation of Leeds Wellington and Leeds New stations, Leeds City station was opened on May 2, 1938. A major refurbishment of the building was completed in May, 1967, and included a new concourse platforms, roof and car park. Geoff was active at Leeds City station in September 1965. He took a photograph of locomotive no. 42699 near Leeds City. At this time the engine had been allocated to Leeds Neville Hill shed from October 1963.
Sharp, atmospheric colour slides were taken during the steam era at Rotherham Masboro, Sheffield Midland, Sheffield Victoria and York stations.
The buildings and incidental details Geoff captured in his photographs are of equal interest to the locomotives themselves. Of particular note is the view he captured from a footbridge at Denaby level crossing. Unfortunately, a lower section of the locomotive is missing. Geoff was slightly late pressing the shutter. This is of no matter. To the left is the signalman’s tiny house.
The equally small front yard is only several feet away from the track! In the background is the old Denaby Main Colliery.
Arguably, Geoff ’s favourite location for taking pictures was the Hexthorpe Nine Arch Bridge dating from the mid-19th century. This linked Hexthorpe with Doncaster town centre and was only several hundred yards away from Geoff ’s house in Hexthorpe. Some of his early black and white pictures taken from the bridge date from the late 1940s. Colour slides start to appear from the late 1950s. The ones taken of express trains, using Kodak film, are perhaps the most spectacular.
Photographing from prominent railway stations had a special attraction.