Tag Archives: railway

Happy 50th to the HST

I just learned that it has been fifty years since the in High Speed Train was introduced in the UK. Known by the brand InterCity 125, in the industry it was just the HST. I worked on these a lot in a previous role and remember them being introduced when I was a kid. At that time, living on the Island, I thought of the idea of travelling on one as almost as exotic as plane travel – something I didn’t envisage. Over the years, I ended up travelling on them frequently and often in the nice carriages too!

There are some still in service including one I saw bringing a charter service to RailLive earlier this year. Unless I head to Scotland or get on a charter, I doubt I will be riding on one again, but they are definitely a train that I have a soft spot for. Consequently, while I don’t have many images of them, here are a few.

A Few Trains in the Neighbourhood

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Trains are more a feature of work than my spare time, but this blog might suggest otherwise since a bunch of posts have included trains. I live right by the south-west mainline, so we have plenty of trains coming by and I rarely pay any attention to them. Periodically, we get something a little unusual come by and, when I see that from home, it gets me thinking about whether there is somewhere good to get photos.

I had seen a location just south of Winchester that seemed like it might be a good photo location and figured I would check it out at some point. One Saturday morning, I was kicking my heels trying to think of something to do and this spot came into my mind. I only had a relatively short time before I had some other stuff planned but I decided to go and try it out.

We had the regular traffic coming through but there was some freight movement and the weekly transit of the Chiltern unit that has deeper maintenance done at Eastleigh and then heads back up to is home base. I can often hear it pass the house since the loco is quite a distinctive sound compared to the other diesels that pass regularly. Here are a few shots of the trains.

The Narrow-Gauge Railway at Exbury

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I have posted some photos of the gardens at Exbury as well as some steam engines on the roads. However, it also has a narrow-gauge railway that has both steam and diesel locomotives. It takes people for a ride through the gardens. We didn’t take a ride, but we did see the trains a few times during our walk.

There are a few crossings where the trains intersect the pathways, and a whistle will give you a heads up that they are coming. The route also takes the trains around the back of the dragonfly pond. Plenty of spots to see the trains. At the end of one of our visits, the last train was running, and it was being hauled by a bunch of locos for some reason. When they came back, they stopped early and detached a few of the locos to allow them to come in separately. Then the train came in and the remaining loco was moved on to the turntable. Seems like a cool little operation.

Thomas is Out and About

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While out on a bike ride one weekend, I rode from Bighton to Ropley which takes me over the Watercress Line. I wasn’t aware what they might have going on that weekend, but it turned out that they had their “Thomas” making runs. It came out of Ropley towards the bridge I was on, so the phone came out to grab a couple of shots before I continued on my ride.

Trains at Glasgow Central

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I make pretty frequent work trips to Scotland, and, on some occasions, it is most convenient to stay at a hotel right next to Glasgow Central station. One side of the hotel looks out over the street but the other overlooks the station itself. I was in a room with this view on one occasion. I was looking right down on the platforms and the tracks heading out of the station to destinations near and far.

The structures for the overhead lines obscure a lot of potential shots but I did have a camera with me, so I was going to get a few shots of the trains coming and going. Here are some of those shots.

Not Often You See an HST These Days

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From their introduction in the 1970s until the time we left the UK in 2004, the High Speed Train (HST or Intercity 125) was ubiquitous on the UK network. At this point, they have almost entirely gone from service with only a few routes still having them at this point – hardly surprising given their age. Some are operating on charter services and one charter train came up to Long Marston from Paddington for RailLive each day. It was rather fun to see an HST again. Even at this age, it is still a pretty sleek looking train.

Quick Diversion for the Steam Gala

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The Watercress Line makes pretty regular appearances on this blog at the moment. Since it is close to home, if I am not doing something else, there is something on and the weather isn’t crummy, I might sneak across to get a few photos. One weekend morning, the Steam Gala was on. We had some plans later in the morning, but I figured the light would be best early and so headed across to Bishops Stoke to get some shots.

They had a variety of steam locos taking part (with the occasional diesel providing some support). Some were larger late generation locos, there were some tank engines and there was one that, to my untrained eye, looked like it was a lot older given the open area of the cab and the high chimney (is that the right term?). I used the same set up that I had tried previously with a longer lens handheld and a wide-angle lens set on the ground controlled by a Pocket Wizard. I also had the Insta360 mounted high on a fence to get some video.

The set up worked better this time. I had gone with a wider lens for the ground camera and also held the Pocket Wizard in a better way to allow a smoother transition from one shot to the other without any frantic fumbling! Overall, pretty happy with the way things worked out. I suspect I might head back for some of their other events this year if I am free (and the weather plays ball).

Diesel Gala at the Watercress Line

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Back to last summer and I was out on the bike for a ride. I was doing a climb over a hill in Bighton and, once I came over the summer, I descended along a road that crosses the Watercress Line. I stopped to have a drink while sitting on the bridge and heard a diesel approaching. It turned out that it was the weekend of their diesel gala and I had timed my arrival well.

A couple of guys were in the process of taking a loco out of the sidings while a train was heading back towards Alresford. I am not a specialist when it comes to diesels but even I can read the number on the side. This was apparently a Class 46 pulling a train of customers. It was entering the station at Ropley and this is one of the passing places on the line so I figured there was a chance another train would be coming the other way.

This proved to be the case. I think the loco coming the other way is a Western but might be mistaken so be gentle in the comments if this is wrong. As it pulled out of Ropley, the air above it was black with sooty smoke. These older locos are definitely not clean burning! Since it was accelerating uphill, it was working hard – hence the serious darkening of the sky! With it on its way, I had taken enough rest, and it was time to continue on my ride.

Tracking the Pan Bending the Wires

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I had stopped off to eat some lunch in my car after a meeting, and I was alongside the west coast mainline. There were plenty of trains zipping up and down the track as I ate and I did take a few images while I relaxed. Only as I looked through the images when I was back at home, and I zoomed in to see which images were sharp did I notice the tracking of the pantograph along the overhead wire. The upward pressure was deflecting the wire by varying amounts depending on where it was in relation to the supports. It is interesting how much it can move the wire when passing so swiftly.

One More of the Scotsman

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I had spent a bit of time preparing to photograph the Flying Scotsman on a Saturday morning at the Watercress Line. Once done, I had gone home and picked up Nancy so we could head to an appointment that we had in Itchen Abbas. When we finished there, the plane was to head to Alresford for some other stuff. This was going to take us by the bridge in Bishop’s Sutton that goes over the track. I thought it was about the time that another of the Scotsman’s planned runs should take place. Consequently, we drove by that way.

There were plenty of people on the bridge when we got there so I parked and asked if it was due. Someone said five minutes, so I grabbed the cameras from the car. As I did so, I saw people lifting cameras to their eyes so zipped back. The train was already climbing the hill out of Alresford. The longer shots were not great because the heat haze was already showing itself, but they were okay. As it came up the cutting, it was making plenty of power. Then it was gone. We were back in the car and off to our destination and it had barely taken five minutes out of our day!