British Pullman 2025

A lovely shot of Tangmere on the Arrow. For reasons best known to myself (and now forgotten), I missed that one.

Bryan

 

From the MNLPS Face Book page, all set to go tomorrow. And as the Golden Arrow - it will be 64 years since the last steam GA on 11 June 1961

Bryan

https://www.facebook.com/clanline35028/

 

For those who don’t do FB, my phone shot

 

Heading through Bellingham and passing Folkestone West at a decent pace:

 

Thank you for the lovely sequences of a MN on the Arrow. On a day when modern cameras cope so well in poor weather when there is no worry about shadows messing things up.

I got my shot of it dropping down into Bromley South that will not look good on its own. So I'll put it together with a similar shot I took of 34100 on the Arrow a little while back first, which is how I plan to use it in my forthcoming SR Steam loco memoirs book.

Bryan

 

Thanks Bryan. Modern cameras may cope well in poor weather in regards to picture quality, but they certainly don't cope well when it comes to being waterproof!! As such I picked spots where shelter was available to prevent my gear getting drenched.
Like any photographer/videographer though I do prefer it when the suns out, makes the picture look 10 times better. That said, Clan Line always looks the part regardless

 

Not this photographer. Sun is fine if you can get a glint or a sunset, but I would far rather a day in the rain for steam photography. Of course downside you get wet and you have to try to keep the gear dry.

 

An unusual presentation from me that incorporates my photo of 35028 on the up Golden Arrow today. That photo on its own is of no consequence.

Below is without the explanatory text and normal photo captions that will be under the presentation in my SR Steam Loco memoirs book. So below it is with just drafts of the very short captions that accompany most of such comparisons in the book draft: I am still thinking through the need to include the words 'the last steam hauled Golden Arrow' under the 1961 photos.

But today has maybe ended a great deal of work to get the presentation as I want it. Most of that spent on the two Brownie 127 photos I took in dull light in June 1961, that initially were complete no-hopers for any use anywhere. But I went back to them time and time again as they were so precious to me, and inched them to the stage where the whole of the photo presentation as below will fill the top 60% only of an A4 page, and certainly no larger.

And finally, the only way I can get them to upload here with the short captions is from a very low res screen grab; the originals for the book are of course fairly large tifs, the total size of the two pairs (all four photos) is circa 45 MB.

I say today maybe ended my work on it, but it would be good to get 35028 on the up Arrow at the same place with an emu running parallel with it as per 11 June 1961 . . . . .

Bryan

 

For uploading here, why not as JPEGs, and at no more than, say, 1080 pixels high?

 

Nice to see a proper diesel free steam hauled train. Not many of them about these days and the chances of seeing a WCRC operated one must be almost nil given they need ETS for the Mk2 carriages.

Dave B

 

What I posted is a screen grab from the top part of an A4 page in my book that I am drafting on Word. I used the snipping tool to get the screen grab, and that gives me the very low res jpeg from the Word document I used to upload here. For stand alone photos without text of course I just upload a jpeg version of my tif here.

I know I should be using InDesign to write my book. Word is far from easy to lay out photos, timing logs etc. But I use text boxes for the timing logs to a format agreed with my book designer. I am hopeless with sofware and having laid out my Short-eared Owl book on Word, I'm just carrying on from there rather than having my 19th Nervous Breakdown attempting to learn InDesign!

The key thing is for me to check everything is in the right place before I save the Word file as a pdf to send to my excellent designer who uses that to transfer to InDesign to lay it all out as I want. For the steam loco book that has worked well for the first 109 pages that have been designed and then proofed by the printer I use; they date back to 1880 and are in Lincoln England. Sorting the timing log layout took a long time with my designer - I was even fussier than I am with wanting SR locos in the livery and numbering they used in the 1960s! But she is very good and very understanding and I am very pleased indeed with what we agreed. She had never done anything like designing timing logs and to a very, very precise format before as well.

Bryan

 

Dave, that is my undertanding of how DB Cargo and their crews, Belmond and the MNLPS prefer to work, even though that train is very heavy, being mainly Pullmans. Superb to see it of course.

There will be a diesel on the rear as insurance in the leaf fall season. And for fire risk when the diesel will have to be working at times, then it is placed directly behind 35028.

@Johnb is one of the MNLPS hard working support crew and will correct and/or add to what I've posted here if needed I am sure.

Bryan

 

You are correct Bryan, the only other time you will see a diesel at the back is on the rare occasions when the generator car is out of action. When I’ve been on it during leaf fall season I usually ask the crew if they called for assistance and so far the answer has always been no so it’s just an extra 80 tons to drag round!
I know there are three out of period coaches in the formation but in the 21st century it doesn’t get any better than a MN with the Golden Arrow Regalia hauling a train of Pullmans on the route of the original train train between Dover and Victoria.

 

Yes indeed John. I did get a bit emotional watching it drift down to Bromley South yesterday. I had already given full chapter and verse to a poor soul who had asked me earlier if a steam train was a due as I waited with camera at the ready on the Murray Avenue footbridge!

Bryan

 

That footbridge was where I was introduced to the absorbing but pointless pastime of train spotting, I was only just turned nine years old. The highlight of the day was seeing 70004 pass with the up Arrow!

 

Just been announced, the Pullman is to be run today Diesel hauled due to Kent going under black fire risk preventing Clan Line from operating.

 

Come off it Alan - there you go again with one of your sweeping statements. NR have no more control over the weather than you or I. It is not as if the possibility of this was not forseen by the MNLPS who I'm sure were hoping for the best but were prepared for this outcome. Sometimes in life you just have to roll with the punches.

Peter