High speed steam through Stroud

I have a busy day taking photographs. I went to Lansdown Hall to take illustrative pictures to accompany our bid for grant funds for the building, worth up to £40,000. I was really lucky with the weather when the thick early mists cleared by mid-morning to bring beautiful spring light to the valleys.

I borrowed a wide-angle lens and found I could adjust the settings for its particular capabilities. Fred C., a very good local photographer, happened to pass me in Bank Gardens when I was shooting exteriors and he told me about two very interesting exhibitions he is arranging to be exhibited in Stroud later this year. He is a coordinator for a Stroud group of photographers, called PhotoStroud.

On my way home I walked along the canal from Wallbridge lock and couldn't resist taking some pictures of the moorhens swimming across reflections in the water of the old industrial buildings between the canal and the railway station. On any other day I would have blipped one straight out of the camera, as I am so pleased with it.

But today I had a planned shot for this evening, at the Station again, when a famous steam engine was due to coming roaring through Stroud on its way from Gloucester to London. By the time it was due there were more than forty people standing around, some them with varying levels of photo and video gear. About thirty minutes after it was due, we heard the whistle way down the valley and everyone became excited.

I decided to try and get a couple of shots, worked out a good position tried a couple of test shots and hoped for the best. I had no idea what speed it would travel at, except that previously steam trains running through Stroud towards London are building up speed for a long climb up the twisting Golden Valley which is famous for its steep incline for about five miles up to Sapperton Bank. Then the track plunges into a tunnel just at the highest point of the Cotswold Hills, from which it emerges to descend steadily eastwards all the way to Swindon and beyond.

True to form the engine, 6024, King Edward 1, was already travelling at quite a speed, belching copious smoke and steam. You could feel its energy as it reached the station and I managed just three shots before it passed me. I'd decided to use just my onboard flash and the bonus was that I've managed to catch the driver at the focus point. I love steam trains and there are a few more visiting this line over the summer months, so I may get to try some other shots, hopefully in daylight. I wish I had been able to ask Max Ellis for some advice, as he would know what to do. Having the gear may be the problem.