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Photos of BR (and Preservation) in the 1960s, 70s & 80s


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Well - thanks to RMweb I was made aware of the recent slide / negative scanner offer at Lidl, and at £24.99 I availed my self of this excellent device.

 

I've had two other means of scanning slides for some years, but the time-consuming process of loading up four slides at a time, and the slow rate of scanning, meant that only a token start was made on scanning my slides.

 

The Lidl scanner may not be quite up to the standard of my previous scanners, but it scans a stack of twenty-five or so slides at one go, and does it quickly and efficiently.

 

Given that many of the slides were taken on cheapo film anyway, I'm quite happy with the results that digitisation has produced.

 

I'm no photographer, and my photos were simply snaps taken when the opportunity arose - often as a tolerated adjunct to family holidays !! (That's not to say the holiday venues weren't carefully, but discretely, chosen) !!

 

Some of the early photos were posted to a similar thread on the old list; I felt it best to start again for the benefit of newer members.

 

Today's photos were taken in September 1965 when I was 16, and were the very first Kodak transparencies taken on my new Kodak Instamatic camera.The results clearly show that the learning curve was going to be steep !!

 

The locations are south of Wigston on the Midland mainline; Derby Works Horticultural Show (known to all as Derby Open Day); and the LNWR mainline at Brinklow.

 

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Bit of shadow lightening and other adjustment and some of them could tidy up nicely - there's probably more detail in them than the straight scans reveal at first:

 

attachicon.giflightened-2.jpg

attachicon.giflightened.jpg

 

Feel free - beyond my skills I'm afraid; I'd like to substitute better versions in my archive.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

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There is something so nostalgic about these first photographic efforts.

 

I think it has something to do with having looked at similar offerings at the time, taken by mates who were lucky enough to have an instamatic or box brownie.

 

Excellent stuff. I think we all pressed the shutter too early with fast moving trains during our learning curve.

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Feel free - beyond my skills I'm afraid; I'd like to substitute better versions in my archive.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

Doesn't take a lot to learn those skills, and needn't take loads of time. Just think of the time you already saved versus having to scan only 4 at a time!

There's even an image editor on here at:

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?app=pixlr

which can increase brightness, exposure etc etc.

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Doesn't take a lot to learn those skills, and needn't take loads of time. Just think of the time you already saved versus having to scan only 4 at a time!

There's even an image editor on here at:

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?app=pixlr

which can increase brightness, exposure etc etc.

 

I have Corel Photopaint and Arcsoft MediaImpression; in fact most posted images have been Auto Equalised.

 

However, I find that it is difficult to bring out the detail in under-exposed photos without bleaching out the image.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

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I tried to bring out more detail in one of them using Photoshop, I hope you don't mind.

 

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I tried using "Shadows and Highlights which can lighten shadows without lightening highlights at all.

 

In the end I drew a selection round the dark bits and used Levels to alter the brightness/contrast.

 

The artefacts are because the download was a small file - you could upload  a somewhat larger file to avoid that.

 

I also sharpened the image a bit.

 

I've done much the same with this one but also removed a bit of pink/magenta.

 

 

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David

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I tried to bring out more detail in one of them using Photoshop, I hope you don't mind.

 

attachicon.gifpost-2274-0-83130500-1424366308_thumb.jpg

 

I tried using "Shadows and Highlights which can lighten shadows without lightening highlights at all.

 

In the end I drew a selection round the dark bits and used Levels to alter the brightness/contrast.

 

The artefacts are because the download was a small file - you could upload  a somewhat larger file to avoid that.

 

I also sharpened the image a bit.

 

I've done much the same with this one but also removed a bit of pink/magenta.

 

 

attachicon.gifpost-2274-0-56927800-1424366236_thumb.jpg

 

 

David

 

David,

 

No problem at all; it would seem that Photoshop is rather more versatile that either of the programs that I have.

 

I had to reduce the size of the uploaded images in order to get RMweb to accept them - the image size restriction is a bit of a pain.

 

Do bear in mind that the original slides were taken with the first model of Instamatic camera, by a youth who only had previous experience with a Brownie 127 and monochrome film !!

 

Regards,

John.

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July 1966 this time, and a family holiday in Looe permitted a trip up the Looe branch to Liskeard - I'd never have believed, aged 17, that we'd end up living so close-by.

 

Mind you - our trip on the branch in a GWR steam railmotor, a couple of years ago, would have seemed even more unlikely - it beat the 1966 single car railcar ride hands down !!

 

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The dire condition of BR(WR) loco paintwork at this time is very evident !

 

Just a couple today - more next time.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

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attachicon.gif09_009 adjusted.jpg

 

Can anyone suggest the purpose of the unusual red and white markings on the front of 10201 ?

 

One for Kernow Models for the final livery ?

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

Multiple working code perhaps? Only the first two could multi, 10203s control system was pneumatic similar to what became blue star

 

Excellent photos

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July 1966 this time, and a family holiday in Looe permitted a trip up the Looe branch to Liskeard - I'd never have believed, aged 17, that we'd end up living so close-by.

 

Mind you - our trip on the branch in a GWR steam railmotor, a couple of years ago, would have seemed even more unlikely - it beat the 1966 single car railcar ride hands down !!

 

attachicon.gif07_019 small.jpg

 

attachicon.gif07_020 small.jpg

 

The dire condition of BR(WR) loco paintwork at this time is very evident !

 

Just a couple today - more next time.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

 

 

 

You really ought to add those to the "Neil's Hydraulics" thread. They would go down a treat.

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Hello all,

 

in Johns photo below, you can see two lighter coloured panels on the front end, was this some sort of new colour scheme, has any one got a side on photo showing this?

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Hope you don't mind me posting your photo John?

 

OzzyO.   

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Hello all,

 

in Johns photo below, you can see two lighter coloured panels on the front end, was this some sort of new colour scheme, has any one got a side on photo showing this?

attachicon.gifpost-2274-0-21828400-1424428453.jpg

 

Hope you don't mind me posting your photo John?

 

OzzyO.   

 

No problem.

 

Well - you could call it a colour 'scheme'; just patch painting of very poor paintwork.

 

Contemporary opinion was that the WR's automatic washing plants / washing chemicals had a damaging effect on paintwork. Whatever the truth was, most locos looked like they'd been rented from Rent-a-Wreck !!

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

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Thanks for posting these - I used to regularly hang out at Brinklow in the late 70s and early 80s as a teenage spotter. Some evenings my mum and dad would take a run out in the car with us kids and go to the pub that was on the bridge, with a car-park overlooking the railway and watch the trains as they had a cider! Happy memories. The pub (and car park) have now gone.

 

cheers,

 

Keith

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Not strictly BR, but I arrived at college in Sunderland during September 1968, just too late to see steam on BR in the area.

 

However, Doxfords Shipyard on the River Wear was still (just) operating steam, including crane tanks.

 

In the shipyard during February 1969 is PALLION.

 

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Across the road in the steel stockyard is GENERAL.

 

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Ironically, these two locos were the only ones from the surviving steam loco fleet to be scrapped!

 

A visit back home south of Leicester coincided with FLYING SCOTSMAN on the Midland Mainline. Temperatures were well below zero and the fact that the train ran very late ensured that I was well and truly perished by the time I got this photo!

 

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Dusk in early January 1970, and my brother and I visited the recently lifted Market Harborough to Kettering line. We travelled by Vespa scooter, including some of the trackbed, and managed to 'liberate' a rail chair as a memento. How the Vespa stood up to two strapping lads and the dead weight of the cast iron chair remains a mystery! These photos are, I believe, of the remains of Welham station.

 

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Regards,

John Isherwood.

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Grosmont on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway in April 1972.

 

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June 1974, and the sadly missed Dobwalls Miniature Railway.

 

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July 1976, and the Dart Valley Railway.

 

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March 1977, Cambridge, and an English Elecric Type 3 (Class 37).

 

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April 1977 at Cambridge, and a weekend of ECML diversions.

 

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August 1977, Cambridge.

 

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August 1977, Ely.

 

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September 1977, Par.

 

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September 1977, Kingswear, South Devon Railway.

 

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October 1977, Leicester Midland.

 

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Regards,

John Isherwood.

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October 1977 - Leicester Midland

 

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October 1977 - near Kibworth

 

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November 1977 - March Shed

 

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post-2274-0-60145600-1424900252_thumb.jpg  SNOWPLOUGH ADB966507

 

post-2274-0-80112300-1424900253_thumb.jpg  SNOWPLOUGH ADB966507

 

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post-2274-0-10049300-1424900258_thumb.jpg  03 025 & 03 154

 

post-2274-0-48009000-1424900259_thumb.jpg  03 025 & 03 154

 

post-2274-0-64231800-1424900260_thumb.jpg  37 026

 

post-2274-0-19602600-1424900413_thumb.jpg  37 026

 

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post-2274-0-39699000-1424900373_thumb.jpg  37 027

 

post-2274-0-52374200-1424900374_thumb.jpg FROM E51115

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

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John,

love the sense of movement in your first photo. Thought it was a still from the Blue Pullman film at first sight.

 

Just gave it a very slight tweak.....

 

It's amazing - my first colour picture taken with a brand new Instamatic; I'd heard of panning, so I just did it.

 

It turned out better than anything that I've achieved since !!

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

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