British Narrow Gauge in the 1960s and 70s

[cctransuk]

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) !!

 

Today's photos were taken in September 1969, and the location is obviously the Festiniog Railway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More tomorrow,

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

[DLT]

Lovely stuff John, thanks very much for sharing it.  That's about the same time as I first came to know the Festiniog.

 

Cheers, Dave.

[cctransuk]

Early days at the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway today.

 

Now I know that I should never have even tried to take these photos an a dire day in October 1969, but such is the folly of youth !!

 

I present them below in all their awefulness, in the hope that someone who is with digital manipulation skills can make something of them. I know that my efforts with the basic programs that I have will only make matters worse !

 

If nothing else, these images are an object lesson of what was not achieveable with a basic camera in those far-off days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With apologies

John Isherwood.

[gwernol]

John, I've had a quick go at improving the first of your Welshpool images. It's not great, as there is a limit to what can be done with it, but at least the loco is a little more visible. 

[cctransuk]

John, I've had a quick go at improving the first of your Welshpool images. It's not great, as there is a limit to what can be done with it, but at least the loco is a little more visible. 

Improved Earl.jpg

 

Thanks very much - oh for today's digital camera back then !!!

 

Regards,

John.

[cctransuk]

October, 1973, and the Whipsnade & Umfolozi Light Railway

 

No.2 (Ex-Bowaters Sittingbourne) EXCELSIOR

 

 

 

No.3 (Ex-Bowaters Sittingbourne) CONQUEROR

 

 

(Ex-WLLR; see yesterday's post) VICTOR

 

 

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

[Devonbelle]

Thanks for sharing John - I've had a play around with two of your W&L shots - results attached if technology worked. W&L holds a special place in our family - my father saw one of the engines shunting coal wagons in 1955 at Llanfair - en route to a caravan holiday at Harlech, then he was in a ''volunteer' gang BR Birmingham dispatched to help in the mid 60s - we also had many enjoyable visits with me as a schoolboy in the 80s - then I've taken my boys in the noughties. Please keep posting more 'preservation archive' - much appreciated. Paul

[rockershovel]

I certainly remember the Whipsnade line!

 

The England loco in the first pic doesn't appear to have smokebox dart, is that the closing dog to one side?

[ForestPines]

The England loco in the first pic doesn't appear to have smokebox dart, is that the closing dog to one side?

That's Princess during her time on display in Blaenau partly to advertise the railway and partly to advertise the railway's commitment to reopening.

 

Looking at various photos online, her dart disappeared some time between her last use in 1946 and cosmetic restoration in the 60s; then (I think?) one reappeared when she was moved to indoor display in the mid-80s.

[Poggy1165]

The Ffestiniog shots remind me of a time when no one minded if the public walked all over the track at Portmadoc (as it then was.)  I remember walking across to inspect the Garratt on the road furthest from the platform. The year (I find from research) was 1966. 

 

I suppose current practice is safer though.

[Mad_Hatter]

The Ffestiniog shots remind me of a time when no one minded if the public walked all over the track at Portmadoc (as it then was.)  I remember walking across to inspect the Garratt on the road furthest from the platform. The year (I find from research) was 1966. 

 

I suppose current practice is safer though.

There were no "No win no fee sharks" around in those days.and if you fell down it was your fault only.

[Tim V]

Early days at the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway today.

 

Now I know that I should never have even tried to take these photos an a dire day in October 1969, but such is the folly of youth !!

 

I present them below in all their awefulness, in the hope that someone who is with digital manipulation skills can make something of them. I know that my efforts with the basic programs that I have will only make matters worse !

 

If nothing else, these images are an object lesson of what was not achieveable with a basic camera in those far-off days.

 

With apologies

John Isherwood.

These photos are better than the ones that you didn't take.

Looking forward to more. Just about the time I was there.

[Pacific231G]

Early days at the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway today.

 

Now I know that I should never have even tried to take these photos an a dire day in October 1969, but such is the folly of youth !!

 

But if you hadn't taken them we wouldn't have them at all John.

There's actually a lot more in your photos than the basic scan has suggested

I took the liberty of attacking a couple of them with PSP and simply using the gamma function fairly aggresively (160-180%) yielded a lot more detail.

Gamma seemed to do more good than brightness and contrast but I'm sure someone more adept than me at image processing would be able to get even more out of them.

 

Thanks for posting them.

[worldkraft]

Check this one - if that's fine I could try the rest.

 

[cctransuk]

Check this one - if that's fine I could try the rest.

 

 

That is amazing - thank you so much.

 

Do, by all means, have a bash at the others - if you have the time.

 

Thanks again.

 

Regards,

John.

[worldkraft]

 

[hayfield]

What a great thread, the photo's do remind me of many most of us took in the 60's & 70's long before auto focus and exposure. Also shows how good the cameras are on our phones. Now we just shoot loads of shots without any regard to light levels/depth of focus and discard most

 

Just come back from a rail trip to Italy, not counted how many pictures I took. Must be at least 50 a day, in the past 2 x 36 rolls were perhaps the maximum we took.

 

Back to the subject, what a find. Firstly super shots of the early preservation days of the narrow gauge scene, then the transformation electronically.  

 

Are these scanners still available please

[cctransuk]

What a great thread, the photo's do remind me of many most of us took in the 60's & 70's long before auto focus and exposure. Also shows how good the cameras are on our phones. Now we just shoot loads of shots without any regard to light levels/depth of focus and discard most

 

Just come back from a rail trip to Italy, not counted how many pictures I took. Must be at least 50 a day, in the past 2 x 36 rolls were perhaps the maximum we took.

 

Back to the subject, what a find. Firstly super shots of the early preservation days of the narrow gauge scene, then the transformation electronically.  

 

Are these scanners still available please

 

As with all such things from Lidl, it's a case of buy it when you see it - when they're gone, they're gone.

 

That said, most offers seem to be repeated at least annually.

 

Lidl publish forthcoming offers - sign up at https://ssl.lidl.co.uk/en/1281.htm .

 

Regards,

John.