Borrowstounness

Photographer's Note

I took this picture the other day whilst visiting the Bo'ness to Kinneil Railway - a wonderful day out on which I was taken by a friend who is a railway enthusiast.

The Bo'ness depot is the heart of the Scottish Railway Preservation Society and, as well as having an active station with passenger trains running on this line to Birkhill and back, there is also an extensive railway museum collection. Engineering works at Bo'ness also undertake major restorations of locomotives and rolling stock.

The train just pulling out of Bo'ness station is being drawn by a locomotive 4-4-0 LNER Class D49 ‘Shire’ No.246 ‘Morayshire’, built in 1928 in Darlington (BR No.62712). Retired from normal use in 1961, she was for some time used as a stationary boiler in a laundry works but was later saved and restored.

What a grand day out! It's funny how smells and aromas can bring back memories of childhood better than anything else: the wonderful suphurous smell of the engine's smoke, the soot in the eyes as you lean out of the large windows in the carriage doors, all redolent of days before obsession with health and safety and political correctness - the days when rail travel was fun for a child!

Converted from RAW, quite heavily cropped then just resized, sharpened a tad and framed. All comments welcome!

(I should add that the town is now generally referred to as "Bo'ness" and not Borrowstounness but TE would not allow me to use apostrophes in either the title or city name.)

Glint, asajernigan, graffer, renerob, Royaldevon, dougie, hispic, auldal has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Glint (5573) 2007-07-20 6:17

hello John,
I like the moment you chose to capture this, with the people on the bridge in dange of being smoked like kippers.I like what yo say in your note about what induces childhood memories. Smells especially can be very evocative. Whenever i smell the scent of a flowering redcuurent bloom (Ribes) I remember hiding under those shrubs when playing hide and seek as a very small child. I'm not a railway buff in the slightest but i took love to see steam trains.
regards
Bev

asajernigan (19669) 2007-07-20 7:17

John,
Great composition showing us this magnificent train and the people standing above it on the overpass. The angle you chose is very good showing motion and direction. The lighting and colors are great with excellent sharpness and DOF. I love these old steam trains, it is too bad we don't have more of them in service.
TFS,
Asa

graffer (1800) 2007-07-20 7:44

Hello John,

There's a a lot going on here. Lovely rich green paint on the loco that you have echoed in the frame. A nice clear sharp shot. Beautiful smoke.

One might be tempted to clone stamp out the telegraph wires, but they were all part of the picture, watching them out of the train window as one travelled along.

You are quite right about the redolence of the smells from the past. I think Proust had something to say on the matter.

I've not taken any shots in RAW, although my camera has the facility. Do you find it something worth trying?

I see those Leylandii get everywhere.

Regards,

Peter.

renerob (601) 2007-07-20 17:40

Hi John,
A well captured shot, with the added bonus of the on lookers, colours DOF and sharpness is just excellent, well done John,
Regards Irene

Royaldevon (17791) 2007-07-21 5:46

An excellent shot, John! As you say, so many memories! I wonder what the man on the bridge has to say about a smoking ban! Great pov, and nice detail of the engine BUT ... it wouldn't have half so much impact without the smoke! Those clouds, billowing up into the sky make it really special! Well done!
Kind regards,
Bev :-)

robjol (2399) 2007-07-24 6:55

Hello John,
Great shot in all aspects.
Colours, focus and subject.
I do not believe on this cloning out bits and things. Photo,s are a bit of history, your photo is part of that. You done a great job on this one.

Memories of Gourock to Glasgow 50s 60s white shirt and cufflinks, by time reach Glasgow, little marked round the edges, pity we could not claim, though today smoke in public places, No way. Times change.
Thanks for sharing Regards Rob.

dougie (2966) 2007-08-01 13:00

Hi,
One of my favourite subjects although I never seem to be near one! Can almost smell the reek from the lum in this one. A good viewpoint to choose to show the bulk of the engine. Lovely shot. Well done. Thanks.
Dougie.

falcon53 (336) 2007-08-05 2:37

Two subjects dear to my heart - railway heritage and photography. This shot is perfectly framed, encompassing both the signal gantries, the footbridge, and the blast from the exhaust. Nice exposure too.

hispic (9619) 2007-11-09 2:34

Hello John,
I really like the angle you chose which shows the engine beautifully.
What do you say in English though we Japanese call the sound of the steam puffed from the chimney a "draught sound" ?
Have a nice day,
Hisashi

mrcrow (3993) 2007-11-27 2:05

my birthplace and hometown...bo'ness
vastly improved over the decades since i left
good atmosphere shot with great saturation on the casings of the train
i can see me as a lad in 1955 standing on that very bridge..somewhere near the gasworks??
cheers and thanks
geof

Ricx (13441) 2010-03-30 11:20

Hi John, I chose this image as I have a passion for trains especially for steam trains and a friend of mine and I are hoping to go for a special trip leaving from Fort William in the Summer.. Great "action"` from the spectators and good colour tones TFS Ricx

MJR (3163) 2012-05-12 1:45

John
Funny world..

As I noted in a recent post, you start doing one thing, and you end up - here !

And then, as I flick through the crits. I find the bottom one to be from Ricx, telling you about his impending steam trip with - me ! How strange is that ?!
Did you notice yesterday, you tell me about 'scavaig', the same day as Rosemary posts her picture of Loch Scavaig.
As my father's family's char use to say,'The Galaxy must be out'. No, we don't know what it means either, other than by association.

Anyway - enough. This is an absolutely striking photograph, the detail, sharpness, the absolute vitreous sheen to it all I love it. And all before the days of the mighty 5D. I love the people interest, the driver and his fireman leaning out, and the motley assortment on the bridge looking on. The composition is about spot on too, well I wouldn't improve it, so lets say, Spot On ! If I had my secateurs to hand I would have lopped that RH cypress over the tender, and maybe the LH over the smoke box, but mere trifles.

( What I was doing, was using your account map as a guide to Scottish divisions for TE purposes, with a view to either my next post, or my next trip. For some reason TE have found the finest detailed map for Scotland and some divisions are minute. Dundee, for instance. And then I saw this in your Falkirk Gallery and you know the rest. )

Kind regards
Martin

Photo Information

Copyright: John Cannon (tyro) (13111)
Genre: Places
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2007-07-18
Categories: Transportation
Camera: Canon EOS 20D, Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II, Jessops 58mm Skylight 1A
Exposure: f/10.0, 1/160 seconds
More Photo Info: view
Photo Version: Original Version
Date Submitted: 2007-07-20 2:34