Pictures from the exhibition: Letting off steam

From a station (yesterday) to a train today....

I think this is the train photo Cranberry Morning was referring to in her comment a week or two ago.  It was taken this time last year at a KWVR Steam Gala Weekend.  The engine let off a rush of steam before setting off on its journey up the valley.  The scene has a timeless quality.  The low sun was so bright that I could hardly see what I was photographing - but sometimes you just get lucky!

Saves coal every wash-day

A selection of colourful metal advertising signs, collected together from various points around the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway.  I have often thought it would be nice if there were a few old signs scattered around Saltaire, but there aren't.

It's interesting to read the selling points: I suppose a great little cigarette is better than a great big one! Saves Rubbing... I should think that would be a good thing if you were a housewife doing the family wash in a tub.  But if you could just soak in Rinso and Save Coal Every Wash-day wouldn't that be even better?  And what was the £1000 reward Sunlight Soap were offering?  I'm glad that royalty enjoyed their Fry's Celebrated Chocolate - and as for Cadbury's being Wholesome, well, I'm going out to buy some now.  But eat too much chocolate and not enough meat and green veg and you'll need the Virol, girl!  (Virol was a thick brown syrup, a kind of malted vitamin tonic.  Tasted weird - I used to be given it when I was a child.)

As for Camp coffee.... As John commented a couple of days ago, it had little to do with coffee, being mainly made from chicory essence, I seem to remember.  It must have been a war-time coffee substitute.  My parents always had a bottle in the pantry.  It's a real nostalgia thing; the labels on the bottles were very collectible too, though the picture was changed a few years ago after allegations of racism. (It originally showed a Sikh serving coffee to a kilted soldier.  Now they sit side by side drinking coffee together.)  I doubt anyone would give Camp that name these days though!  It even has its own fan site. Also see here for a blog post that's a bit of fun.

Arches

Ironwork arches and wooden panelling at the entrance to Keighley railway station (painted, I think, in the livery colours of the Midland Railway - dark red and cream.)

It's all in the detail...

Another photo from my visit to the Winter Steam Gala Weekend of the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway [KWVR].

You can tell how much the railway volunteers enjoy their roles and how much effort and thought they put into it, from the little things - the attention to detail.  Around the various stations on the line there are some really attractive 'set-pieces', like this pile of old luggage waiting for a porter.  It's these details that add colour and atmosphere to the visitors' experience - and of course they provide great photo opportunities for when you've had enough of chasing the trains.

By the way, for those with access to BBC1 TV, the three-part drama series 'South Riding' starts today (Sunday) at 9pm.  It was partly filmed in Saltaire, as you may remember from my blog last September.

The Railway Children

 

The Keighley and Worth Valley Railway and surrounding area has been used many times as a location for films, TV programmes and adverts. (For the complete list see here.)  One of the most famous was 'The Railway Children', an adaptation of the book by Edith Nesbit, which was filmed there in 1970 and starred Jenny Agutter, Sally Thomsett and Bernard Cribbins.  Some of the action takes place here on Oakworth Station, including the scene of the homecoming of the children's father.  It remains a delightful and atmospheric little station, much as it has always been, with coal fires warming the Ticket Office and the Waiting Room and bits of railway ephemera including some lovely old metal advertising signs.  I bought a little booklet outlining a 'Railway Children Walk', taking in some of the main locations where the film was made, which I will explore sometime when the weather improves (and bring you pictures of, of course!)

I took so many photos at the Steam Gala Weekend that I have put some more on my other blog.

Wheel

Isn't there something really satisfying and beautiful about this?  It is, of course, a wheel on one of the steam locomotives on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway.

Train driver

Rarely seen on SDP - a portrait of a person!  It's not so scary photographing people at events like the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway's Steam Gala Weekend - the volunteers seem to welcome it. There are probably many photos of this train driver on the Web!  There were hundreds of photographers around and he affably leaned out of his cab to chat to a passer-by.  Handsome man, don't you think?  It's a cliché that all little boys want to be train drivers - well, some of them manage it!  And as a visitor you get a real sense of the love that all the volunteers have for their work on the railway.  They all play their parts with relish: the ticket-sellers, the train drivers, the station masters and all those who run around doing the less visible jobs that together make the venture such a success.  Someone told me that KWVR have a hostel and people come to stay on working holidays to help with the restoration of the engines and rolling stock.  I salute them all.

Whistle

Here's a classic steam train shot.  Locomotive BR Standard 4MT No. 80002 arriving at Oxenhope station, as part of the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway's Steam Gala Weekend. (Although this train is 'resident' on the line and is often used to haul the normal service.)

Even though I'm not a rail enthusiast in the accepted sense of the word, I still find steam trains exciting and romantic.  And this line is very scenic, passing through some lovely Yorkshire countryside and some attractive and interesting villages.

The Worth Valley line was opened in 1867, built by local mill owners but franchised to the Midland Railway. It eventually became part of British Rail in 1948 and was closed in 1962 as part of swingeing cuts across the British rail network.  Locals fought to keep it open, creating a preservation society to buy the line and lease access into Keighley station, where it joins the main rail network.  The line was reopened in 1968 and has run a regular service ever since, staffed entirely by volunteers.

Train coming

The interesting and historical village of Haworth is about half-way up the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway line.  There is a footbridge over the railway line beside the station that provides a good vantage point, though you do get wreathed in smoke and steam when a train arrives!  On Gala Weekends like this one, the combination of steam trains and real-ale (served all day in the trains' buffet cars) guarantees a large and predominantly male audience.  Keen photographers can get line-side permits and it was amusing to see little groups gathered at all the best spots - orange high-vis vests, tripods and DSLRs with massive lenses seemed to be de rigeur.  There must have been many thousands of pounds worth of gear walking about the Worth Valley that day!

(Don't ask me why, but some of the locomotives seem to be hitched to the carriages backwards, as I think this one was.  I think they go up the line forwards and down it backwards, no doubt due to the lack of a turning circle at the top terminus.  I was worried that the driver wouldn't see where he was going... but then I remembered they can't anyway in a steam loco!)

Letting off steam

It promised to be a sunny day on Saturday - and did eventually deliver!  So I decided to make the most of it and have a day out, hoping to get some photos.  I made up my mind to visit the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway (KWVR), which is a privately-owned, volunteer-run railway that connects the town of Keighley (about 7 miles up the Aire valley from Saltaire) with the villages of the Worth Valley including Haworth and Oxenhope.  Even on wintry days there is lots of photographic interest along the line.

Imagine my delight to discover that this wasn't just any old weekend but a Steam Gala Weekend on the KWVR. (That explains why there was a steam train passing through Saltaire the other day, obviously one of the 'guest' locomotives.)  The KWVR is a thriving line that operates a number of steam-hauled trains, and regularly holds special events.  Even though I'm not a real train buff, there is something really lovely about the whole thing and I always enjoy visiting and riding the trains.

The low winter sun and backlighting make this photo into a story, I think.  I'll leave you to imagine that wonderful hissing sound as the engine lets off some steam pressure.