RR can be proud of this aircraft so much so today Aeroflot announced a big order of RR engines for their fleet of 787's.
The aircraft was permitted to do 2 low passes over the Sinfin sites where even the roof on one building was used as a vantage point.

RAF aircraft

Had a couple of days away in the Yorkshire dales with my wife last week where I spent a day taking advantage of the glorious weather we have had over the last week , and also the long evenings.

Some of the traffic that arrives during the evening that can be photographed at this time of year, the pictures get better the longer you stay as the light, like on this evening was stunning.

This was something special the line up for the weekend consisted of

a, FURNESS No20 built 1863

b, The Manchester sicence museums replica of 'Planet' originally built by Robert stephenson for the Liverpool-Manchester railway in 1830

c, Beattie well tank 2-4-0 no 30585 and dates from 1870

D, The Nrm's replica of 'Rocket' with two coaches

e, The GCR 1890 built original engine that was built to haul enginers trains when the Gc was under construction

And finally the Nrm's Robinson 04 2-8-0 the last working Gorton built GC loco, and the newly restored Gresiely N2 in her fabulous new livery

What a way to spend a quite! sunny bank holiday Sunday on a old WWII airfield in Leicestershire......................................

Footnote

I was announced over the tannoy system that all the RAF's VC10 would fly in to Bruntingthorpe for breaking up after their service life was over.
The airfield would be keeping one to display but this could take up to 5 years the announcer told us.

A wonderful evening shoot at the remains of this NCB pit (now the site of Snibston discovery park), the weather was auful in terms of light but we made the best of it, I shot numerous images in b/w raw and was highly impressed with the results and have included many here.

The loco's where Cadley Hill no1 (a 1962 0-6-0 Hunslet) and Bagnall 0-4-0 'Linda', both ex industrial tank engines. Also out for operational reasons was the railways 0-6-0 Hunslett diesel shunter.

Went away for a weekend recently with my wife.
This little airfield is well worth a stop if you are in the area, the view is trememdous over a waste high fence, weekends there is always some movement. A patio outside the club house provides a great view whist wating for the fabulous bacon butties freshley cooked for you in the club house bar/ cafe
The entrance to the field lies on the London bound carriage way of the A30 south of Camberley and is marked by a Robbinson 44 on a pole at the main gate, there is also ample free parking.

All British registrations c/o the civil Aviation website.

At last two locations found for some good photography at Gatwick, firstly Charwell and then out to the east of the airport , parked up down a leafy lane!!, but this last thing on a sat then sunday evening but still produced a couple of firsts for me, a Baltic 737-500 then on sunday an Emirates 340

The day was perfect, warm sun, full sun and lots of varied diesel power, come and savour a wonderful day

This shoot was organised by the Battle of Britain Locomotive Society who's bullied pacific carries the name of 92 Sqn to whom we owe so much.
At the end of the charter an engine run on one engine was done with a full re-heat, i'm just glad I'd borrowed some ear defenders!!
XS458 flew into Cranfield direct out of RAF service at 111 Sqn , Binbrook in June 1988.

Before the engine run we had the wonderful addition of 1 x red 1960 Austin Healy Mk1, 1 x pilot Officer in uniform , curtisy of the GcR, and a loverly lady who was dressed for the 60's.......................

This charter was the first steam charter for me in over a year, Russ Hillier did us proud, and thanks must go to al the staff and volenteers that made this charter happen

All these shots where taken on saturday afternoon the 27-03-10 from the gallery at Woodthorpe along side the doulbe aspect coloured light, this spot is fast becoming a favorite with photographers.
Star of the show was undoubtedly 'Tornado ' which had returned to the railway by road for a three week visit as a thank you to the railway for all the support last year when she ran in on our metals, she certainly brought out the visitors.

Ever wondered what its like to volunteer down at Loughborough? I volunteered (never learn't that lesson either when I was in the army!) to become a 'Meeter and Greeter' on the Bronze Driver experiance days and so far have enjoyed it emensley, what do we get up to, well I hope the pictures will tell the story, come along and see what hapened last saturday, when my mentor Jeff was joined by two trainees myself and Will from the siver and gols days.

Hopefuly this collection is about the ahhh factor

Another selection from the 'Flight Collection'work.
This selection highlights are a airside visit which enabled me to get some shots on board an 757 and in the cockpit, in fact thats where we start and also the ATCT where i was allowed to photograph the controllers at work. Subsequently one shot has featured in an ATC's magazine.
All these shots are again scanned at home on my flat bed and are all 6 x 4.5 slides.
Commercial prints/ usage of the original slides are available at request.

Terms and conditions apply

We will have to stop meeting like this, either that pay a premium rate for some dry weather..... no really although this was a damp shoot with the quality of the subject matter, railfreight grey 37152, and blue 47635 the weather did not dampen our enthusiasum, congrats must go again to Jason and the team for organising and running yet another great shoot.

there are times when you wish you had more, this is the only half deccent shot i've got of an air worthy Vulcan, taken at the 1990 RNAS Coulrose air display from the car park / viewing area, and scanned at home.

Yet more digitised 35mm & 6 x 4-5 mm slides from the work once on file with the flight collection.
All the original slides showen here are available for commercial prints / useage please contact me for futher details.

Terms and conditions apply.

Eight shots of this BRITISH engineering icon .

Here are some shotsof the air sea rescue helicopter at Portland, at what used to be a very busy naval air station, Exeter airport, where i was allowed airside and loook around the maintainance hangers I was also allowed on board a Spannair A320, and also at Penzance I was allowed on board the helicopter prior to passengers boarding.

If you want commertial prints, useage please contact me for loan of the the original transparency.

Terms and conditions apply

What a fabulous sunday afternoon this was, unfortunatly the date is not recorded, but it was in my pre digital days, where i used both a Minolta 35mm film camera and a Maymia 6 x 4.5 film camera to capture these shots.
they have been scanned at home on my flat bed scanner.

Commercial prints can be taken from the original transparency, please contact me for details and loan.
Conditions will apply.

The first venture out for the EMRPS of 2010, this charter was rearranged due to the extreemly cold weather we experianced at the beggining of Jan 10. Many many thanks to the museum for providing a warm mess room and the hot coffee as it was still very cold .
Our subject for this evenings shoot was railfreight grey liveried 31:206 on a rake of engineers waggons and also a small TPO set.
I found this charter 'challenging' to say the least due to , and some reason I can't fathom out, my Sony struggled with the exposures, mayde it was the mix of ambient light and our tungsted lights, but I owe alot to photoshop!! just hope it does not spoil your visit.

The flight collection where short on 'exterior' shots of both Stanstead and Luton, so having no work with the trucking agency I jumped in the car and went down to both airports.
I have taken out all the work that I feel would not interest many of you and have just published the aircrat shots.
In this collection there is a mixture of both scanned 35mm and 6x4.5 slides.
If you want to make commercail prints please contact me and the original slide can be made available.
Terms and conditions apply.

Just a small selection of shots in this collection, but it contains one of my best paying shots, the Emirates A330 arriving in bad weather and also some night shots, of aircraft on the stands.

If you require commercial standard prints please ask me to make the original slide available.
Terms and conditions apply.

Here are some more scans of archive material that was once submitted to the 'Flight Collection'
The slides date from the late 90's to when I went digital about 6 yrs ago.

If you are a commercial viewer the original slides can be sent out for top quality printing, please contact me for details.

On saturday 12-12-09 the EMRPS held a night shoot at Swannick at the Midland Railway Centre. The ain of the evening was to recreate shed scenes from the Midland & Western re3gions from those era's. Using the centre'sresident diesel fleet, i think you will see we did a grand job of just that, onlt a incident beond our controll stopped us from geting the final shot , that was the Western by the box, hopefuly this will be put right soon.

Just like the same galleries in both steam and preserved diesels this collection is for the miscellaneous shots we all collect, the one offs, just as we where passing this turned up sort of shot.

Led by the the wishes of Greg McDonnell, Steve Bradley,and Jim A Brown my, Canadian friends, Barnetby was a place of pilgramage for them after seeing some ones slide show on the net.

Barnetby is a wonder, on a jct of 3 routes the traffic comes out of Immingham and then splits 3 ways at Barnetby west jct. The whole area is controled by semaphore signals from two signal boxes (towers)
I used both my camera bodies here , the Sony A100 and Minolta Dynax 7d hence the slight out of sequence way the shots are displayed, the sony ones being first.
Date of shots is late afternoon early evening of monday 19-10-10 and up to about 1300hrs the next day when we lost the sun and set sail for the Ribblehead staion inn and the glories of the S & C
There are shots from 2 other close locations included here, New barnetby crossing & Brocklesby jct.

This was my last day with Jim Greg and Steve.
We'd travelled up the previous day after loosing the light at Barnetby and had pre booked the Ribblehead station Inn, getting there first led me to grabbing the rooom with a view .....sraight over the viaduct.
Next morning was overcast but it did not rain, a small mercy.
Who ever said the S & C was quite for freight needs to come and sit line side again, although not quite hellish busy it ticks over very nicely with ample time to move between locations and still catch the varied traffic. The motive power was exclusivly green and red 66, but i'm still kicking my self for not having a camera handy when the DRS weedkiller train came over the viaduct shortly after I arrived.

What adjectives could you use to describe what must have been the best ever steam gala in the railways history, stupendous, brilliant, supurb, amazing, incredible, astonashing out of this world, none, as no words can descibe just how good it was.
With 7 engines in steam and an intensive service, hadly more than a 20 minute gap between trains, a mixed goods, windcutter, and TPO interdispersed between passenger services this gala was brilliant. many months of hard dedicated work must have gone into the planning of the event and then the hardest job of all, making it work is just immence, please would the staff and volenteers of the GCR stand up, take a bow and accept the applause of the public who you amazed, sometimes saying a simple thank you seems inadequate, but thank you.

I hope my pictures do your hard work justice.
Ian

At last! got to the Svr's steam gala and spent all day , well nearly all day there.
This event is unique in the heritage railway calender as it runs throughout friday and saturday nights giving the chance of some night photography on a working steam railway.
I started my visit on a murky Erdington bank then made my way south along the line, ending up at Arley as I lost daylight and moved into nightime mode before going down to Kidderminster then driving back up to Hampton Loade and Bridgenrth before calling a day at aprox 0200hrs then driving back home to Derby geting into bed at around 0345hrs.
But it was worth it, I am a fan of B/W photography and as the light dipped I took the oportunity to do some b/w shooting, the results are to the second part of this collection but well worth the effort to go and have a look

On the way home from a holiday in the Yorkshire dales I called in at the NYMR to catch the action on the railways diesel gala.
I do not know the line so I'm very grateful for the tip that took me to 'Moorgates', what a cracking location, loco's featured are 26011 from BH, D6700, 37:901, 55:022, due to a points failure the western's turn was cancelled, always the same as I was waiting in rasping light at Moorgates, DOH!

Due to a holiday I could only come down on the friday , but it was well worth it, a Deltic, 2 x 47's, a 50 of all things, making a first for the class on the railway, a 37, resident Peak, The NRM's crompton push pulling with the 4Big set.

And full sun all day, we where blessed

Toton yard is now a shadow of its former size and importance since the coal mine closures of the 1980's, but it is still the HQ of DB Schenker and creates alot of passing traffic through the yard and to / from the yard. Its well worth a visit and has numerous vantage points from which to view the action

Traffic photographed on this very busy route is extremly diverse from Virgins VHF (very high frequency) passenger services with the 125mph + Pendolinos, to the various freight operations using both electric and diesel traction

This collection is the equivalant steam collection to what i've started on the diesels. it will contain the odd few shots of loco's when photing was n't the main reason for being out and about.

Just a few on a quick fly through recce for latter in the year.

The GC is to be congratulated on holding this weekend, as an ex member of HM forces its nice to get some reconition for some of the work we did , albeit some would argue contraversially, but as servicemen we swore allegiance to the crown not polititions.
Thanks again and i hope it can grow and grow into an annual event.

My visit on the saturday of this years show can only be described as a washout.
I took a few shots of Monty's Allsorts Dog Agility club and of the Huskies but not wanting to take inferior pictures came home, a 250 mile round trip, heyho there's always next year and the back catologue i've got published for you to browse and buy pictures from.

see you next year in the dry we hope, Ian.