Head Boards

Hi all I was at the MHR today and someone came up to me and started moaning about locos having head boards on them and that this ruins the look of a loco when photographing them. This person then said because the locos were running up and down the line with head boards it was a waste of time photographing them and was going home. What do you all think about head boards of locos for special events like St George’s day?

 

Don't give a fig myself, I go out to phot the train people say it is unauthentic, its authentic for 2009 which is the present, you can't take photos of trains with out them and pretend to be living in the 60s.

Saying that, I don't mind them, but as long as they are done well. The St George's flag seems a bit wonky, no marking out with tape or anything

 

I'd prefer it to be something authentic if possible but don't see it as the end of the world if not, I'd prefer a Manor sporting the CCE headboard, but would still phot it even if it said "Steve 40th Birthday" or whatever or a Pannier hauling the "Cornish Riveira".

A big difference is heaboards are temporary and interchangable so comparing them and liveries is like chalk and cheese.

 

God this gets silly,obviously these people are proving they are not enthusiasts just moaning photters? #-o To me its the loco not the paint,headboard whatever!

 

The guy is crazy.

 

You certainly are, my friend!

It is an undeniable fact that the words, "Are headboards really necessary at all?" have been constantly on many people's lips ever since steam returned to the main line.

Apart from the person who makes the damned things in the first place, precisely who is it, anyway, who enjoys seeing the plethora of non-authentic or non-appropriate versions that tend to plague us nowadays ... surely it cannot be the passengers in the trains ... unless they've got X-ray vision!!

A posting to incite criticism and I await my anticipated barracking * in due course!!

(* Not that I care in the slightest about that - for, in so acting, I have merely spoken up on behalf of a great many others who share similar sentiments .... and this site is, as we all know only too well, absolutely riddled with "moaners" (like my good self), who have nothing better to do with their time except to whinge about anything and everything!)

 

I like them,its different and casual,i don't see why everything needs to be serious,i don't understand what the problem is,its unauthentic,so what,do you want an engine with X headboard or the engine to be scrapped? Just a case of armchair enthusiasts more bothered about what the engine looks like for THEIR photo and not that A.it runs B.It is a fantastic loco. For a start on the mainline linesiders don't pay,so why should you/us have a say? Maybe at a photo shoot where you pay £20-£60 then we have a right to say that but on the main line i think it's just cheek!

 

As for mainline trips it is a marketing tool. There may be people on platforms such as at Clapham Junction who do not realise mainline steam operates, but when they see The Cathedrals Express run through, google it and find out that Steam Dreams operates many excursions... Also, brand recognition is important. Most preserved lines have diners, and they run with a headboard. Many customers are there to celebrate an event or special occasion, birthday or aniversary and will be photographed by the engine with the headboard. They have that as a momento of the day and may then show it to friends and relatives...

 

http://markt79.fotopic.net/p57827690.html

 

Sometimes headboards may have been put on to hack photographers off - or maybe I'm getting paranoid in my old age? I remember the Dawlish Donkey with the 14xx; agreement was reached to have some of the trains free of headboards, at the request of photographers. Personally, I see no harm with them if they are authentic names. I think some like 'Cornish Riviera Express' cannot be used because the copyright to the name was sold off at privatisation - it's all for sale in modern Britain!

John

 

How about this headboard that has emerged recently?

 

I tell you what heaboards are put on to annoy photographers on occasion, couldn;t give to very large bags of stuff about it. The headboards are as authentic as the engines themselves and for those uneducated in the subject there is a very good book by a Daivd Peel. You really need your head checking if you go home just because of a headboard on a train. Photographers can be so selfish and ignorant of the larger picture sometimes (pun defintaley intended). Surely the engine in steam and pulling trains for everyones enjoyment is vastly more important than providing an accurate historical scene for the few to photograph. Maybe I am being cynical.

 

Cheap bastards couldn't even afford a curved one. [-X

 

I like them, the only one I didn't was when SD had a cathedrals express one with the Duchess to Norwich and it was Awful, I think they had some complains because it was won in a competition and they have gone back to the old one. \/

 

I like Headboards on a loco - Especially if it has the ACE headboard!! Whatever next, are people going to complain about locos having nameplates before long? ](*,)

 

They already have in another thread !

 

It was designed that was as our logo is rectangular not curved....

And with lot of thanks to ProCast for supplying the Board. And getting it upto Llangollen..