Didcot Photo Event, 4ht December 2024

The nearest that preservation can get to reproducing the unique atmosphere of a steam shed

 

Magnificent: and I don't even like GWR engines. But I do like Didcot and hope to visit again this summer.

 

I don’t particularly either but this is the nearest thing you can get to the atmosphere of a working steam shed of old

 

I'm sure that there are many who will agree with you John and they are lovely photographs but....."the atmosphere of a working steam shed" - come on. It is far too clean and tidy and sterile to be anything like the grubby, filthy dirty, greasy oil soaked working environment of a running shed of old. Then you add people posed in the shot who could not look more stiff and unnatural if they tried. Sorry, it just doesn't do it for me as any form of realistic recreation - too much like a chocolate box cover for my liking.

On the other hand, if you cut the pretense out, they are lovely shots of locos posed for photography at night in the post steam era of 2024.

Just my opinion and no criticism is intended. Each to his own as they say

Peter

 

Nearest? Really? Having them in steam would be a start.

 

I did say ‘as near as you can get’. Nothing can replicate the atmosphere and often semi dereliction of a working shed of old as those of us who were privileged to witness it know but we are all getting old now and that memory will become history so better to have Didcot and Barrow Hill than nothing. The human element has to remain absolutely still for the time exposures so they will never look natural. The best is The one climbing onto the footplate, very difficult to maintain that pose for even 20 seconds.

 

Whilst I appreciate that a true replication of a BR era shed is nigh on impossible these days, having the locos in steam would be an improvement on what was on offer. There was a time when Didcot night shoots did just that. Nowadays it seems to be dead engines with smoke generators and they seem to generate it in all the wrong places.

 

It was really a pre Christmas meet up, engines in steam would have cost more. There is also a problem at Didcot that they haven’t got a lot that’s steamable.