Photographing on the ECML - Southern section

In preparation for, hopefully, getting some video of Green Arrow on her run from York to London on Saturday 18th Nov, I've been looking at the gradient profile for the southern half of the East Coast Main Line and studying the OS maps. It's not quite as billiard-table smooth as I had thought. My gradients book pre-dates the Selby Coalfield diversion, but the old route was quite flat as far south as Retford. South of there, there are 5 climbs. The shortest is 3 miles, the longest more like 20.

1) 3 miles from just south of Retford to Askham Tunnel, starting at 1 in 178, easing to 1 in 200 half way.

2) 20 miles from Newark (crossing the Trent) to Stoke summit, through a ridge of what I think must be the Lincolnshire Wolds. The first ten miles are quite gentle: 1 in 550 to 1 in 300, then there's 2 miles of 1 in 200 either side of Barkston, 4 miles of easier grade, and finally 5 miles of uninterrupted 1 in 200 from Grantham to Stoke. The final couple of the miles, from Great Ponton, look promising for photographers, on the map. The summit, by the way, is a little south of the tunnel. Sadly, the map doesn't shows any public right of way at the summit, so there's no obvious way of getting a dramatic shot of the train bursting from the tunnel mouth. The summit is a true summit, too, as it is immediately followed by about 20 miles of down-hill running, initially at 1 in 178 (to Corby Glen), easing to 1 in 200 through Little Bytham, and finally fizzling out south of Tallington. Great ground for record-breaking!

3) Just over 4 miles, from Connington Junction to south of Abbots Ripton, 1 in 200. This stretch looks promising on the map, with a selection of roads, footpaths and over-bridges, though line is quite straight.

4) About 15 miles from Biggleswade to Stevenage, gradually steepening to 1 in 200 about 1.5 miles north of Hitchin. There's a little more climbing either side of Knebworth then it's down-hill through Welwyn and WGC to the crossing of the River Lea. My map of the area is too old to be reliable, but the area between Hitchin and Stevenage looks promising, around Great and Little Wymondley.

5) The last hurrah is 6.5 miles through Hatfield to Potters Bar at between 1 in 400 and 1 in 200, before an almost uninterrupted downhill run to the Big Smoke

Of course, what I'm lacking is any actual knowledge of the ground! Can anyone help to fill in the missing intelligence?

 

Perhaps we should have national rail photo guides like we have for preserved lines?

 

South of Peterborough there are a few places, but you'll be quite a way from the line IIRC. Good for videos, not so good for photos. Holme crossing I believe is ok as well. I think there is a shot from near the church at the bottom of this map, but not too sure to be honest. http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi? ... 000&icon=x

Around Langford (between Biggleswade and Arlesey) there are around 4 footpaths or crossings over the line, though sun might be in the wrong place (assuming there is any). Can be good from a distance as the line is on an embankment with only a few trees that get in the way.

North end of Arlesey car park as the loco leans round the curve. Take some sort of vertical elevation device will be in order ie. a ladder or step stools.

There is a bridge between Great and Little Wymondleys with dirt tracks/footpaths leading down towards the line. Good for up direction, awful for down direction so should be ok for Saturday.

Knebworth station is good for up trains climbing up from Langley Junction.

Coming out of the tunnel at Welwyn North from the platform is normally ok, especially that time of the day. If she's been checked at Woolmer Green Junc then 4771 should be accelerating through the station. South of

Brookman's Park station theer is a footpath right next to the line on the west side. Only 1/330 up there but better than nowt.

 

I shall try and get out and record the V2 myself. I have had various degrees of success in and around the Hatfield Area, most recently from Wellam Green but also from Woolmer Green. I was there in 2003 when the B1 came South and I stationed myself on my ladder by the points. The B1 appeared on the slow, crawling and was lapped by a unit on the fast. The driver had it liked so as he did not stop moving before he reached the signal and it cleared the signal line through the tunnel, but he then opened her wide open! Shame it was foggy.

Any how I have found a resource called Trainspots at http://www.trainspots.co.uk/ that is very helpful for many locations on the ECML as well as elsewhere with example photographs and map references. Go have a look.

Anyhow My recent ECML result are to be found at http://www.chappers.fotopic.net/c163834.html

Here's the B1
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Thanks everyone. The weather forecast for Grantham looks good for tomorrow morning: sunny, feels like 1-deg C. Let's hope she's on time!

Good hunting!

 

Picture from todays run at Welham green is on the London Lights thread

 

I have just updated my web site with a couple of pictures of Green Arrow, taken yesterday morning. The diesel on the back of the train was doing most of the work, which was a shame. I guess Green Arrow is still rather fragile, and the ECML is not the place to break down. She was coasting on the approach to Stoke Tunnel, presumably because she would be switched to the slow lines the other side. At Woodwalton, she almost came to a stop as an HST was switched to the slow line in front of her. I was lucky to be in just the right place to watch her (or rather, them) accelerating away from the signal.

I was standing on the the fence-line to take the first shot. I had to walk across a field (fallow / set-aside) and through the edge of some scrubby wood to get to it. There were really no other spots in the district. The line-side vegetation, shallow cutting and general lie of the land conspire to make the line almost invisible. Also, the adjacent footpaths marked on the OS map are almost impossible to find on the ground.

The second spot, beside the church at Church End, Woodwalton, worked OK for video, but the track-side undergrowth spoils the view rather. The sun was shining almost straight down the line. When I arrived, it was just on the east side of the line, but had the train been much later, the west side would have been better. There is quite a choice of angles between Wood Walton village and Church End. The west side of the line is even better, once the sun has gone round enough, since there is less undergrowth on that side. Mind you, if the steam train is on the slow line, there are three tracks between it and you, so more chance of a modern train blocking your shot.