DAVID'S PHOTOS OF THE MONTH

[davidb]

2012 - at East Croydon Station.

Tramlink had taken charge of a number of new tram sets, the first since the system was opened in May 2000. In June 2012 the management did a publicity photoshoot to show off their new acquisitions. Units 2554 (with a livery which can still be seen in 2021) and 2556 stand at the platforms at East Croydon. Six units were purchased although more were to follow in the coming years.

[davidb]

June 2012 - the same day that I photographed Tramlink's new units.

The RCTS (Railway Correspondence & Travel Society) had arranged a visit to London Overground's depot at New Gross Gate. The large, yellow building houses the LO networks main control room and administration. The other building is the main maintenance workshop; this shoot was taken from the roof of the yellow building (our guide took us up on the roof where we could see the extent of the depot and the wide landscape).

[davidb]

June 2007

You may remember this - Croydon Park Hotel.

During the construction of Altitude 25 on the corner of Addiscombe Grove and Fairfield Road (close to the Law Courts) one of the cranes collapsed and fell on Croydon Park Hotel, closing the hotel for a while to allow for repairs. I was fortunate to be working close to East Croydon Station and took my camera out to record the aftermath of the incident. (Finding more information on this accident was difficult!)

[davidb]

That's JUNE - now to start searching for July.

[Iggy]

Hi David,
I enjoyed seeing your SECR O1 class no 65 chugging along just past Sharpthorne Tunnel.
Kind regards,
Iggy

[davidb]

END OF JULY …

[davidb]

One more thing …

Many of the members of CCC are aware that I enjoy photographing trains, especially steam engines. A number have appeared in competitions and exhibitions. But how many knew I was interested in model steam engines?

Unfortunately, I don't have the space (or the inclination!) to produce a layout to "play trains" but I have got a display of some to the models. This shows three rows of OO gauge (4mm per foot) items and a front row of N gauge (2mm per foot). I've built up the display in layers to better show off my pride and joys. It includes an engine (a SE&CR D class, on the left of the first row of OO models) acquired within the last month and "Rocket" (on the right of the same row).

The display is set into an Ikea "Billy" wall unit and is lite by an Ikea led strip.

[davidb]

July 2014

The RCTS arranges a number of "outdoor meetings" during the summer months. This year one meeting was a trip to Amberley Heritage Centre where the railway was the focus of attention. The Centre occupies a quarry once used to extract chalk to convert to lime.

Whilst I took a large number of photographs of the railway and the rolling stock I didn't miss out on the other exhibits. The first image shows a lime kiln and the second "Polar Bear", one of the engines running around the lines.

[davidb]

2015

Whilst I do like to walk around Kew Gardens, Wakehurst Place (in Sussex and also managed by the Royal Botanical Gardens) is a peaceful place to spend a day enjoying the countryside and photographing the wildlife.

The image is of the mansion within the gardens.

[davidb]

2016

It would be remise of me if I didn't include a real steam engine amongst the months photographs.

Here's one taken at Clapham Junction. It's LMS Jubilee Class no 45699 "Galatea'" but what happened next? Yes, you guessed it - the class 450 EMU just "steamed" ahead and ruined the shots of everyone who were on platforms 9/10 (I prefer a side-on view rather than the head-on view offered by platforms 5/6).