Having been given my first camera in the very early 1970's  at a young age I  became hooked on photography. My early days were spent taking images of the local and national railway scene.

The 1970's and 1980's brought about massive changes in the railway scene, and many classes of locomotive were withdrawn during this period, many branch lines closed along with freight lines and many of the historic railway buildings that littered the railway landscape were demolished to make way for unit factories and shopping malls.

I had been brought up in the final years of steam on the railways, still too young to photograph them, but old enough to recall some of the last steam locomotives to work British Railways metals.

These years were the final years of the western region hydraulic classes, those locomotives that had replaced steam power, were now themselves on the way out, and by 1978 the hydraulics were but a memory.

These were the years when no trip to Barry Island was complete without a visit to Woodham Brothers at Barry Dock. Here the remnants of the British Railways locomotive fleet lay rusting away in the salty sea air. Row upon row of redundant steam locomotives waiting to be rescued. And rescued they were. (The picture is of myself aboard Merchant Navy Locomotive 35006 Penninsular And Orient Steam Navigation Company taken at Woodhams in June 1981)  Woodhams became a mecca to the enthusiast and preservationist alike, and the 200+ locomotives that remained in Woodhams yards during these years were almost rescued in their entirity.

The 1970's saw the withdrawl of the hydraulic fleets from Western metals, and Swindon works became the new Woodhams. Here rows of withdrawn hydraulic locomotives attracted the enthusiasts, however it was short term, and most of those withdrawn locomotives soon met with the cutters torch.

And so by the mid 1980's, when British Railways had withdrawn just about everything worth photographing, I again began to concentrate on land and sea scape photography. For many years you were more likely to find me on some wind swept beach or rocky foreshore than you ever would on some lonely siding, or bleak railway station. However, what goes round comes round, and the modern day railway scene began to interest me again some years ago. Now once again I am quite happily at home stood trackside in the freezing cold or rain, looking for that golden moment to capture on film (well digital these days) Who knows, I may be famous one day, if only for a moment. 

The images in this website cover all the years, both older and more modern. They are all taken by myself and are subject to copyright law.

I hope that you enjoy the images, and that they bring back some memories to those old enough to remember the era, and some envy to those too young to have been part of it. Long live the anorak.