Southern Spectacular by the Sea

The Perfect Capture of Repton - Can We Achieve It?

The first gala of what I seem to have called “silly season,” where each weekend has a gala to attend, started for me at one of my favourite railways in the south: the Swanage Railway. It was a superb gala celebrating all things Southern, with two great guests in No.506 and a southerner returning from the north, No.926 Repton. In this blog, I’ll talk about both frustration and jubilation when it comes to getting the right shot, and how to reset yourself to achieve the best results.

I always go to a gala looking for that special shot of a visiting locomotive. In this case, I wasn’t particularly focused on No.506 (or rather, the newly repainted and renumbered BR-liveried No.30506), but instead on the guest from the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. It’s been ages since I saw Cheltenham at the Mid Hants many years ago, and to be completely truthful, Repton’s Maunsell green livery is much more of a pull for me. That, of course, builds the pressure to take that perfect shot.

As ever, I was joined by Chailey (insert YT channel), who came up with one of his excellent plans. He’s a master at these, and very different to me in how I approach photography and videography. I tend to be more of an “I like this spot and check one of my many sun apps to see where the best position will be for a specific loco” type.

It was an early start at 04:15 with a check of all the camera gear, before heading off to Swanage at 05:15 with Chailey in the driving seat and his varied music playlist blasting away. Personal favourites included “From Paris to Berlin” and Cascada. By 09:00 we had arrived at Swanage and were ready for our first shot at Dickers Crossing, with my favourite locomotive on the Swanage Railway (U-Class No31806) pulling a service alongside No.30506. For this shot, I focused on video, but going onto the left side of Dickers Crossing remains one of my favourite viewpoints. It was fantastic to see the U-boat leading her bigger Urie cousin.

A video still capture from the first shot at Dickers Crossing showing off designs from Richard Maunsell and Robert Urie as the U-boat and S 15 head towards Harmans Cross

From there it was on to Catseye Crossing on the extension. Apart from Strictly Bulleid, where I rode the extension to River Frome, I had never photographed on the extension. Unfortunately, the rain and poor weather at the time made this video territory rather than still photography. From that point onwards, though, I would have three attempts to capture a successful shot of No.926.

The first attempt came at Wurzel Crossing, just south of Corfe station. However, due to the limitations of the crossing, we had to venture to the “dark side” and leave the sun behind us. That meant one of my opportunities was already used up, and although the result could be salvaged as a black-and-white image, it wasn’t the shot I was searching for. I had picked out two main locations where I wanted to capture Repton: Wilderness Crossing and Dickers Crossing.

The First Attempt - With the goods set in formation, No.926 Repton approaches Wurzel Crossing on a wet Saturday morning of the Gala

Camera Settings: Focal Length: 55mm, Shutter Speed: 1/640mm, Aperture: f/5.0, ISO: 100

After photographing Manston and the S15 at Wurzel Crossing, we headed to Wilderness Crossing for my first main attempt. The long walk from Harmans Cross carried a sense of nervousness. This was a locomotive in a livery I loved on the Bluebell’s S15 No.847 and also during my teenage years with U class No.1638. On arrival, Wilderness Crossing lived up to its name. Since March, the vegetation had grown significantly, but as photographers, we have to work around such issues, and I remain grateful to the volunteers who cut back linesides across the heritage network.

Out came my trusty steps — an invaluable tool for any railway photographer, helping gain height over foliage or people time and again. As Repton approached, my camera was set: f/4 aperture, 1/640 shutter speed, ISO 100. But as I started shooting, the electrical box south of the crossing came into view. I released the shutter and stopped. What I had wanted was a lovely side-angle, a 1/4 view of Repton; what I ended up with was more of a smokebox shot with a bit of the side. Reviewing the camera confirmed my mistake. I could have cropped the box out, but something in my head had made me stop taking photos. Frustrated and angry with myself, I marched back up the hill to Harmans Cross gripping the tripod so tightly that a plastic one would have snapped.

The Shot That Got Away - No.926 Repton powers over Wilderness crossing, the electrical box for Quorn Crossing just north of this position put me off and made me take my finger off the shutter button, if only it was a few frame along, it would have been fine!

Camera Settings: Focal Length: 135mm, Shutter Speed: 1/640mm, Aperture: f/4.0, ISO: 100

When you don’t get the shot you want, the best thing is to get back shooting quickly. That’s exactly what Chailey and I did. We paused to capture a lovely shot of Manston powering south towards Swanage before heading into Corfe station for snacks (including a white chocolate Magnum) and a gala programme. That instantly lifted my spirits, as I’d been told weeks earlier that two of my pictures would be featured in the programme. Seeing them printed was rewarding recognition for the channel and a personal achievement.

After Corfe, we moved to Norden Common for a few photos of the T3 and S15, including my first sunlit shot of the T3 at this location. The last time I had photographed her here, at a charter the previous October, the rain was pouring and the wind howling. This time, the sunshine was glorious.

Victorian Sunshine Steam - No563 makes the short climb towards Norden station

Camera Settings: Focal Length: 35mm, Shutter Speed: 1/500mm, Aperture: f/7.1, ISO: 125

Originally, we had New Barn lined up as the final location for Repton. But after some debate at Harmans Cross, we headed instead to Furzebrook, capturing Manston climbing the extension back towards Swanage in the beginnings of gorgeous evening light. It was here, with Chailey and Matt (The Southerner), that we agreed our final shot would be at Dickers Crossing.

The site of our first shot of the day, now the sun had moved around and was behind us as we looked south towards Swanage and awaited Repton’s whistle. At Dickers we were joined by The Southerner and 72b Photography for the final shot, as our original final shot now showed a band of rain heading in and cloud building up, it was all or nothing on the 18:15 departure from Swanage, no pressure then. The sun was starting to present a lovely golden glow and once again, to get the best shot and get a bit more height, I broke out the steps to give me the best vantage point. In all the pressure to get the camera setting correct and to try and practice the shot, being as stable as possible, getting the tracking smooth and the adjusting the focal length, I completely forgot to set up the phone to record a video.

Repton approached the crossing just south of Dickers with a good amount of noise and exhaust, however, after she ran over the crossing she backed off and I could sense a collective groan as we all wondered whether we had missed the shot. Thankfully, as she appeared from the dark and into the light, so the excellent three cylinder chuff that the Schools class produce came back and beautifully disturbed the evening peace. In my head, all the practice came into being but the only thought in my head was, do not stop taking photographs! It turned out to be the right thought and as we all enjoyed the beat of the Schools as she made her way towards Harmans Cross. I then took a very nervous view of the back of my Z8 camera and said a little prayer to the photography gods. What I saw turned a day where I had been disappointed with myself into one of elation, I had got the shot I had come for and even better I had done it in golden hour, one of my favourite times to photograph steam locomotives. As we headed back to the car, it was far easier to have a laugh, a joke and enjoy the company of Chailey, Matt and Alfie.

The Southern Sunset - No.926 “Repton” climbs towards Harmans Cross during a lazy early autumn evening. For me this was mission accomplished and as all good Hollywood movies portray “a happy ending”

Camera Settings: Focal Length: 58mm, Shutter Speed: 1/640mm, Aperture: f/5.6, ISO: 80

From here it was back to the car and what seems to be becoming a Swanage tradition to head off to McDonalds for a social with Matt and Chailey where we discuss personal topics as well as the channels, heritage railways in general and the upcoming Severn Valley gala. Matt and I had a bash at coming up with new names for Chailey’s channel, my suggestion has always been “Stowe on Steam” and Matt’s suggestion was “Along Sussex Lines”, please bombard Chailey’s channel for other name suggestions. On the way home it was back to the Chailey playlist and this time it was duet between us two as we sung Adele’s “Skyfall” at the top of our lungs, apologies to anyone on the M27 who heard two strangled cats screeching past them on their way back to Sussex.

Thank you all once again for tuning into another blog post, I am hoping these will come thick and fast now with “silly season” in full swing and galas most weekends, the adventure is heading up to Severn Valley to enjoy some time with Camelot in a very different surrounding as well as see 813 back in steam and the other visitors take on a very intensive timetable at the Valley. Hopefully see a good number of you there!