Above: Having travelled from London on the footplate, Colin looks back towards his friend Keith Fair as A4 No. 60021 Wild Swan departs from Newark (North Gate) for Retford and Doncaster on Thursday 18th April 1963. Photograph by Keith Fair.
Introduction
By the summer of 1962 the fleet of express passenger steam locomotives on the East Coast Main Line was dwindling rapidly. Their replacement diesel electrics were coming off the manufacturers' production lines and entering service, and they had already taken over the most prestigious fast and long-distance trains to and from the North East of England and Scotland. However, some of the famous East Coast pacific locomotives of classes A3, A4 and A1 remained at work on passenger services between London and Yorkshire.
The word was that the beginning of the next summer timetable, in June 1963, would be a watershed; after that all trains into and out of London King's Cross were planned for diesel haulage. So, having forged relationships with railway staff during several years of photographic visits to Grantham and elsewhere on the route, Colin sought to experience footplate trips between London and Yorkshire during the final few months of power by steam.
The footplatemen in the photographs happen to be either London-based, or Yorkshiremen working from Leeds or Doncaster. However the work they are doing, and the sights Colin has captured, were daily experiences for generations of Grantham main line drivers and firemen whose East Coast Main Line route knowledge extended from the Thames to the Tyne, and to Leeds from Doncaster, routes which were equally familiar to main line passenger guards who worked from Grantham.
The cab of a fast-running main line express steam locomotive must be one of the most challenging environments a photographer can encounter. Not only is space very restricted, but the bucking, swaying and shaking of the footplate while on the move is in sharp contrast to the much smoother ride enjoyed by passengers in the coaches behind. In this situation a bulky press camera, as usually employed by Colin, is completely impractical, so resort had to be made to the smaller 35mm format.
In photographic terms the contrast between the dark, soot-blackened interior of the cab and full daylight outside make finding a balanced exposure tricky, perhaps impossible. There is neither time for accurate focussing nor, perhaps, much point in attempting it given the constant shaking of the photographer's 'platform'. Fortunately Colin's eye for a picture - for example, such qualities as viewpoint, composition, and familiarity with his subject - captures each scene so effectively that we are untroubled by a bit of fuzziness here or over exposure there.
You'll see that these scenes from locomotive cabs were mostly taken from the right side. By the 1950s the steam locomotives on the East Coast Main Line were driven from the left side of the cab (though, in earlier years, the opposite had been standard practice). To avoid distracting the driver Colin therefore usually positioned himself on the right of the cab, 'the fireman's side'.
This selection of Colin Walker's evocative pictures from the footplate is a window into the private world of the British express steam locomotive cab in its twilight years. It shows us a once commonplace yet largely unseen way of working life, a partnership of two highly experienced men, driver and fireman, old hand and young blood. So let's rediscover this special place after sixty years have passed, and imagine the sights, sounds, smells and movement as two men and their machine speed us on our way.
Follow these links to five sequences of photographs; at the end of each sequence you can move directly to the next:
More of Colin Walker's photographs taken on the footplate can be seen on our page A Trip to Highdyke in Winter's Chill.
Absolutely superb collection of Colin Walker's photos. Well done guys.
Thank you Ian. It's a delight to host these pictures on Tracks through Grantham.
John Clayson