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 Northgate for Doncaster on Thursday 18th April 1963.
Photographs by Colin Walker (except where noted).
Introduction
By 1962 the East Coast Main Line's fleet of express passenger steam locomotives was rapidly dwindling as more and more diesels came off the manufacturers' production lines and went into service, primarily on the more prestigious, fastest and longer distance services. Having forged relationships with railway staff during several years of photographic visits to Grantham, Colin sought to make footplate trips on the famous East Coast pacific locomotives of classes A3, A4 and A1 while they remained at work on express services between London and Yorkshire.
The footplatemen in the photographs happen to be mostly Yorkshiremen working from Leeds or Doncaster, but the work they are doing and the sights Colin has captured were daily experiences for generations of Grantham drivers and firemen whose route knowledge extended from the Thames to the Tyne.
You'll see that his scenes from locomotive cabs were mostly taken from the right side. By the 1950s steam locomotives which used 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'.
The cab of a fast-running main line express steam locomotive must be one of the most challenging environments that a photographer can encounter. Not only is space very restricted, but the bucking, swaying and shaking of the footplate has to be experienced to be understood - it's nothing like the much smoother ride enjoyed by passengers the in 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.
The contrast between the dark, sooty 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, little 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.
This selection of Colin Walker's evocative pictures from the footplate is a small window into a private world, the British express steam locomotive cab, in its final years. It shows us a once commonplace yet largely unseen way of working life, a partnership of two highly experienced men, driver and fireman, older and younger. So let's peer into this special place and imagine the sights, sounds, smells and movement as the two men and their machine speed us on our way.
More of Colin Walker's photographs taken on the footplate can be seen on our page A Trip to Highdyke in Winter's Chill.
From Grantham to Peterborough on The White Rose, August 1962
These photographs were taken during a trip between Grantham and Peterborough on the footplate of A1 No. 60130 'Kestrel' with The White Rose in August 1962. The footplate crew were from Copley Hill shed in Leeds.
The White Rose was an express passenger service which ran on weekdays and Saturdays between Leeds Central and London King's Cross . This trip took place on a Saturday because on Mondays to Fridays The White Rose did not call southbound at Grantham and Peterborough.
On a Saturday The White Rose departed from Leeds at 3.43pm. Coaches from Bradford Exchange were attached at Wakefield (Westgate) and further calls were made at Doncaster, Retford, Newark (North Gate), Grantham (5.48-5.52pm) and Peterborough (North) (6.38-6.43pm). The scheduled arrival time at London King's Cross was 8.8pm.
