Big hello to the Railway Forum!
 

Hi All,

Thought I'd join up here just to see what it's like. Been interested in railways for 20 odd years, though only got into photography 2 years ago, and still improving ;)

As you can see I have 2 fotopic sites; I'm on a mission to photograph all the 66's on my class 66 site, something which sounds easier than it actually has proved to be.

I'm studying in London at the moment and try to manage to get out with the camera once a week or so, depending on time constraints.

Look forward to posting on here :)

The idea of trying to photograph every member of any class is a daunting task in my mind. :D

Welcome to the forum!

Hi 66521 welcome to the forum. Have a look at Brother Bernie's gallery on this forum for a lot of photos of 66's. and post some of your own as well.
Enjoy the site.

Hello and welcome to the Forum, you are right it wont be easy to photograph all the 66s, but if you persevere I think you will do it. There are plenty of photos of 66s in our galleries, have a good look round. Good luck and all the best.

Hi Guys,

Thanks for your responses. I've just been having a snoop around this site and I was wondering - do members typically post photos in 'my gallery' or one of the forum galleries, or direct link from another site (eg. fotopic?)

I just created an album in my gallery and stuck a couple of photos in there to see how it works. What's the difference between my gallery and the main forum galleries?

As for the 66's, yes, I just got 66728 yesterday at Stratford which was nice. But I have a long way to go yet. I think I'm on 277 at the moment....:eek:

Hi and welcome!

Basically the main gallery catagories make it easier for people to find photos, I think any photo posted in those appears in "your gallery" anyway hence the new big warnings.

I was also a bit naughty and accidently put one or two in "Member Galleries" instead of a catagory. :D

Hello Darryl and welcome to the forum.
Generally members are encouraged to post pictures in the Railwayforum gallery and not just link from a Fotopic or similar site.
When posting to the gallery you should put your photo into one or other of the specific categories. "My gallery" is just a quick link to all of your photos irrespective of which category you placed them in and shouldn't be used as a separate category. Hope that makes sense.

If you do want to inform members of an update to your Fotopic site/s there is a thread entitled "Members Photo Sites" in the Photographic forum.

Sorry for repeating what DBT had already said. He obviously types faster than I do.:)

Cheers everyone. I think that makes sense! So there's not much point posting photos to 'my gallery' as I've done with a few just now? It would be better to post them in a specific category?:)

I think that is the rule, yes. :)

I found it slightly daunting at first also.

Welcome to the forum 66521. You've set yourself a bit of a challenge!

Cheers! Indeed - they seem to be building the things faster than I can photograph them ;)

Hello old fruit & welcome. ANOTHER man of Kent/ Kentish man !!

I see that Fastline has just joined the 66 club, and GBRf and Frightlerner have some more due. No sleep for the wicked, eh ? ;)

Welcome to the Forum 66521, already enjoying your photos even though I'm not the greatest fan of "Sheds"

Best wishes,

John H-T.

Are there a lot of Kent folk on here then? I am a man of Kent through and through, although exiled in neighbouring Sussex for the foreseeable future.......

Cheers for the welcome guys. Yes, I'm now a Kentish man, although only in the last year. Before that I was in Lincolnshire and before that Yorkshire and before that Hampshire, and before that... Holland! :)

I know the 66's aren't everyones cup of tea, but I reckon in 30 years time it will be interesting to have a thorough photographic record of them all... however many that turns out to be.

I have to say I'm intrigued by Foghut's comment - I know there are more Freightliners due (954-957) and more DRS (431-434) but I didn't know GBRf were getting more! I can't keep up :eek:

John H-T: thanks for the comment. Some of my earlier 2006/7 photos aren't that good, and I'm trying to replace them all with some better composed photos. That was when I'd just got into photography and hadn't a clue about composing shots or lighting etc. Even some of my more recent stuff isn't always fantastic, but it beats my earlier attempts! But with 441 sheds knocking around at the moment you can appreciate how long it's going to take me ;)

And don't forget the 66's operating in Mainland Europe Darryl :D

Well I'm originally from Bucks and now live in Kent, but I really want to move to Lincs or South Yorks. Perhaps we should start a thread on this forum for house swapping ? :D

Well my source for this is Rail #595, and if the above isn't enough, they're saying that now DRS wants to hand back its first 10 66/4s to Porterbrook. Other FOCs are interested in them, so they'll probably change livery and you'll have to go after them as well. Perhaps you should apply for a lottery grant, it'll cost a small fortune chasing after all these locos.;)

Welcome to the forum.
Paul.

Once again, thanks for the welcome everyone. Yes, a small lottery grant wouldn't go amiss to help me fund this mad quest. Every time I get near to clearing the GBRf 66's they seem to order more. As for DRS; I hardly ever seem to see them! I'm very interested to see what's going to happen to 401-410 when they come off lease.

Another Kentish Man reporting in... at least I wil always think of myself as one, though I am now exiled to the far western reaches of the realm. All those years of looking down my nose at the G*R and now I'm living in the middle of it!

Hello boilersuit - interesting avatar ;)

Well you're not missing much today - it's chucking it down with rain here for the first time in what seems like weeks :(

You should enjoy yourself and keep reminding them that the withered arm was the most important bit of the western region, bringing the tourists in. And if Brunel was so clever, why did he go 'narrow-gauge' then?!;) :p

..........because those great big broad gauge trains kept getting stuck trying to go through the narrow gauge tunnels.:D

Because Parliament told him he had to ...... and you thought the nanny state was new!

Actually to be more accurate they stopped passing Railway Acts for new broad gauge lines which left him out on a limb.

Best wishes,

John H-T.

Brunel had the right idea with the wider gauge IMO, the only reason that I can recall that they switched from the 7ft something gauge that Brunel chose is simply because the good ol' 4ft 8 1/2 inches was far more widespread and he was backed into that corner.

Brunel was a genious with mathamatics who was certain in his conviction this his gauge was optimum for ride comfort, speed and room for passengers and goods. And that's good enough for me, he was seldom wrong with any other calculation.

I reckon that 3 odd inches might make today's railways a totally different picture, but I guess we'll never know.

Some justification of this was seen on the few occasions that Broad Gauge locos left the road. They were much more stable and usually remained upright.

Of course I am only leg-pulling and know that Brunel was right and everyone else was wrong, but the man had poor taste in hats:p

And to mis-quote above:

"I reckon that odd three inches might make a difference..."

Where have I heard that before!:eek: :D :D

I've personally heard it from the ex, many times. :D

I'm quite fond of the top hat but I suppose each to their own. :p