The Winter Cumbrian Mountain Express.

[johntwo]

A steam special was due to come down the Settle to Carlisle line late afternoon today.  That meant that the sun would be over to the west, ideal for a south bound train.  So I risked going up to Dent Station despite the fairly heavy snow falls.  As it turned out the roads were fairly passable.  At 1150ft, Dent Station is the highest Railway Station in the UK.  Unusually, the special was a two engine double header with 61306 Mayflower leading 35018 the British India Line.  Disappointingly, I couldn't find a viewpoint that would show both engines fully as well as provide a decent comp. so I opted for the latter.  Two colour and one mono just for variety.  The conditions were too bright for a slower shutter speed and so not much blur on the wheels etc.

1.  You can just see the second engine.

2.

3. The Old Station House

[Kobione]

Nice set John.  As you have probably picked up by my responses to other posts I love steam train images because it's something we cannot easily get to see. Both of the engine are really nice, but slightly prefer the mono version. It makes the steam cloud a bit more condensed and the angle is great giving that very nice reflection of the rails ahead on the front.

Love the Station House too, composition is good, nice background view - and lots of crunchy snow!!

[Korky]

Yes, a very nice set of images - the mono shot has a lovely timeless quality about it.

Good stuff.

Korky

[Hatter]

Good set, John.  I like the way you've made the engine pop out of the frame in the first one.

 

[Ryewolf]

Good set John, normally I really like steam trains in mono, but the colour one does it for me. Unusual to see a double header as well. Not seen either of these two trains.

[Clicker]

Everything about this set feels crisp  and defined John...Very nice 1st image   unusually the colour version really enhances this one for me  as usually I opt  for that  dated   monotone treatment for  steam  engines  ... The Old Station house  is  beautiful with that shadow detail in the foreground and that  fabulous view in the background ... a real quality set Sir ... 

[FUJI]

Just catching up here John...

This is a lovely crisp set of winter images, the first is an absolute winner.

FUJI

[johntwo]

Thanks all for your comments.  I had a very pleasant afternoon out.  I was even invited in for a cuppa by a family renting one of the cottages at the end of he station drive.  They were delighted to find out that in addition to all the snow, they would have a close up view of a steam train.  The children ended up hanging over the garden fence in a way reminiscent of the Railway Children.

Gareth, the pop wasn't planned.  I wanted to use the closest shot to show off the engine at it's best but I cut part of the buffer off.  I ended up pasting a copy of the left hand buffer on to the right and the cut was to avoid having to sort out the rest of the RH edge.

Clicks Fuj', the images are crisp and there has been no sharpening applied.  Although I needed to dodge and burn a fair amount because of the shadow from the Station House, there has been no sharpening.  I was using a 23mm f1.4 prime lens on the X-T3 and it produced the sharpness straight out of the camera.  I'm normally lazy and leave the 18-55mm zoom on but this looks to be a good combination.