No rest for the wicked! It may be Sunday but I’ve a little job to do that involves trying to get a suitable cover picture for a magazine. This means that after a lazy Sunday morning at home I’m now heading to Leeds for a few hours. This could be a challenge as the weather’s variable to say the least. We had a lot of heavy rain overnight. The aftermath is Yorkshire’s blanketed by low grey cloud and a procession of showers. Still, I enjoy a challenge! On the bright side (if you’ll pardon the pun) I won’t have to worry about heavy shadows or being on the wrong side of the sun!
The train I’m using to get to Leeds is a late running service from Blackpool North to York that needed to rendesvous with an ambulence (for some unspecified reason) earlier in its journey. The 3-car 195 is packed with a variety of holidaymakers and day trippers leavened with a few determined shoppers but I’ve managed to find a tip-up seat in a vestibule and relax for a whole.

The train became less packed after calling at Bradford Interchange as a number of suitcase wielders bid us goodbye. I’m assuming they’re on their way home from fleshpots of Blackpool – although looking at some of them I suspect a lot of time was spent in pubs and chip-shops! I’m now sharing a table, which is an improvement as I can set up the laptop and catch up on some work.
16:00.
I’ve seen a lot more sunshine at Leeds than I expected! This choose my first photographic position for me, leaving me shooting pictures of trains approaching from the East along the narrow station throat to head straight into the range of my long lens – like this…

I managed to capture a variety of train types and companies but with it being a Sunday my quarry was on the sparse side! After an hour of changing light conditions I’ve swapped ends to add to the picture mix. I was hoping we might have had a rain shower just to wet the ground. Backlit shots after rain can look very dramatic – almost monochrome.
Whilst the trains are on the sparse side passenger numbers remain bouyant. I’m about to relocate to Bradford and this was the view as I walked to my train.

17:25.
Well my brief interlude in Bradford was a bit of a bust! It’s high summer and the ballast looks more like a lawn rather than a well-maintained trackbed. I had similar problems at Leeds but this was worse. Plus, it being Sunday, the trains I was hoping to shoot are sparse. I may have to nip out for a bit tomorrow as compensation. I’ll decode after I’ve edited today’s image haul. Right now I’m heading home on this wee beastie. You really don’t want to see a solitary 2-car on York – Blackpool’s, especially of a weekend, but there you go…

17:45.
I’m back in Halifax, the weather’s improving with the promise of a lovely evening so I’ve stopped for a ‘swifty’ in the Meandering Bear before the walk home…

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