| I wasn't expecting to take this. I was walking in a field on my first visit to England in 1993, being fully aware that I was next to a mainline (in this case the Great Eastern, if I'm not mistaken), and more worried about being electrocuted, as the trees hadn't been cut back very well. Nevertheless, I had my Kodak Star 735 in my hands, and then I heard an indescribable roar doppling towards me. The trees were blocking my view, but I raised the camera, caught this BR freight coming down the line at what must have been at least 80 m.p.h., and possibly faster, and swung around as it came by, getting this pan shot. It was all over in about 2 seconds, and I got the shot more or less by pure luck combined with reaction time, but I still think that it's one of my best train shots of all time. The blur of extreme speed (at least to my American mind of the time), combined with the memory of the noise, keep this shot in my head today whenever I'm attempting another one like it, which I should note I've never again succeeded in taking, even with a good SLR. |