Although railways predominantly feature in my Photostream, I do point my camera lenses at varied subjects, but with the time involved in both uploading contemporary and historical railway images other subjects rarely do get a look in I’m afraid!

Spending my childhood years at Walton-on-Thames on the LSWR main line, Southern Region steam at speed on this section, particularly Bulleid’s fine Pacifics, drew me at a very early age to spending time at the station just watching in awe and breathing in the sulphurous smell of passing locomotives. The Southern Railway electric units were also fascinating to see and to travel in, with their plump horse-hair cushions, wooden panelling and brass fittings. This was a totally different world to that which went on around outside and I just wanted to explore this adventure even further! From the age of ten I started to travel around independently, London being an obvious rich hunting ground in order to fulfill my passion. I also visited areas within daily travelling distance from West Cumbria, where I would spend my school summer holidays, courtesy of my paternal Grandmother, and what tremendous opportunities I had there!

The early days of my passion for railways were dominated by searching down ‘cops’, the locos that I needed to see, although I started an attempt at photography with a Kodak ‘Box Brownie’ using Ilford 120 roll film from 1965, at the age of 12. The disappointing results obtained, coupled with the cost of the processing and printing, soon convinced me that I needed to channel my limited financial resources into rail fares to get around to see and experience more. I used to peruse railway books from the library and periodicals at station book stalls whenever I could, admiring the photographs published within and wondering how on earth they had been achieved.

The final days of steam, firstly on the Southern Region in 1967 and then on London Midland Region in the north west 1968, coincided with my GCE studies. Subsequently commencing full-time employment in the Civil Service, I had little time nor money for pursuing a photographic hobby seriously during those final years of BR steam, although by this time I had been given a Kodak ‘Instamatic’ as a Christmas present and it did turn out the occasional satisfactory transparency taken on ‘shed-bashing’ trips, although I could only afford a handful of films per year. From 1969, disposable income started to improve following promotion at work, so a purchase of a Halina Paulette 35mm camera was made through my mother’s mail order catalogue. I then set about recording the railway scene using the then relatively expensive Kodak and Agfa transparency film, but with limited success due to the poor fixed camera lens and maximum shutter speed of 1/250s. By this time my interest in industrial railways had blossomed. There was still working steam and I now owned a motorcycle upon which to travel about. Most of my early work covering the broad spectrum of industrial railways from this period can be seen here on Flickr.

My first quality railway book purchase, a treasured item which I obtained pre-owned from the Roundhouse bookshop in Harrow-on-the-Hill in 1969, was appropriately Colin Gifford’s ‘Decline of Steam’, and I guess that his work had a great influence on my approach to railway photography from that time on.

Joining the Army Intelligence Corps in 1971, my first posting was to Germany, where everyday working steam on DB was still very much in evidence around certain parts of the country, although leisure travel around the ‘Iron Curtain’ countries was for me understandably forbidden. I soon purchased a quality 35mm camera, a Pentax Spotmatic with a f1.4 Takuma standard prime lens, and as further funds permitted I purchased a new Takuma 80-200mm zoom lens. I remained loyal to Pentax until 1996, when I purchased my first medium format camera, a Mamiya 645 and 80mm, 150mm and 210mm prime lenses, with a Pentax 35mm being called upon additionally as required. Various countries around the world were visited but by my 2005 visit to China I was making my first move to digital, using a Sony ‘Cybershot’ compact camera mainly for street photography alongside the Mamiya 645 equipment. My digital photography from that time on progressed from using the compact to a Sony ‘Prosumer’ DSC-R1, then a Canon 40D (which I was never entirely happy with but kept as back-up to the Sony), then a Sony 24 Megapixel SLT-A77. I have since moved on to full frame using Sony A7R bodies and a range of fast lenses.

Following over two decades in the military intelligence services overseas, and then a civilian occupation in the field of transport and logistics, initially with Exel Logistics in operational and solutions design management, and latterly with Direct Rail Services as their Business Development and Operations Manager, I have since now retired.

My photography has featured in various railway magazines and also in the co-authored book ‘China the World’s Last Steam Railway' (along with John Tickner - Flickr account – Keighley Bee, and Adrian Freeman - Flickr account - Adrian Freeman 2). A selection of my railway landscape images have also featured in ‘Britain’s Scenic Railways’ by Julian Holland, as well as other books, both by this author and others. More recently I have produced a series of regional books featuring industrial railways in the UK and around the world with Amberley Books.

In terms of images for publication or use elsewhere on the internet, I am always very happy to receive enquiries and will treat each contact with utmost consideration. Outside of the Flickr community, I respectfully request that my images are not reproduced, transmitted, manipulated or used in any way without my express prior permission. I do not wish to spoil images with a copyright statement across each one on Flickr and in turn expect my copyright to be respected, but I really must emphasise the point that I do take a very dim view of any of my images being used without prior permission, which is tantamount to theft, and as I have already done so in the past, I will continue to rigorously pursue through legal channels any offender that comes to my notice.

Thank you for taking the trouble to visit my Photostream and I do hope that you will find some of the images of interest. Lastly, but by no means least, I am indebted to my dear wife Valerie who has always given me 100% support in my photography right from the early 1970s to the present day. Without her support and encouragement my Photostream would not be as you see it here today.

Should you wish to make contact with me by personal e-mail, could I respectfully request you using my main AOL e-mail account (gordonaedgar@aol.com), otherwise your message might just be missed! Thank you.

Gordon Edgar - Ripon, North Yorkshire

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