My name is not important...

The slides and negatives that make up this collection had sat in a draw, unseen by anyone, for many years. A problem with photography from the pre-internet days.

Why did we take photographs that no one else would see and of select topics that only the person behind the lens found of interest? My personal answer is that in the mid-1970's, when most of these shots were taken, Britain seemed to be in decline and it was an attempt to preserve the image of what was being lost.

I could be accused of nostalgia but there are many others of similar age who survived the low expectations of that era and, like those in the Dark Ages who looked upon the Roman ruins, knew that there had been a better time.

Armed, at first, with an Agfa Isoflash-Rapid C, 35mm film camera, it wasn't till there was a steady form of income that I could consider buying film for more than the special occasion. Also enter the Kodak Pocket Instamatic 60, 110 film, camera and the good fortune to have chosen slides rather than print film as few of the print negatives have scanned well.

Living in Torquay, and being at that time an inveterate rail enthusiast, I was a witness to the demise of the Western Region diesel hydraulics. The only class left, at this point in time, were the Class 52 Westerns which I endevoured to preserve on film . Though the images that make up my collection were not exclusively of just the one group of engines.

So for your consumption, and with the aid of a PrimeFilm 1800u scanner, I offer up these pieces of amber. There are one or two shots I am quite proud of, most are just middling and better than they are for what is now gone