Photography wise I have always regarded myself as an enthusiastic amateur with more of an interest in enjoying taking a reasonable photo and recording something for posterity than trying to find perfection. I did have a tendency to take 'record shots' and sometimes things went really wrong, sometimes the results were quite decent...

Over the years I have used various cameras; Ilford Sportsman, Olympus OM1, both second hand. I used a lamentable instamatic camera for a while when the OM1 broke down, then I bought a 35mm point-and-shoot camera before getting a Canon T60. The first digital camera I bought was a point-and-shoot Sanyo J1, then I upgraded to an Olympus SP570UZ before getting a Nikon D5000. I still have the T60 and some very out of date film, plus all the digital cameras. The Sanyo is still working and mainly used for building work record shots these days, at 20 years old I don't know how much longer the battery will hold out.

Much the same as many people I am in contact with, my interest in the railways and photography of them waned slightly over the years, although I never really left the hobby as such. In the 90s I lost a lot of interest, with most of the interesting traction gone, hating at the time the gimmicky sector decals on the new triple grey Railfreight livery, though looking at them now I think they look really smart and stylish! How things change...

Preservation came to the rescue as early as the 80s with the Class 40 Appeal and I started photographing the preserved scene more, plus in the early 90s I started chasing down the remaining 'proper' DMUs on BR as the writing became clearly on the wall for them. DMU preservation then took over for some time. Most recently following bodywork repairs on 37190 new reproduction headcode blinds I had been holding in store for the loco were fitted.

I have been into railway modelling all through the years as well, but unfortunately I have not been able to find any time for it recently. My exhibition layout has been retired from the circuit since it's last exhibition outing at Leatherhead in 2001 and parts of it are stored at home, pending some new layout construction when I get round to it - hopefully soon.

Oh, and headcodes have for over 40 years been a particular fascination of mine - my native GE electric lines services were the last in the UK to properly use proper 4-character headcodes, lasting until about 1982 and then gradually dying out in 1983, some units still displaying spurious codes until as late as 1987. The class 127 DMUs on the St. Pancras services used to cross over into my area working the Gospel Oak - Barking services, and they often still showed headcode blinds until withdrawal at the end of 1983, but the blinds were largely disused and not officially maintained, often only being present due to the length of time since last works overhaul. Some class 127s went on to continue showing sometimes correct headcodes after conversion for parcels use, until 1989. Over the years I have built up a large collection of headcode winding mechanisms, blinds, ephemera and also destination blinds, although I was 'persuaded' to rationalise the destination blinds some years ago which resulted in most of the EMU blinds and all the LT bus blinds finding new homes.

I intend to upload a number of (hopefully) interesting non-rail photos - you will also see some pictures of some of my other obscure collecting habits in my photostream!!

Enjoy - Cheers! (Also I'm working on a few groups and trying to scan and upload more photos - there's loads more to come, please be patient with my slowness!)

P.S. A note on Copyright: I have decided not to deface my photos with Copyright notices, but please respect my Copyright. The majority of photos were taken by me but there are a few which were not, nonetheless everything uploaded is my Copyright unless otherwise stated and those belonging to others are displayed with permission. I am flattered if you want to add any of my photos to galleries or groups etc, but please do not just copy images and use them elsewhere or on other websites; if you ask first I am unlikely to say no... It's just polite!