Choo Chooooooooooo, Cough......

Recently I took three trips up to York to see steam trains at the national railway museum. I have recently grown fond of steam trains and so I was very excited. When I got there on the first day that I went, I was dumfounded by the size of some of the locomotives on show. I find them much more interesting than cars or planes or modern trains. Everything about them screams power. You can see how forward motion is created and can literally feel the transition of energy throughout the locomotive. I saw famous trains like the Mallard and the Flying Scotsman while I was there. The museum holds a wealth of history and information.

O.k. so the main reason I went was so that I could draw complicated drawings of the locomotives and such, but I found myself just wandering around staring at things for the first two hours I was there. I got some nice photos and drawings done while I was up there. I don’t know why but I really like drawing them. It’s sometimes hard to get everything to look right but trains have taught me how to draw allot better in perspective views.

The second time that I went up I was extremely lucky. I found out that I had arrived on the day that the Tornado was being launched on its maiden voyage from York up to Newcastle. I spent about an hour and a half on York station taking photographs of it arriving and leaving the platform. This was a very special moment for me as it was the first time that I had seen a steam train in action since I was very young.

A diesel train pulled in the carriages and left so that the steam train could pull in. The main thing is... I was not ready for was how loud a steam train is. Seeing one in action was like seeing industry and steel and smoke come together as one living being, shouting at you like a lion. When you’re stood up next to one you feel like you’re listening to the train breathe. Because the engine was stationary and still producing steam it had to vent a little steam every now and again so that the boiler didn’t explode! When this happens you momentarily lose your hearing. Bear in mind that I was standing about a metre away from the front of the train when this happened. Thing of how your ears feel after coming out of a loud concert. That’s the feeling you get after five seconds of standing next to the locomotive when it expels it’s built up steam. I got some amazing pictures. I don’t know how I managed to get them, but it was like there was a small void directly in front of the engine, where people were afraid to stand.

I went up a third time with Grant to get some more industrial drawings completed, and we were lucky enough to see two steam trains in action that day. I highly recommend taking at least one day out of your life to see the NRM, whoever you are. It’s a chance to get good reference pictures and metal textures as well as drawings.

Oh and you know who you are, those of you who think I’m a train fanatic, yes it’s very funny I’m sure, but I’m having fun, so I don’t care. Oh and I counted 75 green/brown anorak’s, while I was up there one of the days, I can’t remember who asked me to do that, but there you go.
P.S