I’m not the biggest TV person. Although I have a long list of shows I should probably watch, I rarely keep up with upcoming shows. I’m also not the biggest Harry Potter fan. I’ve read all the books, but only seen the first few films. So when they announced that there was going to be a new TV series based on the Harry Potter books, I didn’t really pay that much attention.
This last summer, however, one bit of casting news did catch my interest. It was announced that the Hogwarts Express would be played by none other than 6989 Wightwick Hall, a resident locomotive at the Bluebell Railway. This remains the only casting information I know about the show. Wightwick Hall disappeared off to the film set in mid-summer.
It was whilst I was out shooting at the Bluebell Railway Diesel Gala back in September that I first heard rumours that Wightwick Hall would be coming back to the railway in late October during a break in filming, and would be in her red Hogwarts Express livery. As I am one often complaining that too many locomotives are in green or black livery and yearn for something with a little more colour, this would be an opportunity, should it come to pass, not to be missed.
The fact that you’re reading this post right now might be a bit of a giveaway that this did indeed happen just as foretold. So it came to be that, the weekend after Giants of Steam, 72B Photography and I returned to the railway to see the Hall in all her red glory.
We arrived in good time, and headed to the locomotive shed to see what was going on. There we saw a team of volunteers shining up Wightwick Hall ready for her first service. Next to her stood 60163 Tornado, still at the Bluebell and waiting for her long journey home via the Other Railway at the end of the weekend.
The light wasn’t ideal, the positioning of the locomotives and the areas we were able to access meant we were shooting into a morning autumnal sun. Some careful use of sliders in Lightroom was able to bring out the details I was after.
This is the sort of thing I love to see, a steam locomotive catching the sun with some interesting paraphernalia such as the ladders, steam and people. The shot below is made even better by the presence of Tornado and, next to her, her lovely burgundy support coach, which is a colour of coach we don’t often see round these parts.
I continued to get some interesting shots of the volunteers working to clean Wightwick Hall.
Possibly getting a little carried away, there was just time for another shot of Wightwick Hall and Tornado together.
We then headed up the line from Sheffield Park to get some photographs of Camelot pulling the first train of the day, before returning to the station in time to see Wightwick Hall doing some shunting, firstly moving the blood and custard Wealden Rambler coaches off to a siding, as they wouldn’t be needed until their lunchtime service.
We were again largely shooting into the sun, which wasn’t ideal, and as you can see has washed out the image a little and brought some lens flare, despite using a lens hood.
We got a lovely release of steam from the front cocks as she moved.
She then came back light engine to retrieve her own coaches from the coach shed, giving another chance to shoot her catching the sun.
As much as it feels like a bit of a crime to take a photo of this brilliant, bold red livery and make it monochrome, I did for one of the shots, as she was backing into a cloud of her own steam leaving some lovely shadowy contrast.
With that, we headed back to the car to hotfoot it over to Freshfield Bank in time for her first service. We made it in good time and set up in a familiar spot near the bridge.
Annoyingly, the sun was out while we waited, but went in just before the train arrived.
As I often do, I found myself torn between getting more dramatic, front-on shots, and wider ones that show off more of the locomotive.
We then got back in the car and headed to a spot known as Waterworks to catch Wightwick Hall’s second run. I wasn’t entirely sure about using this spot, because I wasn’t that enthused with the results I got during Giants of Steam, but decided to give it a go anyway. While we were waiting, and hoping for a sunny second run, we got rained on. It was a very changeable day for weather. Luckily, not long before the Hall came by, the sun came out, and this time it stayed out.
I am a lot happier with the results this time. Being at a lower level closer to the track, and having a bit of sun, made a lot of difference.
We headed back to the car to discover the short rainstorm had muddied up the verge we were parked on, and it took a little bit of back-and-forth before we were able to get going. We briefly headed over to Tremains crossing to get a shot of the Wealden Rambler afternoon tea service, then returned to Sheffield Park to call it a day. As it was a normal running day, each train only had a couple of runs for us to shoot, unlike like a weekend gala that has a lot more trains and services, so this is not as packed a post as I’d normally deliver.
I adore seeing Wightwick Hall in her fantastic bold red livery, and I hope she stays in that colour for a while. I’m sure the purists will hate it, but keeping her red will bring in extra visitors to see her thanks to the Harry Potter connection, the novelty of the colour, and potentially the fact that parents of young kids can say she’s James the Red Engine. I haven’t been back out to see her since these photos were taken, but she is scheduled to be taking part in the Bluebell Railway’s New Year’s Day gala, so hopefully I will see her in action then.
This was a quieter day than most of my trips to the railway, but even so, I took more pictures than I’ve shared above. The rest are in the gallery below.
Creative Splurges 