LNER Route: Leicester to Marylebone

Rugby Central Station: gcrcs287

British Railways Standard Class 9Fs 2-10-0s, No 92093 and No 92074, converge south of Rugby in October 1963. Both locomotives are allocated to Annesley shed. The 9F approaching in the distance is No 92074 which was built by Crewe works in March 1956 and was to remain in service until April 1967 when it was withdrawn from 12A Kingmoor shed in Carlisle to be scrapped by the Motherwell Machinery and Scrap Company of Wishaw. The 9F travelling towards Rugby on the immediate right is No 92093 which had been built at Swindon works in January 1957 and was to remain in service until September 1967 when it too was withdrawn from 12A Kingmoor shed in Carlisle to also be scrapped by the Motherwell Machinery and Scrap Company of Wishaw.

I quite like the moody shot of the converging 9Fs. Moving trains can be a difficult subject to capture at the most beneficial moment. There can be some preparation given that the track is locked in position, but plans may have to change when that train with a plume of smoky steam appears in the viewfinder - though sometimes not. The best picture ultimately presented cannot always be precisely foreseen. One has to compose on on the run, as it were. Maybe this is already perfectly evident to some, others are not so particular anyway. For me, always satisfying when a railway event is captured to (smug?) artistic satisfaction. Just my opinion of course.

Tony Newman

back