Personal Reflection from an HMRS Trustee
Why I take photographs and Why I put my photographs in a public archive
Back in the mid 1990's a group of friends started to research the long gone
central London station, Blackfriars Bridge -
http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/b/blackfriars_bridge/index.shtml
And over the years we have hand crafted (well Hornby et al do not make many items ready to run in our 1874 era) a 4mm (P4) model of the station:
https://blackfriarsbridge.wordpress.com
As we unearthed new material, we revisited the site over the years to see if
we could relate the new details with the current site. With Blackfriars
station being extended over the river; the site of the station was changing
over time in quite major but also subtle ways. This really brought home
that 'yesterday' is history.
So, I started photographing my 'local' stations. I live a short distance
from two south London stations which are served by South Eastern, Southern
and Thameslink services so if you add a couple of stops either side of these
plus the stations I regularly use for commuting to work and leisure you can
see I can call quite a few stations my 'local' stations.
The Millennium was fast approaching by now. During 2000 I thought well why
not consider all railway stations in the London 1 to 6 zone Travel Card my
'local' station. So, over the next few years I expanded to include these
stations. Of course, change never stops, including train liveries but also
stations themselves, exemplified by the creation of the London Overground
network.
When I travel outside London, I remember to take my camera. This can be day
tripping to see friends or e.g. in the case of visiting Reading station a
couple of times during its rebuild, having an excuse to have a nice day out by
train. Holidaying around the country over the years has resulted in me
purchasing Rover tickets which give great flexibility in photographing the
local railway network.
It might take fifty years (or even longer) but someone is likely to be
thankful I have taken pictures of the station they are interested in and
made it publicly available. After all yesterday is history!
The following are five examples of the photographs that I have taken that are connected in some way to the above:
AAX097 Blackfriars Station (north bank of the River Thames) rebuilt since this view was taken as part of the rebuild under the Thameslink 2000 Project (later shortened to Thameslink Project) which included rebuilding Blackfriars Underground station.
AAT066 the largest chunk of Blackfriars Bridge station frontage remaining.
AAT065 not to be confused with Blackfriars station built by the Charing Cross Railway and subsequently taken over by the SER (just by Southwark Jubilee Line Underground station).
ABJ466 showing part of the heavy overhaul of Reading station in progress.
AAH962 “Zoom to Gatwick” the railways have produced many posters advertising their services with adverting a whole sub-division in its own right of railway history surely.