If you are travelling on the train from Coleraine to Londonderry there are some truly stunning views, and on approach to the city this otherwise inaccessible view of the Peace Bridge and the Guildhall are a worthwhile image to capture.
This mage made while the train was moving using the Fujifilm X-T30. The trains are double glazed so a little bit of dehazing in Lightroom fixed that. Continue reading NIR Railway Journeys – L’Derry
A wee trip by train up to the so-called ‘Maiden City’ and a dander round the famous and historic city walls, with granddaughter Chloe and the Fujifilm X-T30 camera. Here’s some of the images…
A train leaves the city en-route to Belfast, a journey that will take it almost 2 hours, travelling along the north coast to Coleraine, and through some of the most beautiful coastal scenery anywhere. The trains in NI are safe, clean, comfortable and modern, and they run on time, (unlike their English counterparts!) and the fares are reasonable. I like to think this is because the trains here are still run by the government, – Translink is a government owned company, so profits are used to improve services, instead of to reward shareholders and fat-cat bosses. Continue reading Londonderry on 28th August 2019
Ballymartin Road runs from the A57 Templepatrick Road to the Ballypalady Road, in Newtownabbey, and crosses the NIR trainline from Belfast to Antrim by way of a remote controlled level crossing. It’s a single track line and trains cross the road every 30 minutes or so. I first crossed it around 10 years ago, when I visited a bride’s home for photographs on her wedding day, but more recently a road closure forced me to travel along this minor road again. I was reminded about the derelict building that sits at the side of the tracks, now covered in very professional looking graffitti.
It has chimneys and looks like it may once have been someone’s home – perhaps that of a railway worker? At the time I made a mental note to pay it a visit again when next in the area.
UPDATE: A comment on a Facebook post in the Northern Ireland Railways Past and Present group has helped me shed some light on this. The cottage was the home of the gatekeeper, who opened and closed the level crossing goes, before automation. For a time this section of track was mothballed, and only maintenance vehicles travelled along it. The woman who lived sin the cottage was called Maggie McFarland, and when a driver was going along the line the trains would stop to have a chat with her!
Sadly, the house has now been demolished.
I took the Fujifilm X-T2. It was a cloudy enough October day and the light required an ISO around 800. Here’s some of the images.
This one’s my ‘Image of the Day…’
F/16 @ 1/60th Sec on ISO800, focal length 16mm.
On Monday 18th June 2018, the cruise ship ‘Oriana’ – a P&O Cruises ship, visited Belfast as part of a ‘British Isles’ cruise. Janette and I have a particular fondness for this ship, we’ve been on holiday aboard Oriana, – we’d first encountered the Oriana when we were on a cruise on the MV Canberra in 1994, and the then brand new Oriana, on her second voyage passed us at sea. There was much enthusiasm on board both ships as they passed within a few hundred yards of each other, blowing their horns; Canberra releasing hundreds of red white and blue balloons, and loud strains of ‘Rule Britannia’ wafting across the sea. P&O turned it into a patriotic occasion that no doubt also did the company’s image much good. Continue reading MV Oriana
Portraits2Go.co.uk 