People sometimes ask me why I am interested in railways and trains. They wonder if I work for the railways, if my father was an engine driver or if I am an engineer. The answer to all of these is 'no'. Here is my gricing history.
I'm old enough to have seen working British Railways steam in England whilst growing up. Our house was in Bedford and for most of my school days I lived in Whitbread Avenue which was just a short walk to the Kempston Road bridge over the Midland main line or in Spring Road, Kempston which was a short bike ride from this and the Bedford - Bletchley cross-country line. Sandy on the East Coast main line was a 7 mile cycle ride away and Bletchley on the West Coast main line was a 30 minute ride in the sidecar of my parents' various motorcycles and later in our Jowett Javelin car.
Bedford is 50 miles from London, so day trips to the various London terminii allowed me to sample Southern and Western steam as well. University came shortly after the demise of BR steam but my move to Manchester allowed access to various industrial sites still using steam especially the NCB (National Coal Board) lines in Lancashire and Yorkshire. In those day, I had only a box camera and no really worthwhile photos survive.
Somewhere between Manchester and Leeds
After leaving university and training as I teacher, I headed for Jamaica. The Jamaican Government Railway was dieselized and so was any surviving sugar cane traffic. On my return from Jamaica, I didn't stay in England long before heading for the Sudan where steam was still working, just. By now I had a Yashica camera which took reasonable photos and a couple of shots of blue Sudan Railway steam locos in Hasa Haisa station survive in my slide collection.
A rare steam event at Hasa Haisa south of Khartoum
Sudan was followed by Saudi Arabia and I met my wife in Kuwait. Neither country offered any railway interest but I bought an Olympus OM1 and I finally had a decent SLR camera. Saudi was followed by Japan. I missed working JNR steam in Hokkaido and Kyushu by one or two years but it took me several years to confirm this as annual steam engine calendars continued to be published showing the popularity of steam. In those days, Japan had the steam engine roundhouse at Umekoji, Kyoto, the Oigawa Railway and a tourist line at Seibuyuen called the Yamaguchi line (not to be confused with the JR Yamaguchi line in southern Honshu). This line had 2 Koppel tank locos from the Taiwan sugar railways and along with the Oigawa line, was good material for various cine cameras and then my first video camera a National Panasonic NTSC VHS machine that had a cute camera (not unlike a modern video camera) and a huge VHS recording box with heavy batteries that it had to be connected to in order to record anything. This camera went to Java to record the final years of PNKA steam in 1982. Last year, I finally edited a video of this trip 'PNKA Power Parade's Final Fling.
Madiun, Java 1980
Japan gave way to Turkey and I bought one of the new PAL video 8 cameras to record steam in Turkey. Turkey was the second place I lived after England where steam survived in regular use but (unlike Sudan) I got fully to grips with it. I had great times going out on my own or with Ted Talbot when he led a group and with Dave Thornhill and his World Steam Tours special trains. Despite having great fun, I have not so far been able to put together a satisfying video of Turkish steam. Maybe someday.
Steam in Turkey; mystery narrow gauge mine loco near Samsun / G10 0-10-0 on a World Steam Tour special train near Usak
Turkey became Taiwan and with steam long finished there, I explored the small coal mines in the Keelung area looking for push cart, diesel, electric and cable worked lines. No steam but Charlie Small's book Rails to the Mines shows what it was like. I had great fun and even my wife Stephanie enjoyed those Saturday morning trips to explore new coal mine railways.
By this time, I was travelling the world to see active working steam. I visited China; Cuba; Darjeeling, India ; Java: Burma: East Germany and Poland to see steam in action and have video from all these places. I still make such trips, whenever I get the chance but I am always keen to go somewhere new. My trip last Christmas to see narrow gauge steam in Southern China meant so much more to me than yet another trip to Jingpeng. In recent years, I have also developed an interest in non-steam worked lines (preferably antique and narrow gauge) and birdwatching. Cuba is great for bidwatching. Turkey would have been good too but I wasn't interested at the time. Recent trips have been to Sri Lanka combining 'train spotting' and bird watching and I have just returned from Queensland, Australia where 2ft gauge sugar tramways and spotting 80+ species of exotic birds a day go well together.
Kriegslok on the Burdur System, Turkey / Beian Locomotive Depot, Northern China
Wringinanom Mill, nr. Situbondo, Eastern Java
In recent years, I haven't done much with my slide collection and I have almost stopped taking still photographs but my Sony 3CCD mini DV camera more than keeps me busy and satisfied. In addition to videos I have already prepared, I can usually be persuaded to make a rough edit of any railway action (or birding for that matter) that a fellow enthusiast may want.
After a year in Auckland, New Zealand, and a year back in the Tokyo area of Japan, I have moved back to the UK where I have set up a home. I hope to find even more time for steam railway exploration in future.
John Raby
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