What if.....

nevard_110606_MIDFORD_7F_DSC_2443_web, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

S&DJR 7F No. 53809 passes the Anchor and Hope at Midford with an Evercreech to Bath goods train.

Model Rail 159

This shot a few might recognise from a black & white BIG PICTURE in the August issue of Model Rail which was dedicated to various aspects of the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway. It is of course a spoof and not pretending to be anything more, for trains have not passed through here for 45 years. The loco a model from Bachmann has been unashamedly super-imposed onto a present day photo taken at this delighful spot just south of Bath.

On a light-hearted note, really serious railway enthusiasts tend to be a 'very matter of fact' brigade with a glass that is nearly always half empty, and a few hot under the collar readers since publication have pointed out that the double yellow lines would not have been around in 1959, and another commenting on some period technicality with the telegraph pole (?). To be really pedantic of course, back in the days of steam the pub and viaduct were not covered in Ivy, and the pub sign to the far left used to hang from the wrought iron bracket seen protruding from the pub wall top right. In those days it was a Courage pub rather than a freehouse as it is now. The 1960's sports car was however really there, and would have probably left the factory when steam still ruled supreme on Britain's railways - with hindsight though, I wish I'd grabbed the car a little closer to camera, but I imagine the owner's present day attire and lack of period tweed would probably add additional heat to an already baking red-hot raw collar.

Of course Photoshop and a degree of skill might be able to address such, but that is not really the point of a photograph which is simply about trying to imagine what it would be like if trains ever run through Midford again with preserved 53809. Computer altering the image to such a degree to address the onslaught of time would simply turn it into an electronic painting and be rather pointless, as I might just as well have published a period photograph from the era.

So, moving on from 'glass half empty-ism' to a fully charged fresh foaming happy pint; maybe I should do a version with a FGW class 153 DMU or Virgin Voyager?