The Last (Steam) Train

It was one of those days that I just had to get out of Melbourne. I jumped in the car and headed for the Grampians for a short walk up Mount Difficult. As I approached Ararat I saw ahead of me the characteristic column of smoke of a steam train. I knew that John Lee would abuse me for seeing a steam train and not photographing it, so I pulled up at Ararat station to get some pictures. As it turned out, this trip was to be the last by a broad gauge steam train on this line. The next day would see the tracks ripped up as the conversion to standard gauge began. At last, there would be standard gauge track connecting NSW to SA.

This was the first time that I had seriously photographed a steam train, but the results were generally pleasing. The challenge of photographing all that black and still showing lots of detail was a good test of my film processing. I started with an overall shot and then moved in for some more detailed stuff, ending with the usual shot of a single drive wheel.

I went on to the Grampians and completed my walk, returning late for a coffee in Ararat, at the Cafe Mum and Dad. As I headed off for the drive back to Melbourne I heard the whistle of the steam train. What luck! It was 11:00pm so a track side shot was out of the question. I decided to drive to Ballarat and photograph it there with the beautiful historic station providing a good backdrop. I arrived in Ballarat in plenty of time and set about working out the exposure. I hadn't planned these photos and I only had TechPan left which most people would not recommend for night time photography (I rate it at ISO 12). With the dimly lit station that meant I had 2 chances to get a good shot (10 minutes @ f8, the train was stopping for 20 minutes).

The results were somewhat surprising as I didn't expect to pick up so much detail around the wheels and tracks since I had calculated the exposure for the lighting of the platform. The pictures speak for themselves.