Dafydd Whyles

My railway interest started from a very young age, travelling between various family members in South Wales and North Derbyshire. I soaked up the atmosphere of the railways and it’s that atmosphere that sparks my photographic interest. Although I do use digital I’m still mainly using Black & White film for most creative work. I worked at the London Evening Standard for a short while learning the skills of producing quality prints in the darkroom.  I still believe a print is the only way to really view a photograph, either as a pure print or in a book or magazine. There are some tremendous inkjet papers available and I enjoy experimenting with these, either from digital cameras or as scans from negatives. After working on various newspapers I made the leap to work as signalman, starting at Ollerton Colliery box and subsequently moving to West Burton box and then Gainsborough Trent Jc  where I’ve been since 2000.

My partner Dorothy shares my love of railways and followed me onto the railways, working far more boxes than I have.  She has since retired and now enjoys our trips around the country photographing remaining traditional infrastructure.

Dafydd Whyles, Retford

All images in this gallery © Dafydd Whyles