Bob Avery

About Bob Avery

Ever since an extremely early age I have been obsessed with recreating railway shapes and images. As early as 3 or 4 years of age I can recall crouching down on the living room floor to get a track-level view of a Hornby tinplate clockwork toy train as it thundered past on an imaginary journey. Over the years this obsession developed through drawing, painting and modelling.

In my early 20s I discovered I could achieve in 1/500 of a second with a camera what would take three weeks with a paintbrush, and photography took over from art, and modelling took a back seat.

I was influenced in those early days by the photographers like John Hunt, Ian Krause, Colin Gifford and Malcolm Dunnett who established the “impressionist” style in the last days of BR steam, though this had disappeared by the time I could afford an SLR in the early 70s.

Around the same time, I started buying US magazines like “Trains” and “Railfan”, and was deeply impressed by the sheer scale and drama of the contemporary diesel scene, and the way it was portrayed on paper. I had been exposed to US railroads in childhood, but it was to be another 20 years before finance and circumstances permitted a trip purely to observe and photograph American trains. Thankfully I’ve made several such sorties since then. And I’ve been fortunate to participate in railway photographic trips to several other countries as well.

My obsession did not stop at photography, and I have enjoyed a career in front line railway operating (which is now over).

How disappointing, then, that the hobby as recently become more challenging. Perhaps it’s advancing age, but I find that not only are modern British passenger trains less aesthetically pleasing, but many tracksides are all but invisible due to unchecked vegetation. Modern British electrification is extremely intrusive to one’s visual perception. But at least the communist-era style challenges of photographing in public by officialdom seem to be on the wane. And it’s still possible to enjoy charismatic trains, inspiring light, terrific scenery and hassle-free photography. Aided and abetted, of course, by one’s travelling companions.

Bob Avery