Peter Kerslake collection

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Peter Kerslake writes "I suppose that my interest in railway photography started when Laira Motive Power Depot was allocated its first "Britannias" in 1951 when aged fifteen I was living with my grandmother at Laira in an area which housed many local enginemen and just a stone's throw from the main line and depot. In company with our little group of fellow enthusiasts many a happy hour was spent sitting on the conveniently placed sleepers at the far end of Laira's coaling line and with my faithful Box Brownie I was able to record on film much of the activity and despite having just eight exposures on each film. Some decent results were possible and I was regarded as being somewhat of our “official” photographer. Access to the coaling line was just a matter of walking confidently past the Foreman's office, not appearing to be at all interested in what delights were ahead and hoping not to hear a shouted demand to " clear off or else". Sunday afternoons invariably included a walk along the former china clay line from Lee Moor quarries which ran alongside the main line at the estuary of the river Plym and which provided an opportunity to photograph the afternoon workings, whilst a cycle ride of four miles to Hemerdon was certainly worth the effort and resulted in some of my better pictures.

In 1954, I left school to begin my career in the Civil Service but to my dismay I was despatched 300 miles away to the “wilds” of East Anglia, initially spending about six months at Cambridge followed by spells at Kings Lynn and Ipswich before being able to return home in early 1957. Railway photography helped me greatly during my enforced absence from my familiar surroundings and whilst at Kings Lynn I was able to visit the East Coast main line at Peterborough in addition to making daily weekend excursions to London which with my Western Region background invariably resulted in my spending most of the day at Paddington and forsaking the delights of Kings Cross and the other termini although I did manage a few decent images from Liverpool Street. Whilst at Ipswich I purchased my first 35mm camera which was a Finetta and which served me well for many years.

About four years later a promotion took me to Gloucester where I was fortunate enough to be able to witness and record the final years of Western Region steam, Gloucester even at that late date still being somewhat of a hub of lineside activities with a variety of both London Midland and Western Region locomotives in abundance and Horton Road depot quite easy to access. Steam workings between South Wales and the Midlands through Gloucester Central station were maintained until the end of 1965 with many of the iron ore and coal trains handled by the few remaining Western Region steam locomotives, all of which provided a wealth of subjects worthy of recording, whilst passenger services continued to be steam hauled until it all came to an end in December 1965."