Tag: North Yorkshire

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Fun fun funiculars

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Scarborough’s has had, at one time, five separate funicular railways to transport people up and down from the seafront to the clifftop areas. Two are still in operation today, including the Central Tramway, which is featured in today’s picture. This originally opened in 1881.

The other still-operating funicular is the South Cliff lift, which runs from the spa to the hotels and residential areas above. This is a little older, first running in 1875.

One more still exists and is only a stone’s throw from the Central Tramway. The St Nicholas Cliff Lift was opened in 1929. It operated until 2007 when the local council, who now owned it, could not afford the upgrade costs to meet health and safety standards. Rather than demolish the railway (which had a hefty price tag also), the two cars were both moved to the top of the slope, secured in place, and now operate as seating areas for a cafe. The station at the foot of the tracks is currently an ice-cream parlour.

The other two funiculars no longer exist, at least not in Scarborough. The North Bay Cliff Lift, which opened in 1930, operated until 2007 when it was decided to close and dismantle the structure due to corrosion and mechanical issues. Much of the dismantled railway was donated to the Launceston Civic Society and is currently in storage at the Launceston Steam Railway.

The final of the five was the Queens Parade Cliff Lift, opening in 1878. It was, however beset by misfortune, including on it’s opening day when one of the cars broke loose and crashed, forcing the railway to close until the following year. Then a series of mechanical issues and landslides meant it was deemed untenable to operate and it closed less than a decade later in 1887.

Victorian tramway to town

Minolta X-300, Minolta MD 50mm f/1.7 & Kodak Gold. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 14 March 2026

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Cliff Bridge

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Scarborough’s Cliff Bridge (formerly Spa Bridge) was constructed in 1827 and is 414 feet long. Scarborough became famous as a spa town in the 17th century, boosting the number of visitors. While access to the spa was easy from the seafront on the south bay, due to Scarborough’s elevated topography, the bridge was built to make it easier for people to reach the spa from the St. Nicholas’ Cliff area without descending the deep valley. A toll was charged to cross the bridge from shortly after its opening, right up until 1951.

Spa Bridge

Minolta X-300, Minolta MD 50mm f/1.7 & Kodak Gold. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 14 March 2026

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Bazaar

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Another concise post, I’m afraid. I will be posting something with a little more substance shortly though as I have a new scanning setup about which I’ll provide some initial thoughts.

TJ's Bazaar

Minolta X-300, Minolta MD 50mm f/1.7 & Kodak Gold. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 14 March 2026

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Failure to launch

fishyfisharcade1 Comment

I went out today to shoot some large format film, the first time in over a year. I took four holders with me, two loaded with HP5+, the others with Ektar.

I decided to take a trip into the Peak District, to Stanton Moor, where there are a number of interesting features, including rock outcrops, stone circles, and ruined industrial buildings amongst others. It’s roughly 45 minutes drive from home and I left at 6:15am in order to ensure the sun was still quite low in the sky.

Shooting 4×5 in rarely a speedy process (for me at least) so, given the locations for my pictures were a fair distance apart, each shot necessitated setting everything up – tripod, camera out of the bag, camera set-up, lens attaching, framing the composition and setting any movements required before firing the shutter. Then packing it all away again before moving on to find the next shot.

I shot all four sheets of HP5+, and tow sheets of Ektar. I’ve probably knackered one of these because I forgot to change the ISO on my light meter, so it’s effectively underexposed by two stops. Oh well.

Anyway, I got home around lunchtime and decided I’d develop the HP5+. Imagine my delight when I discovered that both film holders contained no film…

I was certain that they were loaded as I’ve been meaning to shoot them for ages, concerned that they have been sat in a cupboard for months, but it seems my memory doth deceiveth me.

I’ll have to check the Ektar to make sure those aren’t the same (although I’m still pretty confident that they’re loaded).

Thankfully, I took my Olympus XA-3 with me and shot about 20 frames with that, so the day shouldn’t be a complete failure. I also developed a roll of 120 HP5+ I shot last weekend (given I’d gotten all the gear out), and those look quite nice. I also still got to visit Stanton Moor and note that it’s place worth visiting again in future, so as a scouting trip, it was a success at least.

I’m a bit gutted though, all the same.

Anyway, here’s another shot from my Scarborough trip (although even that day had it’s problems, as I described here).

It’s a rusty railing next to the beach, but it also looks a little like a bendy-armed figure about to give a hug, which I perhaps need today.

Rusted railing

Minolta X-300, Minolta MD 50mm f/1.7 & Kodak Gold. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 14 March 2026