Minolta X-300 & Minolta 50mm f/1.7 MD on Ilford Type-517. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 14.5mins @ 20°.
Taken on 25 October 2025
Industry
Tag: Railway Station
Across the road from the scene of the incident
I went to the cinema to see Avatar:Fire and Ash today. The film was entertaining in the same wat the other two have been, although I could do without the bladder-straining three-hour-plus running time, and the 4k high-framerate visuals in the screening I attended at times made it look like a videogame cutscene.
The cinema I visited was The Arc in Rotherham. After the film ended I went for a short walk around the area to try and finish a partly used roll of film I had in my Olympus Trip. The light was lovely and I hopefully got some nice pictures (although it’s an expired roll of slide film, so we’ll have to wait and see…).
However, one thing I wasn’t expecting to see was an altercation between a rat and a crow!
I fully understand that there are rats lurking in busy town centres – us messy humans give them a ready supply of food and shelter – but it’s quite unusual to witness them on the pavement, especially on a bright afternoon. What is even more unusual is to see them in some sort of life-and-death struggle with a crow! As I approached the scene, I saw the rat being harrassed by the bird, which kept grabbing its tail in its beak and pulling it backwards towards the road. When a passerby approached the crow would hop or fly out of the vicinity until it felt safe to return and resume it’s actions.
The rat was alive, but was moving slowly with a limp, perhaps due to the crow’s attacks, or maybe some previous injury, and there was no place for it to flee apart from beneath a car parked on the pavement, but I’m pretty certain the crow would have gotten under there without trouble. I felt bad for the rat and wondered if I should attempt a rescue, but I had nothing to grab it with and didn’t fancy getting bitten and contracting some nasty disease, so I decided against it.
Crows are intelligent creatures and I had a distinct sense that it was attempting to pull the injured rat to the road where it would be run over and thus provide a tasty meal. Or maybe it thought the rat’s tail was a juicy worm?
It was a fascinating, yet horrible thing to witness.
The picture below is of Rotherham railway station which is across the road from where it all occurred.
Minolta X-300 & Minolta 50mm f/1.7 MD on Ilford Type-517. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 14.5mins @ 20°.
Taken on 25 October 2025
The end of the road
I thought I’d treat myself to one of those clickbait titles similar to the ones I see on YouTube from time to time. You know the ones, where the person titles their video “My final post” or “That’s it. I’m finished.” or something else that gives the impression that their video making days are at an end but, upon viewing, it turns out that it’s “My final post… of November!” or “That’s it. I’m finished… Putting together this year’s calendar which you can buy from my SquareSpace site.“.
So in the spirit of that annoying tradition, today’s post is just about what I found at the end of the road I drove down in Whitwell, Nottinghamshire one day. In this case it was Whitwell railway station. The station today is a pretty simple affair – a couple of platforms, a footbridge, and some shelters for passengers. There used to be a selection of buildings at the station, but these were removed when the line was closed to passenger traffic sixty years ago (although passenger services would resume in the 1990s). The buildings were not lost however and were rebuilt at Butterley on the Midland Railway – Butterley heritage line as they were almost identical to the buildings that had originally stood there.
As to why I drove to the end of the road, it was mostly to see if there was a good composition of the chimney at the nearby Steetley Dolomite works (you can see it just above the Whitwell railway sign to the right of the first picture). I think a longer lens might have led to a more dramatic photograph but, alas, a long lens the GW690 does not have. Instead it’s a shot of loads of things poking up into the sky. A bit mundane, but I kinda like it anyway.
The second picture was another reason I drove down here. The lamps on this footbridge are just about visible peeping over the bridge crossing the railway tracks that I’ve driven across on a number of occasions, and I’d wondered if there was a picture to be had of them. This was the picture I got, although I think there may be better ones to be found if I revisit the place, possibly (again) with a different focal length at my disposal.
Fujica GW690 on Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 @ 20° 9mins.
Taken on 17 August 2024
Inside the station
A direct follow on from yesterday’s post. Those photos were taken outside Sheffield Midland station before I set off for a trip to Leeds to visit the Photo North exhibition. The ones posted here today were shot inside Leeds railway station when I arrived.
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 13 April 2024
Waiting for a train
This picture was taken while I waited for my train to take me to a meeting in Leeds. It was the only picture I took that day but I do like this one. It has a nice tonality and plenty of leading lines to draw the eye into the picture.
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°
Taken on 5 February 2024
What I saw on departure
The pictures coming over the next week or so are a continuation of the pictures I made on a day trip to Leeds back in October. I’ve already posted a bunch of images from this trip, starting with this post from 27 November, but those were black and white photographs shot with my Olympus OM-1N on Ilford FP4+. The set that I’m going to post are all taken with my Canon Sure Shot Z135 compact and, in a first for me, shot on Kodak Ultramax. I’ll let you know my thoughts on the film and my results as I post more images.
The view from my seat as I waited for my train to depart for Leeds.
Canon Sure Shot Z135 & Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted using Negative Lab Pro.
Taken 14 October 2023.
A lack of information
There was little information to be had from this booth given that there was no-one inside. That, coupled with the prison-like bars, made me smile and I made the picture. It’s a little like the phrase used on the satirical Scarfolk Council site: “For more information please re-read“.
Olympus OM-1N, G-Zuiko AUTO-W 28mm f/3.5 & Ilford FP4+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 @ 20° 10mins.
Taken 14 October 2023.
In St. Pancras railway station
St. Pancras is the station I use when travelling to and from London, with an occasional switch across to King’s Cross which sits literally next door if the timetables dictate.
It’s a grand old structure dating to Victorian times and consists of the railway station itself as well as a large hotel. The station was thoroughly modernised in the 1990s and now also serves as the international terminus for Eurostar trains to Europe via the Channel Tunnel, giving the place a feel not dissimilar to an airport in some ways. I’ve never travelled on Eurostar, so am not sure if the international terminal has duty free shops and similar as that part of the station is not accessible to regular travellers.
I remember travelling to St. Pancras before it was upgraded and it was a much more utilitarian affair. Where now you can buy designer clothes or expensive pastries, was once a somewhat dark and grimy feeling terminus, the air awash with the fumes from the diesel locomotives. Now you can have a glass of champagne while awaiting your departure.
Olympus OM-1N, G-Zuiko Auto-W 35mm f/2.8 & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 @ 20° 9mins.
Taken 9 September 2023.
Keep off the track
Having seen trains move through busy stations, and felt their thunderous mass rumbling pass through the platforms, I have to say that the “Keep off the track” warning sign seems somewhat superfluous. But that’s me. I’ve also witnessed people doing all manner of foolhardy things, so maybe the sign serves as a warning to those who might have forgotten themselves momentarily. I doubt, however, it will have much effect on those who believe themselves to be above such warnings
Canon Sure Shot Supreme & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9 mins 30 secs @ 20°
Taken 25 March 2023.
Station stairs
Canon Sure Shot Supreme & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9 mins 30 secs @ 20°
Taken 25 March 2023.
Steel City Snapper photography 