Diesels Dragons and Daffs
From their earliest times there has always been a romanticism attached to our railways. Poets have waxed lyrical about them, artists have immortalised them on canvas while others have simply watched them thunder by. They have always had more to offer than simply nuts and bolts or whistles and bells as they carry people and parcels from place to place. Rationalisation, standardisation and even privatisation may well have combined to steal the cosy carriage compartments, opening windows or buffet car china. However, the colour, character and life that locomotives and trains add to both country and urban landscape while serving their daily duties have survived the gradual metamorphosis. The images on the following pages prove that railways are as much a part of the scene as the seasons or the weather as they offer a ticket to travel on an unforgettable journey back in time to a distant diesel era. They were captured across South and West Wales when not only were the railways changing, but lots more in our lives too. Diesels, Dragons and Daffs is not a historical record, more a magical miscellany of images of the region’s railways from the late 1970's to the early 1990’s. The photographs show passenger, freight and line-side scenes in a way that railway buffs, regular passengers and those who simply watched the trains pass by, will enjoy for the shameless indulgence in nostalgia that it offers.
