P69580 - D8137 (TOPS 20137), Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway - Lineside - Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway

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Class 20 Diesel no. D8137 (TOPS 20137) at Southam Lane, Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway
Class 20 Diesel no. D8137 (TOPS 20137) at Southam Lane, Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway
Date: 31st October, 2015
Photograph Reference: P69580
Camera: Sony A550
ISO: 400
Exposure Time: 1/1250sec
Aperture: F7.1
Focal Length: 50mm
Modifications: RAW modified
I had intended to visit the line earlier in the month, but didn't manage it until the last day due to a combination of illness, working commitments and bad weather.   As I had one 2015 travel voucher due to expire at the end of October, I was somewhat grateful that the weather on the 31st was (for the most part, anyway) sunny, and that the railway was not choosing to treat its Halloween activities as a "special event" which might have invalidated the use of the voucher.  

I wanted to go lineside at some point during this visit, but as the days leading up to this visit had been somewhat wet, I didn't overly fancy a walk through potentially muddy fields to get to either Manor Lane or Hayles Abbey (and since I would returning via train, I'm sure the railway wouldn't have been too keen on me traipsing mud through their carriages either).   I also wasn't all that keen to hang around too long on the railway waiting for optimum lighting conditions for either of those locations, so I ended up settling for my Southam Lane location in the end.  There was one muddy patch on the walk to the location, but for the most part the ground was dry, and the lighting conditions were very favourable.  

In order to retain some colour in the skyline, I chose to shoot slightly underexposed as I felt that if I got that right, adjusting the rest would be relatively straightforward.   The tree on the left hand side proved to be a bit of an issue when trying to select the skyline, but I solved this by recomposing part of the tree out, selecting the tree with the skyline, and applying the brightness adjustment to that as well.  As a result, I think this is possibly one of the best photographs I've taken at this location.   

I did consider hanging around for the following steam service, but at this point I had decided to leave the railway early and move onto Hidcote Manor Gardens for a session there to complete the day.  Besides, the rostered steam locomotive was 5542, and I'd already photographed it at this location.
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