Wednesday 31 Oct 2012

Burnley photographer selected in national competition

Region & Route:

A photograph of an iconic railway viaduct once threatened with closure has been selected as runner-up in a national photography competition. The photograph by Burnley photographer Graham Roose shows a steam train in the winter sunset as it crosses the 104 feet high Ribblehead Viaduct.

Mr Roose said: “I am privileged to receive a commendation in the Network Rail Lines in the Landscape category in the Landscape Photographer of the year 2012. I never thought I would get anywhere with just the one photo entered and was very pleased when I heard that I was on the short list and finally selected in such a large nationwide competition.

“If the Settle and Carlisle Railway had not been reprieved back in the 1980s, this photo taken at Ribblehead would not have been possible.”

The Network Rail Lines in the Landscape award is part of the Take a View Landscape Photographer of the Year competition, which attracted more than 500 entries from across Britain.

Jo Kaye, Network Rail’s route managing director, said: “As you would expect, the majority of photographs entered in the Lines in the Landscape category were quite conventional, because they featured railway lines.

“However, there was something special about Graham’s entry that caught the imagination of the judges.”

This is the third year that Network Rail has supported the competition where amateurs and professional photographers highlight the very best imagery of Britain’s rural and urban scenery. Once again, the best images will be displayed at a free exhibition at the National Theatre in London from 12 November.

Charlie Waite, renowned landscape photographer and founder of the competition selected 10 runners up for the Network Rail Lines in the Landscape Award, including images of a train passing next to the rooftops of houses in Halifax and the memorable Jubilee pageant as a train crosses the River Thames. These images, along with the overall winner, will be exhibited at the National Theatre and appear in a book of the very best of this year’s entries.

Details of all the category winners are available at www.take-a-view.co.uk

Notes to editors

The winner of the Lines in the Landscape category was an image of the 08:30 train service from Hamworthy speeding through the beautiful Holes Bay at Poole in Dorset, as a small, wrecked rowing boat rests in the foreground

Exhibition details: November 12th 2012 until January 12th 2013

The exhibition of this year’s best images will again be in the Lyttelton Foyer of the National Theatre and entry will be free. The Theatre is usually open from 9.30am until 10.30pm (Mon-Sat). Check the National Theatre website http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/ to confirm opening times.

AA Publishing will be producing the latest Awards book in the series - Landscape Photographer of the Year: Collection 6 - which will be published on October 31st 2012.

Contact information

Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41

Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries

Journalists
Network Rail press office - North West & Central Region
0330 854 0100
NWCmediarelations@networkrail.co.uk

About Network Rail

We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.

Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.

Follow us on Twitter: @networkrail
Visit our online newsroom: www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk