Media centre

Monday 21 Oct 2013

Dorset railway image commended in national photography competition

Region & Route:

| Southern: Wessex

| Southern

A striking image of a steam train travelling through Parkstone in Dorset has been commended in the Network Rail-sponsored Lines in the Landscape Award at this year’s Take a View’s Landscape Photographer of the Year competition.

The entry by Alan Courtney, of Dorset, was among ten commended by renowned landscape photographer Charlie Waite in the Lines in the Landscape category. The images were judged to be amongst the best of around 500 photographs that capture Britain’s extensive rail network and its relationship with our landscape.

Alan's photograph shows a steam locomotive on the railway at Parkstone, captured from a bridge over the railway in the early morning. When asked about his photograph Alan said: "On a day in early September, the Bath Spa Express, headed by a locomotive named ‘Britannia’, had just passed below me. As the smoke and steam began to dissipate, I managed to get this more unusual ‘going away’ shot with the sun’s early morning rays penetrating the darkness of the cutting and illuminating the rails and sides of the coaches giving a retro, yet strangely contemporary, picture.

Alan will have his image printed in a coffee table book showcasing around 150 of the best entries and all the category winners, including the overall Landscape Photographer of the Year 2013.*

Tim Shoveller, managing director of the Network Rail and South West Trains Alliance, said: "This competition celebrates something very special - the way this country looks in all its different ways. Alan has captured a beautiful image showing a historic stream train illuminated through its own steam by the early morning sun, a very impressive picture. Congratulations to Alan on being commended in the Lines in the Landscape category of the Take a View Landscape Photographer of the Year competition."