Jon Searles' photos with the keyword: york

As the title indicates, this is a rescan of a much older photo from when I lived in York, with the sky burnt in slightly. This view is a favorite with some of the locals, who lie on the steps looking up at the carvings.

This was an old photo that I recently decided to rescan, with decent results, I think. Clifford's Tower was the site of a Pogrom in 1190 A.D., but otherwise it's history is no more hideous than any other Norman military building. That means there was a bloodbath of one sort or another every few years, but it was no big deal, really. :-) It was originally built in 1068, and survived less than a year before being burned down by rebels, as it was originally built out of wood. The Normans didn't learn their lesson, though, and rebuilt it out of wood, instead brutalizing the population of York in retaliation, and we all know from recent events how well that works at quelling an uprising. The castle came under attack so often that it was finally rebuilt in stone in the latter part of the 13th Century, after having been burned down again in the Pogrom. It got its current name in 1322, when one Roger Clifford was hanged there, and in the 1660s (I'm not clear on the exact date) the wooden interior of the castle burned out, leaving little left inside that wasn't within the stone structure of the walls. It's nevertheless open to the public, even though it doesn't look it.

I took this lying on the steps of York Minster, in a position popular with local teenagers, as it's one of the most impressive ways to admire the intricate carvings that cover this world-class church. It bothers me, in a way, that I didn't have a medium format camera when I took this. I rotated the photo 180 degrees, though, as the "U" shape created by the church against the sky simply looks better this way, in my opinion. I apologize for the poor quality of the scan, though, as you can see scanner lines in the sky. The original, of course, doesn't have this problem. :-)

I know that many, many people already have HST/IC125 pictures on Flickr. I'm sorry. :-) This is mine. Actually, I have a few, due to be uploaded soon. I took this when I was stranded in York on my way back to Norwich from the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, having missed both of my trains. Obviously, this was the next morning, when I decided to give the National Railway Museum a second visit, and photograph some of the traffic through York Central. This service, while still lettered for BR Intercity on the lead locomotive, was a Virgin Cross Country service. GNER had repainted all their IC125s by then, and notice the Virgin livery on the Mk.III coach the Class 43 diesel is pulling.

I used to help maintain "Green Arrow" at the (British) National Railway Museum in York, and this was the first run when I was one of the people who helped prepare it, so it was a moment of pride. It was preparing for a run to Scarborough, so I rode the train out and back and took a lot of photos, including this one. I wasn't qualified to actually work the run, as the regulations in Britain are pretty strict on that. Note that it's painted in BR Brunswick Green, and carrying its BR number, 60800. It has since, from what I've heard, been repainted back to its proper LNER colours (please somebody correct me if I'm wrong on this!).

I took this on the same day as the other York Intercity 125 picture, but this one was in a completely modern GNER livery, and had been for some time, as you can see the rust already soaking through. Remember that these modernistic-looking trains are already, in some cases, 30 years old!!

I took this on one of my many trips to London, and until I found it in my collection a few weeks ago I had forgotten completely that I had it. I figure it should fit nicely into the various rail-oriented groups on Flickr, and interest a number of people, so why not post it? :-)

I took this at the National Railway Museum of Britain in York, and the locomotive is the very first of the famous LMS "Black Five" 5P5F Class 4-6-0s. Although some others had lower numbers, like 4767 downloaded right before this, the first Black Five does nevertheless carry the number 5000. Here it's displayed coupled to a period version of the Royal Train, as it would be configured to pull it.

This was more or less certainly not taken in 2000, as I have no record of any trips to York in 2000, so the copyright date is wrong. It's probably like that because I had this photo in with my 2000-2001 darkroom stuff. I do I recall taking it while I was on a research trip to York, after going there had become routine but before I actually started living there (2002-2004).

Here's ex-GWR #5972 "Olton Hall" a.k.a. "Hogwarts Castle" pulling "The Wizard Express" into York after a run to Scarborough, taking advantage of the Harry Potter craze for all it's worth. In actual fact, not only is the story pure fantasy, but so is the paint scheme and name on "Olton Hall!" It's a Great Western Hall Class, not a Castle Class (Castles were 4-cylinder, while Halls were 2), and Great Western painted their locomotives Brunswick Green, not red!! Oh well, one would have to assume that everyone enjoyed themselves on this particular day.

Here's a shot that I actually planned in advance, knowing that "Green Arrow" was working the Scarborough Express on the day in question. The yellow tint to everything is from the sun.

This is, in actual fact, only a model. It's one of the most accurate model locomotives I've ever seen, and the only notable flaw I can see with it is that the "soot" around the chimney (smokestack) just looks like a finger smudge or spilled model cement. I think it was in O Scale, but I'm not sure since I don't remember, and in any case the model is far too good to identify as one scale or another based solely on a photograph.

Here's another oddity that I finished the roll of Ilford with. Maybe it's not as dramatic as the Keighley & Worth Valley stuff, but it is still, I think, a valid use of an FP4 frame.

Virgin Voyagers are primarily used, and always were intended to be used, for "Cross Country" services, in other words intercity services which bypass London. This brings most of them through York, as here.

The British Rail Class 86 electric was originally introduced in the 1960s for 100 m.p.h. Intercity passenger services on BR's West Coast Mainline, but today Class 86s have been replaced there by Class 87s and by the new Class 390 Virgin Pendolino tilt trains. Since the 1970s, when the Class 87s came into service, however, Class 86s have been used on mail trains, on the Great Eastern mainline after it was electrified in 1987, on charters, on freights, and in this case, in Maintenance of Way service. It is actually a bit rare to see a proper Network Rail locomotive, but since Network Rail took over their own track maintenance one would have to assume that having some dedicated locomotives have become a good idea.

Whether Ken Livingstone (mayor of London, not York, I'm not that stupid) thinks, cathedrals normally have pigeons flying around them. :-) This gave me the opportunity to get this shot.

York Minster is the largest gothic cathedral in northern Europe, although so much of it is under scaffolding so much of the time it's often hard to get a good photo of it. This shot is an exception, since it doesn't show the whole Minster. Come to think of it, taking a photo of the whole Minster is quite a challenge if you don't have a helicopter, due to its massive size and the close proximity of other buildings. York Minster was built during the years 1220-1472, but there are believed to have been churches on the site since 627.

"Guy Fawkes was a very naughty man!!" :-) This pub is allegedly where he planned his naughty actions, but I haven't been able to verify whether this is true, or just a local legend.