Let’s travel abroad

During a Trains Magazine photo charter at the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad in fall 2024, a group of British and European photographers decided to travel abroad to the U.S. to join Trains staff at the D&SNG and, in the days following, the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic with Pete Lerro of Lerro Productions.

Sitting next to the organizer of this group on our departure from Silverton to Durango, I got to inquire a little further into why one would travel abroad to take pictures of steam engines? What is it that attracts rail enthusiasts to the United States in particular?

In his 25th year as a charter organizer, David J. Williams led a group of 30 plus visitors from the United Kingdom and Europe to the States to photograph the narrow gauge operations of Colorado and New Mexico.

“There is something magical about the lure of steam combined with phenomenal scenery, which the Durango & Silverton and Cumbres & Toltec have in abundance,” says Williams. “We have some amazing railroads in the United Kingdom. In the U.S. everything is on a much grander scale, scenes are played out against vast open landscapes and feats of engineering that have driven railroads through the wildest and most unlikely of terrains.”

He continues, “In all places, there are lots of enthusiasts who are only interested in railroads in their home country and sometimes only in their home region of particular countries. However, there is a small nucleus of those who long to see what the railroads beyond their home shores have to offer, and those people travel across continents and regularly meet up with fellow enthusiasts in all corners of the world, forming friendships that last a lifetime through their mutual interests in rail and photography. There are few things more enjoyable in life than indulging your hobby and being able to share that interest with like-minded people.”

Fellow train enthusiast Kenneth Chitty, along with his wife Janet, have been traveling the world in search of steam for over four decades. He agrees with Williams and says, “A lot of railway enthusiasts are very parochial, so you will hear enthusiasts say ‘I’m a Rio Grande man’ or ‘I’m a Santa Fe man’ to the exclusion of all others. Some will only be interested in historic operations, often combined with building a model railroad, others will only follow steam era operations, whilst others will follow only current day operations.” 

He continues, “However, there is a significant minority whose interest spans more than in just their own country, and who love to travel to see different country’s railroads at work in their natural habitat.” For many, this desire begins with a curiosity sparked by seeing photographs of trains in magazines, on websites, or in books, according to him. Enthusiasts will then have the desire to see these trains in person. 

Choose your flavor

“Having undertaken an organized trip such as ours with its camaraderie and shared enjoyment, one looks at future trips being offered, another booking is made, and you are hooked,” says Chitty. He feels that each trip may also provide access to areas that are normally ‘off limits’ like locomotive depots or certain rural locations that are not easily accessible by car or road.

“Another attraction is that every country has its own distinctive flavor and one can often identify a country’s railroad just by looking at the locomotives, often custom built by factories in that country,” says Chitty.

By the 1980s, steam had nearly been phased out across the world. It became clear that some countries had preserved in operational condition a number of their withdrawn locomotives (steam, diesel and electric). Coupled with this was the rise of the privately owned heritage sector, which potentially meant that despite the comparative scarcity of steam today, one might still be able to re-create the ‘old days.’ 

The primary focus of these operations was running tourist services. Note that no operation would exist if it relied purely on enthusiasts to keep it in business — there are just not enough of them spending a sufficient amount of money to keep businesses afloat. Very often these lines ran the right locomotive but with the wrong rolling stock. Enlightened enthusiasts often wondered whether these railroads might be interested in running a train with the correct locomotive and rolling stock per the instructions of the enthusiasts (hence the purpose and desire for photo charters). 

Operations like the D&SNG and C&TS railroads will re-create scenes that could have been seen in the 1960s, 1950s, or earlier. The chance to photograph trains in spectacular scenery, whether steam or diesel locomotives, all while having controlled runbys, is an opportunity not to be missed. With ongoing radio communication with the train, the organizer is able to call for a runby at exactly the right time in hopes that the light from the sun doesn’t disappear behind a cloud at that peak critical moment when the train passes by.

We are not unique

The train enthusiast is not unique to anyone else willing to travel long distances in pursuit of their hobby. Take a look at sports arenas across the globe or music fans flying overseas to see a specific concert. Enthusiast John Palmer has equally spent many decades traveling abroad to see both railroads and sporting events. He recalls traveling to many parts of the world for steam. 

“When main line steam ended in the United Kingdom in 1968, it was natural to travel firstly to France and then to East and West Germany to see what remained of those country’s steam operations,” says Palmer. “When steam ended there, I turned to South Africa and Zimbabwe, which kept me going until the 1990s, and then to see ‘steam’s last gift’ — workings in China that continued until comparatively recently.”

Palmer continues, “Heritage lines such as the D&SNG and C&TS represent some of the best continuing steam operations to photograph, with authentic locos and rolling stock working against a backdrop of spectacular scenery.”

According to Williams, charter events will never form the core part of a railroad’s income. However, they are a very solid form of revenue that may come at times of the year when public trains are not running. Many of a photographer’s shots (if volunteered) may end up illustrating timetables and other promotional literature for the railroad. Tourist railroads then have the added advantage of providing excellent publicity photographs of trains with the correct rolling stock (historically speaking) and often in good weather conditions. 

Right place, wrong time?

“This trip, which was arranged in conjunction with Pete Lerro and Trains on the D&SNG, has not been easy to arrange or quick to put together,” reflects Williams. “We have been working on this between us since 2019-2020. We have had a fully booked tour for some time, but in March 2020 much of the world shut down due to the outbreak of COVID.” Williams explains the amount of time and effort it took to make this trip a go, from months of confinement caused by a pandemic to the international travel restrictions that followed. 

“Many people didn’t have enough annual leave to do an overseas trip and then spend many days on top of that in quarantine, so we had to suspend the idea until conditions returned to somewhere near normal. Realistically, 2024 was the earliest date it was practical to arrange a tour on this scale. It’s great to be here at last, and I am very grateful to those in the USA who have welcomed us and made these events possible,” he says. 

Charters can be overwhelming for some. The casual observer is often taken by surprise regarding the modus operandi of the charter train. The train will often stop (multiple times) in the middle of nowhere for the best scenery and the participants safely detrain in an orderly fashion. Once the feet hit the ground, the enthusiasts will form a photo line. And don’t be surprised but this activity is often accompanied by howls of “Can you move, you’re in my shot!” 

Once the photographers are reasonably content with their arrangement, the train will reverse out of sight. Organizers, having ensured everyone is ready, call the train forward and past the photo line (runby) with the locomotive working hard. This might be repeated multiple times before the participants re-board the train and head off to the next photo opportunity. 

Note that, although rare, every now and again a ‘real passenger’ will board the train at a station stop thinking they are on the service train, and watch in bemusement as instead of speeding them on to their next destination, the train stops in the middle of nowhere and everyone else piles out to photograph the train doing several runbys.

Williams warns that “once bitten the bug never leaves; it might lie dormant for some years due to marriage, family, and career — but it will blossom again.’

He says, “So we reach 2025 where the variety is much diminished, regular main line steam operation is virtually eliminated, and the variety of diesel and electric locomotives significantly reduced. Heritage lines such as these are beacons of hope that continue to keep steam alive, and while there is steam, there will be those who travel to see and photograph it. For photographers, the next shot is always going to be the best, better than what you took before, and that is what keeps them coming back for more!”

David J. Williams contributed vastly to this article. Thank you David!