It would seem there are enough photos of the Res-livered 90 017 on the European Railway Server already; indeed one of the previous photographs was taken by myself. However, I don’t see any other night shots, so I guess that justifies the existence of this pic. The locomotive is powered up here each evening to take the by-now well-known Sleeper to Euston at around 10 o’clock, but if you arrive at around 9.45 you’ll be able to catch another 90 which pulls in the empty stock from the depot. Recently Res locomotives with buckeye-couplers and ‘third buffer’ have been used, instead of the many drawhook ones in RfD livery.

I was hoping the spectacular spark which occurs at the pantograph as the locomotive ‘goes live’ could be captured on film properly, but this has proved somewhat difficult and after many failures this was the best shot I had managed to get. The ample background lighting is, in this instance, a complete nusiance; but it is impossible to use a shutter time any less than about 3 seconds, as it is almost impossible to predict when the arcing would occur and it’s always annoying if one misses it because it would take another 24 hours’ wait before another opportunity becomes available. The little blob of bluish-light just above the door is the electric arc in this particular photograph ~ much more spectacular when seen for real. I would appreciate it if, when the more experienced photographers on the net attempt this sort of panto-up shot, please get in touch, maybe I will benefit from your advice.

Incidentally, given the number of 90 shots we now have on the European Railway Server, has anyone noticed that 90 017 has class 47 buffers fitted, and that 90 021~026 have old-fashioned oval buffers?

Photograph by Alex Lu (lexcie@innocent.com, http://www.lexcie.zetnet.co.uk/) Motorail Terminal, Edinburgh Waverley, 2202 hours on 23 March 1999. Jessop’s cheap ISO400, 10 seconds @ f22.