Back in 1993, the Manx Steam Railway locomotives and rolling stock were housed in a vast corrugated iron shed at the side of Douglas station. Nowadays the space is occupied by a rather less dilapidated shed housing a Tesco.
Back in the good old days however, the shed doors were left open and so my father and I snuck in one evening. Expecting to be thrown out at any time, we wandered alongside the rolling stock and were surprised to find locos 5 and 6 mouldering away towards the back. Fortunately we'd bought some big flash guns for the trip and so were able to capture these scene. Maybe modern digital cameras would do a better job of the colours but to get shots in the gloom was pretty impressive and I'm glad the film was expended.
Now, I think No.5 lives at the back of the new shed wrapped up in a plastic bag for fear of asbestos contamination. Will she ever run again?
A fabulous photo. The miracle is that it came out after processing, my films never seemed to- and it is a great record shot. (OK, I was a crap photographer!) It's a shame, but a necessary evil I guess, that asbestos de-contamination is such an expensive business. I hope she runs again some time in the future.
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