Pre-grouping photographs help

[Midland2F]

Hello all,

I wonder if anybody might be able to help me.
I'm trying to find books and or websites dedicated to pre-grouping railway photographs, particularly the earlier the better. I've been trying to fuse my two interests in railways and early photography and I keep hitting a brick wall at my local library and book shops, most seem to be post 1948 collections and the few images I have found are generally more engineering pictures than the train itself. Eventually I would like to do a book taking the modern scene but using the same methods/equipment of the pioneer railway photographers.

Thanks!

 

[Bevan Price]

One problem is that most of the "old" film was too slow for use with fast moving trains in all but very bright lighting conditions***. Plus, many of the "less expensive" cameras also had slow shutter speeds. My late father's Kodak bellows camera could take photos at 1/50th or 1/25th of a second only. And you only got 8 exposures per film.

So, unless you were quite well off, and could afford expensive cameras & film, there was much less photography than is now possible.

*** Even well into the 1950s, much of "consumer-affordable" colour slide film was rated at no better than 8 ISO. Black & White consumer film was probably not much better than 25 to 50 ISO.

 

[thewiltog]

If you can get to the NRM in York, the library has a huge range of books, as well as a complete set of the Railway Magazine.
Copyright may be a problem, although the older the photograph the less likely this is.