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Monday 9th May 2022 Fen Drayton, Cambridgeshire, CB24 4SD

A day of vintage transport photography in Cambridgeshire featuring a classic 1950 Bedford OB

A day of vintage transport photography starting from Fen Drayton Station in Cambridgeshire and featuring a classic 1950 Bedford OB bus and accompanying period vehicles visiting rural byway village locations

£69.00

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About this event

A new venue for Spring 2022 is a photographic trip back in time to recreate scenes that are reminiscent of rural Cambridgeshire in the 1950s and 1960s. Of course, the main roads bear no resemblance to how they would have been many years ago since the driving through of the new improved A14, but once away from the throngs of traffic it is still possible to see glimpses of days gone by.

Our vehicle for the day is a 1950 Bedford OB which is a design synonymous with the post-war years in rural England; though the design dates from 1939, the vehicles were produced in their largest numbers after World War II. We will almost certainly have a second of these vehicles on the day, but as always we are cautious and advertise just one, which is enough in its own right, anything else being a bonus. Our OB for this event was delivered new to the company Owen of Rhostyllen in April 1950 and later passed into the ownership of Higginbottom of Llanfared before withdrawal came in 1971. After a lengthy spell with Green Bus in Staffordshire up until 2009, the OB went to Select Bus and was acquired by its current private owner in 2013. Since then, a major professional restoration has taken place with a huge amount of work required on the bodywork to return the OB to the road. However, it now looks pristine inside and out, and is ready to start a new chapter of its private hire career in Cambridgeshire.

Additional vehicles are already taken care of with the addition of at least two vintage cars during the course of the day. Amongst these is a Derby Bentley of 1937 vintage; these cars were produced by Rolls-Royce, Derby between 1933 and 1940 and numbered 2.242 vehicles with coachwork made by over 40 independent manufacturers to the specification of each customer. Although not rare in themselves, it is not often we get the chance to use vehicles such as this on our events so is an additional bonus. Also available to us are a 1959 Jaguar XK150 and a 1963 Mark II Jaguar, along with a slightly more modern A35 Austin van of 1967 vintage.

Our host venue, where the vehicles are based, is interesting in its own right, being a railway station constructed completely from scratch with building, platform, signal box and a host of railway ephemera - plus several Pullman coaches which now serve as an excellent restaurant. The platform was dismantled and transported from its original site at Oakham and has been reconstructed at Fen Drayton. The site has three former Mark I coaches now used for dining, including one which was used as part of Lord Mountbatten’s funeral train and named Louis to reflect its history.

The location is easy to find being just a few miles from Junction 24 of the A14, with ample free parking available on site. As our start location is a restaurant, you might guess that catering will be taken care of, starting with tea and coffee plus hot bacon rolls or similar in the morning before we start. For any shots we want to do at and around the station itself, we have chosen a day when the restaurant is closed to the public which should give us all the scope we need for our photography. All we need now is some nice sunny weather and we will be able to do full justice to the location and the vehicles on offer to us.

Event requirements

Equipment

  • Spare batteries
  • Camera
  • Lense cloths
  • Lenses
  • Tripod

Knowledge

  • All levels welcome

Fitness

  • Low

Other essentials

  • Sturdy outdoor shoes
  • Wet weather gear

Event location

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