Bevan complete and awaiting inspection

Bevan waiting for inspection

Sitting in the locomotive shed is a completed Bevan. Everything has been finished and is awaiting final inspection for a boiler certificate and associated insurance paperwork. This I'm told is scheduled for w/c 12 July, so presumably if all is well, Bevan could be steaming out in the next few days.

When I took these photographs, it was bright and sunny outside, but of course fairly dark under the cover of the locomotive shed. This creates a large contrast range and makes getting a photograph tricky as the details are often "washed out". I did shoot multiple exposures with a view to creating a High Dynamic Range (HDR) image, but in the end I wasn't entirely happy with the results.

From slightly off-centre

Bevan straight on

Unfortunately the construction of the locomotive shed makes it difficult to get any decent angles with the supporting pillars in the way. It shouldn't be too long before Bevan is out steaming round the Nursery Line, so I should be able to have some unrestricted views and some working space. Whilst fish-eye lenses are great for working in very constrained spaces, they do introduce a fair amount of distortion, not all of which can be corrected in processing, and are susceptible to lens flare as can be seen about a quarter of the way in at the top on the image below. This is where the sunlight has fallen on the front of the lens and created internal reflections.

Bevan with the finished tender wagon behind

For the technically minded (and according to the Bressingham Volunteer handbook) Bevan is an independent design based on the Kerr, Stuart & Company "Wren" class locomotive with a new McEwen of Keighley boiler.