railography photo galleries : United Kingdom : Class 31 : 81-UK-0539 : (12 of 14)

Instant History

Somebody once said that a railway photograph was "instant history". The railway scene changed so rapidly that it was difficult to repeat a shot in every detail as something was bound to have changed in the meantime.

That's certainly true of this picture of 31 300 trundling north at Riccall, between Selby and York with a train of hoppers on 19 December 1981. In this case, it's not only the loco and rolling stock that have disappeared, the railway itself is history, lifted after the Selby Diversion opened in 1983.