one to one
All aboard the heritage express
Railway photographer Jack Boskett has captured the magic of steam since childhood – we join him for a day at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway
Story and photos by Niall Hampton
Jack Boskett
Photographer
Having started his own photography business at the age of 19, Boskett is experienced in many genres but is perhaps best known for his photos of railways – both heritage and mainline varieties – as well as the royal family. www.jackboskett.co.uk
The UK’s affection for heritage railways isn’t surprising – we love to ride on a mode of transport that departed from the station many years ago. The closure of one-third of the route network in the postwar period saw some of the abandoned lines criss-crossing the UK live on as preserved or heritage railways and they offer a nostalgic escape from our joyless national rail services. Someone who gets to see both sides of the coin is Jack Boskett, who shoots marketing and documentary photographs for national train operators as well as for the heritage railway sector.
Based in Gloucestershire, his love affair with steam trains started in childhood at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway. This preserved line runs on the metals of a former Great Western Railway branch that once connected Cheltenham and Stratford-upon-Avon. The GWSR runs scheduled leisure services on the 14 miles of track between Cheltenham Racecourse and Broadway – rolling through some picture-postcard Cotswolds countryside. As someone who enjoys the heritage railway experience, I’ve been aware of Boskett’s work for some time, so I was delighted when he agreed to give Digital Camera a masterclass in steam train photos.
Staying on track on social media
“Just under 20,000 people follow me across the various platforms and my website is also quite popular – I get a lot of traffic on there. People enjoy looking at my photography so I try to keep the content on the site as fresh as I can. As well as the following I have for the railway scene, I’m also known for photographing our royal family. I took my first royal photo in 2007, of Prince Philip leaning out of a window on the royal train, and I was on the royal rota of the late Queen’s funeral and King Charles III’s coronation. Within the railway world, if any of the operators host a royal event, then I might be invited because I’ve built a reputation for photographing the royal family, and my following grows every day as a result.” Instagram, Facebook, X: @jackboskett