In 1977 Trevor Grimshaw published “Stilled Life”, a book of 36 black and white photographs of some of the redundant British Rail steam locomotives in the Woodham scrapyard at Barry Docks.

Each image was accompanied by a short piece of prose or verse selected by Trevor to echo his aesthetic response. Unlike many preservationists, he was primarily interested in the visual impact of the silent, damaged and corroding engines as they stood.

Repair and restoration to running order might well await some of them, but Grimshaw’s immediate concern was with the interaction between engines and their environment – specifically the salt-laden air of Barry Docks. 36 photographs saw publication, but in excess of 100 further images had been recorded on Trevor’s 2 1/4” square camera. These were developed and in the case of the black and white photos never printed. Colour photos were taken in a slide format.

Altogether they languished in an attic until they were discovered in December 2016 by Trevor’s daughter Ceridwen, who was searching her loft for Christmas decorations. A friend co-ordinated the challenging technicalities of realising a selection of the pictures at exhibition quality.

Trevor had celebrated the obsolete technology of steam through what is now the obsolete technology of darkroom photography.

Before the era of digital imaging the most popular format was 35mm film, and equipment for digitising 35mm film images is readily available.

But 2 1/4” square format, as favoured professionally and by Grimshaw, cannot be so easily handled. The images in this exhibition result from the specialist expertise of S.O.S Photography who specialise in the recovery of vintage and antique photographs.

In photography, no less than in charcoal, pencil and lithography, Trevor was a master of monochrome. Most of the newly released images are in his characteristic black and white, but there are also some superb works in colour.

These show even more clearly the degrading effects of Barry’s sea air. Professional reproduction of most of the images discovered are available to purchase here. Bear in mind we do not hold stock and so if you buy we will be printing specifically to your order, so allow us time for processing and delivery.

There are hundreds of images of Woodham’s yard on the internet, but to our knowledge Trevor was the only professionally trained photographer and artist singly dedicated to capturing the detail of corrosion and nature taking back the 100+ locos, many of which had been standing over 10 years in the open.

Ironically most of them were to be saved as politicians and enthusiasts realised the loss of Britain’s steam heritage in the rush to diesel and electric in the 1960’s, and the opportunities to save the last few that their chance survival in Woodham’s yard provided.

So if you buy into any of the images on offer you will get a unique piece of steam history unavailable elsewhere, and reproduced to your order.