Railway Portraits

Robert and Bruce Wheatley were given the freedom by their parents at ages 16 and 13, to roam the NSW railway network for up to a week at a time.

With packs on their back and pocket money for survival, they travelled on all manner of trains, slept in railway waiting rooms, rode with the guard on goods trains, and when confidence grew, with the crew in the cab.

The family's Box Brownie camera accompanied their early wanderings but its slow shutter speed crippled serious photography. While at school, money was saved to purchase a 35mm and later, large format cameras.

Their challenge was to capture on film, the steam railway in all its beauty and grime, before the era ended.

The photographs in Railway Portraits reflect their love and passion for all things railway.