A Lineside Legacy

John Hillier celebrates the work of railway photographer Eric Oldham

- John Hillier

I must have been about 16 when I first heard about and subsequently met Eric Oldham who was to be my photographic mentor for many years. He lived in Hyde but, although I lived in Marple Bridge at the time, I travelled daily by train to Hyde Grammar School via the grandly titled Hyde Central station.

As our school playing field used to border the Manchester to Sheffield line, the fence there became a regular haunt for those who, like me, preferred the sport of "train watching" to the usual sporting activities on the field. It would have been during one of those gatherings that I discovered one of the photographers whose work appeared from time to time in Trains Illustrated (TI) lived and worked in the town, and was a leading member of the photographic society there.

My parents had given me my first camera, a Kodak Brownie 127, to take on a school trip to the 1960 Rome Olympics. I returned with a few memorable but not very good pictures which caused me to want to improve my photography - and the equipment I was using as well as try to emulate the fine pictures in TI and elsewhere. I soon discovered that Eric had a baker's shop and visits to the shop on Market Street to buy an iced bun or two were soon on the agenda.

In truth, it was a chance to attend meetings of Hyde Photographic Society, which provided the opportunity to meet Eric and subsequently get lots of valuable practical advice about techniques, films and how to develop them. I was also able to admire the large, mounted exhibition prints that he produced for society print competitions and for various exhibitions.

Looking at them it was no wonder that the name "Eric Oldham" could regularly be found engraved on winners' cups.