Bernard’s Steam Train Hobby Turns into Lifelong Love

Bernard Mills has good reason to inspire respect among devotees of the train in the Westcountry. Forty-three years on the job have enabled him to build up a formidable level of knowledge and expertise.

Many in the region have undoubtedly encountered the 60-year-old author and photographer on their travels – he has worked at Plymouth Railway Station since 1972, initially as a clerk and later as ticket office supervisor.

Bernard, originally from Plymouth and now living at Buckland Monachorum, near Yelverton, West Devon, said he had always had an interest in the railways. “It’s been my life blood since I was a little toddler – in 1951, my grandfather took me to Keyham station [in Plymouth],” he said. “It’s always been there – it’s a hobby I always wanted to do. I bought a camera 43 years ago.”

Over the years, Bernard has taken more than 150,000 photographs in Canada, the United States, much of Europe, India, Thailand and, of course, the Westcountry.

In one of his most emotive photographs, a steam train is beautifully silhouetted against the sun at Bodmin in North Cornwall, a plume of white smoke rising cloud-like from its funnel.

Another vivid picture was taken on the famous Bridge on the River Kwai in Thailand.

He is also an accomplished writer, having written six books. His latest, The 74 Westerns – A Personal Reflection will be published in April by the Diesel Traction Group.

The book centres on his favourite breed of train, the Western class diesel hydraulic.

Bernard says writing about trains was a natural follow-up to photography.

“The one went with the other,” he said. “I really got into it when I did a series called Backtrack, a weekly feature on Saturdays in the Western Evening Herald [now The Plymouth Herald] in the 1980s. A lot of people have asked me to do it again.”

Another of Bernard’s books, Steam Around Plymouth, features more than 200 photographs and tours tracks including the Great Western main line from Hemerdon, near Plymouth, to the Royal Albert Bridge at Saltash, South East Cornwall, and lines that served the city’s various quays including Millbay, Coxside and Turnchapel.

The railways of Devon and Cornwall are some of the most scenic in the country, taking visitors past stunning views of rivers and coastline, through the rolling countryside and past historic mining landscapes.

Bernard prefers to stay out of the politics of the modern-day rail system, but says numerous changes have taken place.

He says: “Railways have changed beyond all recognition since I first joined. The privatised railway of today is a million miles away from the British Rail I joined 43 years ago.

“I think I’m the only one on the railways to have worked at Tavistock North – I was there from autumn 1966 to May 1968. I’d like to see it back.”

Tavistock North railway station was opened in 1890 but closed to traffic in 1965. It was originally on the “inland” route from Plymouth to London Waterloo, avoiding the coastal line at Dawlish, South Devon.

It was closed under the infamous Beeching railway modernisation programme of the 1960s because it was considered that two routes to London were not required.

Tavistock originally had two stations – the other, Tavistock South, which was close to the town centre was also shut down in the early 1960s.

Bernard’s wife Audrey, 55, is an accomplished railway photographer in her own right – the couple met at the Plymouth Railway Circle in 1984, drawn together by a mutual love of steam trains.

Bernard has recently held his first exhibition, where he showed a selection of his favourite photographs, and will host a slideshow and talk called The Railways of Plymouth – Then and Now, to raise funds for Buckland Monachorum Village Hall at the hall tomorrow at 7.30pm.

He said: “I’ve been doing slide shows over many years to entertain people.”

While many may view his hobby as extraordinary, Bernard says a love of trains is his primary driving force.

“I’m just an ordinary railway man who does his job and takes pictures,” he said.

(c) 2008 Western Morning News, The Plymouth (UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.