Not a retired steam engineer

A wonderful picture, Frank. You capture the personality of your subjects so well even when you can't see their faces (as in that classic photo of the boy with his pajamas over his head). This is an engineer we all thought only lived in our imaginations and here he is in the flesh.

I agree with Jack, this is marvelous. You have found a Jean Gabin of modern times - and he seems to know it.

Thanks for viewing & commenting

He is indeed the archetype of all steam engineers... Think of one and you cannot but come up with this kind of guy, at least that's what I thought when I first saw him. I have rarely seen the pride and joy a man takes in doing his job. He is one of the engineers doing a tourist ride somewhere in the French Dordogne region. The ride was awful with absolutely nothing to see but the presence of some very photogenic characters (see "the escaped convict") and machinery made it worthwile.

Excellent portrait! Well done!

Fantastic shot. He looks like the model from which all engineers have sprung. I love the jowled smile.

Frank, it demands a lot of guts and much skill to lay a railway track in Dordogne where there is "nothing to see". Maybe that's why he smiles so broadly at you. Only his engine is worthy of attention.

such a fine picture… A real beauty Frank - perfectly lighted and framed and toned!

 

But it's more than that: it bridges to the magic world of a child, a time long gone, when we were envious of the trains and the men who drove them, always heading toward adventure in unknown faraway destinations. A lovely shot - and I missed it somehow.