When Michael Patterson first started taking pictures of railway stations more than 40 years ago, it was part of his job to record how they looked at that moment in time. Working as personal assistant to British Rail’s Director of Environment watchdog, on the first day his boss, Bernard Kaukas, gave Michael an Olympus Trip camera and told him to get out of the office and take photographs at stations all over Britain.
Unlike the average railway buff, for a year between 1979 and ’80 he followed Bernard’s instructions to “Concentrate on the buildings, not the trains” as a way of flagging up the incredible architecture on the rail network. This unusual mission was the beginning of a lifelong passion for railway structures that has seen Michael capture thousands of pictures of station buildings up and down the land and right across Europe for his personal collection.
Brilliant images to be found on Michael’s Flickr page collection , including nostalgic flashbacks to Bristol Temple Meads railway station back in 1980 and 1989, and the original GWR headquarters built by Brunel. Check them out in the gallery below:
