Dubai
When the era of steam-powered locomotives was coming to an end, in 1955, American photographer O. Winston Link took it upon himself to document the last of these trains.
From their gleaming iron machinery, to the plumes of smoke they left in their wake, his pictures showed the power and beauty of these iconic trains, before diesel-powered engines took over.
Link’s book of photography appropriately refers to the trains of the time, as ‘iron horses’.
Now, our reader photographers have made it their mission to capture the glorious movement of trains with their cameras.
While the days of steam engines and coal powered railways are long gone, a blur of blue along Dubai’s Shaikh Zayed Road indicates a more advanced means of public transport.
We asked our reader photographers to capture ‘Trains’ as the competition theme in November, and found that the Dubai Metro was one of the most popular features in the month’s entries.
After Vancouver, Canada, Dubai’s Metro is the world’s longest, fully automated, driverless metro network with a route length of 75km. It cuts a path across the city, and takes train technology into the future. But coming soon, is another revolutionary high-speed transit system. With the introduction of Hyperloop in the UAE, travelling from Dubai to Abu Dhabi is expected to take just 12 minutes.
The journey of train travel is far from over. In fact, it’s getting more and more fascinating, as technology and time propels it into the future.
November’s photography competition was opened up to our Facebook readers, and they selected the top five winners, by liking the picture that they found best captured the theme. Here, we present the winners by popular vote.
Editor’s note: If you would like to participate, log on to Gulf News’ Facebook page and send in your submission for December’s Facebook Reader Picture Competition.
First Place: Farhan Shajahan
Gulf News reader Farhan Shajahan took this photograph of Dubai Metro from Al Nahda Metro Station. He said: ‘I call this photograph ‘The Wait’, because I waited for about five minutes for the train to approach the station.’ He clicked the image with a Canon Powershot camera.
His picture won the competition, with 1,076 votes on Facebook.
Second Place: Nidin CV
Clicking this photograph from Burj Khalifa, Gulf News reader Nidin C. V. said: “In order to enjoy the beauty of Dubai, I like to spend time at unique spots, where I can focus on the city, its busy roads and buildings. But all of a sudden, the Metro above this road caught my attention. It wasn’t enough for me to capture it in a single shot, so I waited a long time for the best of shots.”
His picture garnered 821 likes on Facebook and landed him in second place.
Third Place: Eduardo A. Gavino
Gulf News reader Eduardo A. Gavino captured this silhouette shot of the Metro from Ibn Battuta Metro Station.
His picture received 567 votes on Facebook.
Fourth Place: Suryaraj Thazhepurath
For Gulf News reader Suryaraj Thazhepurath, this was a dream picture. He said: ‘I always wanted to click a picture of the Metro with the Emirates Towers in the background. But whenever I had my DSLR camera with me, I would not get a place at the front of the Metro, or could never spot a train approaching me in this frame. But one day, I got really lucky! It made me so happy.’
His photograph received 492 votes on Facebook.
Fifth Place: Fatima Mather
Gulf News reader Fatima Mather’s picture was shot on an iPhone 5S. She said: ‘The Brecon Mountain Railway is one of the ‘great little train of Wales’.’ She clicked this photograph of the steam powered train, which runs along local reservoirs and into the Brecon Beacons National Park, in a town called Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales, UK.
Her winning picture garnered 511 likes on Facebook.
