I like taking the train sometimes. Trains are one of the few ways to travel where you can truly sit, relax and watch the world go by. Driving is nice but as the driver you can’t look much at anything other than the road around you and taking photos is out of the question unless you pull over and stop; which isn’t always convenient. Even as a passenger I don’t fully relax and I am always watching out for things on the road (maybe that’s just me).

On a good train journey through the countryside there are often opportunities for photography and although you have to accept that you are shooting through a glass window that is unlikely to be optically good, there are scenes worth capturing.

You have to be ready though and just take the shot when you see it as if you hesitate it is likely gone and there is no going backwards.

These first four photos were taken on such a journey as part of a trip my wife and I did to Antwerp. This was a very important trip for us as we were not yet married or even engaged and this was where we were hoping to buy a diamond for my wife’s engagement ring; we ended up buying the ring there too and all in all it was a great trip.

I took this photo while going along as I liked the industrial landscape with the bridge and the crane; I think there was a slightly better shot a moment before but I may have hesitated

As were were waiting in a station halfway through the trip, this scene caught my eye. The old bent and rusty cage (which was once a glazed stairway entrance) at the top of the stairs with the girl on her phone behind (or in the cage) works for me.

We stopped very briefly at this place; the name amused me and so took a shot.

Sometimes the destination is as much part of the journey as the getting there and Antwerp has (in my view) and very nice station with plenty of photography options.

I took this as I liked the split between the original arched station and the modern concourse.

A year or so later my wife (to be) and I went to visit my daughter in Germany where she was staying for a year as part of her degree course and we took a short journey by train with her.

I had my Voigtländer Vitomatic on this trip and took this snap as we were going along and it’s one of my favourite pictures of her; sometimes on train journeys to shots are not always outside the windows