Leigh984, The creative portfolio of Leigh Spencer

To welcome engine 92214 to its permanent residence at the Great Central Railway the heritage line held a 'mixed traffic weekend' featuring various engines running alongside the new acquisition. My video features the new locomotive as it travels between Loughborough and Rothley before continuing further down the line.

On a cold, wet and windy Valentines evening in February 2014 the small mainline station of Narborough was visited by steam locomotive Rood Ashton Hall. My film features the "calm before the storm" on the station before the engine powers through at full speed surrounded by steam and blowing its whistle illuminated only by the yellow glow of the station lights. Once the engine has passed all is as before with no trace of the engine that has just passed.

Designed for the Great Central Railways Real Ale Train event my poster takes inspiration from the railway posters created during the golden age of steam in the early 20th century and uses a flat design style to form the image of a steam train emerging from a tunnel shaped like a bottle. continuing the theme the steam from the engine forms into bubbles as they reach the neck of the bottle. As the engine emerges from the dark bottle-tunnel its beams illuminate the event information on the left of the poster, a bright, warm orange and green colour scheme is used referencing the fact the event takes place in the warm month of May.

I travelled to Rutland Water to watch Olympic gold medallist Chris Draper in his Moth type yacht compete against over 200 competitors in the 21st Rutland Challenge for the John Merricks Tiger Trophy. The trophy is a pursuit type race in which various classes of yacht compete against each other with a handicap (the Moths set out last as they are the fastest). The yachts completed a course around Rutland Water with good wind and beneath a crisp clear blue winter sky. My film features highlights of the action on and off the water and follows the Olympic gold medallist as he prepares his Moth for the race before taking to the water. images follow

My short film follows a Traction engine in steam as it arrives at the Abbey Pumping Station for one of their regular events. We join the beautifully kept engine as it makes its way carefully along the nearby streets and through the front gates of the Victorian Pumping house before later taking a closer look at the workings from a unique drivers perspective. Images follow.

I visited the Abbey Pumping Station for Meccano Magic a celebration of the well known construction toy. The large hall was packed with many different colourful and intricate models created by enthusiasts from the wide variety of shapes and colours available in the Meccano range. Many of the designs had been crafted without instructions showing the creativity of their creators. On one table sat a model of the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars which its creator believed to be the only one of its kind in existence and had been created purely from photographs of the iconic spacecraft. Other models on show included steam engines, cranes, Red Arrow and Spitfire planes and even remote control cars all created using the construction toy. My film aims to capture the atmosphere of the popular event and features just a small selection of the models on show.

I visited the village of Great Bowden in Leicestershire to see the Fernie Hunt. the annual event begins with the horses and hounds leaving the kennels and travelling to the village green where they are greeted by many spectators. The festive meet allows a chance to see the horses, hounds and talk with their owners about the rich history of the event which also raises money for many local charity's and groups. The horses and hounds follow a sent trail on a planed route around the local countryside laid by a quad bike and bird of prey before retiring back to the kennels at the end of the day. Images follow.

I visited Leicester`s Highcross shopping centre to see the well known Coke-Cola truck as it visited the city as part of a nationwide Christmas tour. The trucks appearance both on tv and in related media signals the start of the festive season for many people and in recent years the trucks have toured the country bringing with them Christmas cheer and a chance for people to have their photos taken alongside the famous big red trucks. My film aims to capture the festive atmosphere as the coke-cola singers sing a variety of Christmas songs and free cans of the drink are handed out. Images Follow

I visited Abbey Pumping Station in Leicester for the annual Christmas Toys & Steam Day. The event usual held in December features many historic steam powered Vehicles and collections of toys from Christmas past. Visitors are invited to take a ride on the museums steam train Leonard and see the Pumping Stations beautifully designed beam engines in operation which can be seen in my previous post at http://leigh984.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/AbbeyPumpingStation.html Images Follow

  I visited the Abbey Pumping Station to see the working Beam Engines which are housed inside a grand Victorian building designed by Stockdale Harrison. The beautifully painted engines are a spectacular sight and can be seen working in the way they where designed and built to be in Leicester by Gimson and Company, today they are rare examples of Woolf compound rotative beam engines in fact it is the only engine house in the world where you can see four working examples of the same beam engine in one building. My film looks at the various dials switches and mechanical parts of the engine in motion as they spin, turn, rise up and down and emit steam making for a warm and humid atmosphere inside the building. Images follow