There was a time when I travelled in and out of many rail termini in the UK that I would see hydraulic buffers at the business end of the platform that were cast in Ipswich. Ransomes were all over the place.

These days I have noticed a distinct lack of these old buffers with contraptions bolted to the railhead and some form of zigzag welding on those heads that must presumably form a degree of friction or braking. They just don’t look right and are nothing like the kit that me and my brothers and sister used on our Hornby 00 train set. They at least had spring operated buffers.

Anyway, for years I have commuted off and on from Ipswich to London and beyond throwing vast amounts of money at the service in the process, but relishing (unlike many of my fellow regional commuters), that we still have relatively old stock but at least stock that one can rest both cheeks of one’s arse on the seat unlike the more modern ‘think thin’ type trains.

Whilst in the throws of commuting big time, the relentless positioning of oneself at the perceived stopping point of my carriage so that I could get MY seat – (all commuters are like this I am sure) I really did not notice much other than arrival boards and signal lights. Amber always kicked in a 2 minutes before arrival so the pulse could be up and racing for that sprint for MY seat. By the way, have you noticed how very much everything associated with on-line(sic) stuff these days is prefixed with ‘MY’?

It was not until I became an irregular traveller that I stood and looked at what was around me and it was two mops in a green bucket that attracted my attention sitting on the ballast at the end of the line for Platform 1 at Ipswich station. I began to notice that the mops had different positions and never the same two visits running. I photographed them, then the mop bucket went the way of old mop buckets and squeegee mops began to appear on the old (new) buffers. I decided to photograph these mops and buffers or just the buffers each time I travelled.

It gets quite exciting when surprises happen such as two watering cans…

It is an ongoing project by an old buffer and all these images are being made on an iPhone. The growing edit can be seen at http://tomowens.openpoint.co.uk/galleries/arts-practice/land-and-seascapes/buffer/