The winners of the Young Railway Photographer of the Year 2025 competition have been announced, with Dale Bristo (18) taking the Best Image prize and winning a Fujifilm X-T5 in silver with an XF16–50mm lens
Dale, from St Helens, won through with a dynamic hyperlapse image of a Merseyrail Class 777, taken at Liverpool Central station on the underground Wirral line platform.

This year’s competition received a record 300 entries and the theme was ‘Railway 200’, tying in with the nationwide celebration of the bicentenary of the modern railway. The youngest entrant to receive a prize was Beatrice Collier (8) for a phone shot taken as she peered through a fence at a red signal flanked by greenery.

Exhibitions of shortlisted entries are now on at the National Railway Museum in York and the Locomotion museum in Shildon, County Durham. Watch this space for details of the 2026 competition.

We meet the overall winner of Young Railway Photographer of the Year
Dale, congratulations! Is this the first time that you have entered a big competition?
For me, this is the first large national scale competition I have entered for after previously entering smaller competitions near my home
What is it that appeals to you as a young person about train photography?
I think for me, there is just something exciting about capturing large-scale moving vehicles such as locomotives and passenger trains and the satisfaction you get when you capture the perfect overall shot is immeasurable.
For me in particular, capturing the speed and essence of a train helps to make a visually pleasing image that is like a piece of artwork! Finally, I feel like railway photography is also a genre of photography that isn’t really explored enough by people compared to the likes of other genres such as wedding, street photography etc and I think is one that needs to be exposed more across the world!
What camera equipment (camera, lens, or phone) did you use to get the winning shot?
I used a Nikon D7500 DSLR with the 18-105mm AF-S lens – it has a variable aperture of F/3.5-5.6.
Do you have any tips for any other young photographers keen to enter this competition?
I would say to anyone who has a strong passion in both trains or even the wider transport genre to definitely enter the competition as it is a very exciting opportunity that you could possibly win. Having a keen eye for detail and ideas surrounding your images can also help to show a visual story of what you are representing which is always loved in photography!

See here for other great competitions to enter this year.