‘How ‘not’ to take a photograph of a steam engine’

Steam locomotives in store often had pieces of cloth or rag wrapped around the chimneys, but in this scene, to all intents and purposes, a ‘telegraph pole’ has been inserted. Was this an ‘illusion’ deliberately created for the camera or just ‘rank stupidity’ by the photographer?

See here sporting the logo of its previous owner, GWR 7400 Class 0‑6‑0PT No. 7428 rots away in a siding at 89D Oswestry on 23rd December 1962. Condemned on 5th October, No. 7428 languished at Oswestry until around April 1964 before being towed to Cashmore’s, Great Bridge breaking up.