Should Have Been Three!

I'd made a note of Saturday 14th June in my diary early in the year as no less than three steam locomotives were heading for York on the same day and it must surely provide a good photo opportunity. Of course it all depended on the timing of each train as I'm not the sort of person who can hang around for hours waiting for a train. I haven't got the patience. 

The timings for each train didn't appear until a few days before the scheduled event. It wasn't good news as a couple of hours separated each train. I settled on Sherburn in Elemet for pictures of LMS Princess Coronation Class 4-6-2 Pacific 46233 Duchess of Sutherland hauling the Yorkshire Coronation from Derby to Scarborough. I thought about also photographing it before it stopped at Milford Loop to take on water but as it would probably be coasting at that point I decided on the one location. The locomotive should be working hard at Sherburn as it gets away from the water stop at Milford Loop.

After this I thought we had time to travel to Fenwick Lane near Doncaster to capture Rebuilt Bulleid Light Pacific Locomotive No 34046 Braunton which I’d discovered on Saturday morning was replacing LNER A4 Class 4464 Bittern. It was a chance I didn't want to miss as it’s one of the steam locomotives I haven't seen making a rare trip up north. However on the way to Doncaster there had been a bad traffic accident and the road was closed. The route around the closure was far too long and by the time we would have got there 34046 Braunton would be in York. We headed for the small village of Great Heck which is situated on the East Coast Main Line and hoped to find a suitable spot there. 

We didn't have long to wait before 34046 Braunton raced past on its way to York from Kings Cross with The White Rose II. I even managed a little bit of video at Great Heck which is included below. 

The rain which had fallen on and off throughout the morning held off whilst we photographed both trains. The locomotive we didn't get round to seeing was LNER A4 Class 60009 Union of South Africa with The Cathedrals Express.

Copyright: Original post from http://steamdaysblog.blogspot.co.uk/author M Garrett

48151 with THE YORKSHIRE COAST EXPRESS

The Yorkshire Coast Express ran from Crewe to Scarborough passing through Milford on its way to York and the coast. The train was hauled by 8F 48151 throughout.  It was our intention to photograph the train just before it arrived at Milford loop for a water stop and then to move on to Sherburn in Elmet to capture it pulling away after taking on water.

On a lovely sunny, but bitterly cold, day 48151 cruises into its stop at Milford Loop. Disappointingly no smoke but I suppose as it was going to stop for water a mile or so up the line this was to be expected. It was a nice change to be taking pictures in sunshine rather than the dull gloomy weather of our last few excursions.

Once the train was out of sight at this location we quickly packed up cameras and tripods and headed for the station at Sherburn in Elmet. It's only a few minutes up the road giving us plenty of time to set up on the station platform to capture 48151 pulling away from its water stop.

In the end we had plenty of time to get set up before The Yorkshire Coast Express came through on its way to Scarborough. The pictures were a little more difficult to shoot due to a group of photographers standing at the end of the platform and blocking everybody else's view of the approaching express. Some people are just not very thoughtful.

I travelled to Woodlesford Station on Wednesday evening as 48151 was due to pass through on the return journey to Crewe at around 18:20. However, by 18:30 48151 hadn't shown up and on Realtime Trains it still appeared to be in York. I decided I might as well head home. I later found out that 48151 had been failed at York suspected of causing lineside fires on its run from Scarborough to York so no pictures at Woodlesford.

Our video at these two locations is shown below.

Copyright: Original post from http://steamdaysblog.blogspot.co.uk/author M Garrett

The Yorkshire Coast Express

Sherburn Station - Saturday 14th July 2012

This week "LMS 7P class 4-6-0 Scots Guardsman" has spent a week in Yorkshire. On Saturday 14th July it hauled The Yorkshire Coast Express from Milford Loop south of York through to Scarborough with a return journey back to York. The train had been diesel hauled from Llandudno to Milford Loop.

This is Scots Guardsman heading through Sherburn Station just after leaving Milford Loop some 15 minutes early. The video below shows just how hard 46115 was working to gather speed with The Yorkshire Coast Express as it headed towards York.

I had intended to catch 46115 reversing down to Milford Loop from the National Railway Museum at York but it did this part of the journey earlier than anticipated.

The Scarborough Spa Express

Wakefield Westgate - Tuesday 17th July

Scots Guardsman's next job in Yorkshire was hauling The Scarborough Spa Express on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday making the round trip from York to Scarborough via  Normanton, Wakefield, Woodlesford and Castleford.

First video is Scots Guardsman queueing for an evening arrival back at Wakefield Westgate station amongst the commuter and East Coast Main line trains on Tuesday.

Woodlesford Station - Thursday 19th July

The Scarborough Spa Express was running a little early on Thursday morning and I had just enough time to capture it coming to a standstill on Platform 2. I should have considered arriving a few minutes earlier but I didn't think it would be early as it was still picking up passengers at this point.

The final video is arriving at Woodlesford Station on Thursday evening on the last run of the week for The Scarborough Spa Express.