The Wait is Nearly Over

Just a couple of weeks to go now before the 2013 mainline steam action gets underway. That's not forgetting that the first steam gala of the year takes place on the East Lancashire Railway next Saturday and Sunday. The following weekend sees The Great Central Railway's steam gala held over Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

On Saturday 26 January 2013 steam should once again be running over the famous Settle to Carlisle route with the Railway Touring Company's Winter Cumbrian Mountain Express. This should be double headed by 45407 The Lancashire Fusilier and 44871 making the trip from Manchester to Carlisle via Shap returning over the Settle to Carlisle.

I've no photographs of either of these locomotive so I've added a picture of 6201 Princess Elizabeth at Kirby Stephen  on 17 November 2012 with The Cumbrian Mountaineer.

Camera and video fully charged and ready to go!

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

The York Yuletide Express

On Thursday 13th December 60009 Union of South Africa was in charge of the RYTC's York Yuletide Express from Norwich. My plan was to take photographs of the train heading up the East Coast Main line nearing its destination of York but unfortunately Thursday morning dawned foggy.

This was the motorway camera not far from the ECML and as the fog was forecast to hang around all day there seemed little point in making a foggy journey along the motorway.

 Here's a picture of 60009 Union of South Africa in Carlisle earlier in the autumn waiting to make the return trip with RYTC's The Hadrian.

The Lindum Fayre

We were out and about again on Saturday in Lincolnshire with the hope of managing to capture a couple of steam charter trains on the same day. Both trains were heading to Lincoln for the Christmas market or Lindum Fayre.

Although both trains were heading from the south they were making their way into Lincoln along two different stretches of track. The first special was headed by GWR 4-6-0 4965 Rood Ashton Hall which we hadn't any pictures of so we considered catching this train to be our main aim of the day.

4965 Rood Ashton Hall with The Lincoln Christmas Market at Swinderby Road crossing

The location for our photographs was chosen using street view on Google maps. As we arrived at the location there was already a group of enthusiasts waiting for the arrival of the charter train. This was an indication that the spot chosen wasn't too bad and that we hadn't missed the main event.

4965 Rood Ashton Hall at Swinderby Road crossing

4965 Rood Ashton Hall put on a good display as it headed for Lincoln with plenty of smoke left trailing behind the train.

As 4965 was on time this left us with around 40 minutes to find a location for photographing 60009 Union of South Africa also heading into Lincoln with the Lindum Fayre. Again with the help of Google maps we had a spot by a level crossing at Rowston as our chosen location. I didn't think the location was quite as good as our first spot but it would have to do. 

60009 Union of South Africa with The Lindum Fayre at Rowston crossing

Union of South Africa seemed to be in cruise mode at this point with little smoke making for a rather disappointing picture.

Christmas White Rose

It was freezing cold waiting at Colton Junction just outside York to see 60009 Union of South Africa in charge of the Railway Touring Company's Christmas White Rose on route from Cambridge to York.

In the bright sunshine both photography and videoing were pretty challenging. It was more or less aim and shoot and hope the locomotive was in the view finder. The timings for the journey had recently been updated with the route switched to the East Coast Main Line between Doncaster and York from the slower Doncaster - Church Fenton - York line. These timings made the biggest changes to the route further south with the train arriving in York around noon which had always been the intention.

In the end the results weren't too bad and we had our first pictures on 60009 Union of South Africa in serious action as it approached York. As you can see, from all the parked cars on the opposite side of the track, it proved to be a popular spot for railway enthusiasts to capture their shots of 60009 at speed.

The rather blustery wind from the north tended to blow the exhaust gases in the wrong direction which had a rather detrimental effect on the video soundtrack. It's the first time we visited this popular location for capturing steam charters on the East Coast Main Line.

60009 replaces 60007

After the failure of 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley last week it appears from various web sources that 60009 Union of South Africa will fill in on the tours previously booked for 60007 for the remainder of the year.

60009 Union of South Africa stands in Carlisle Station with The Hadrian 27 October 2012

That gives a few more opportunities to photograph 60009 over the next few weeks. Most of my shots are from our trip on the Hadrian a few weeks ago hauled by 60009 Union of South Africa. This is a chance to get some good action shots weather permitting. 

60007 Sir Nigel Gresley Failure

I noticed that the Tynesider on Saturday 24 November was diesel hauled from Newcastle to York after 60007 suffered a failure on its positioning move from the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. Following on from that UKSteam info pages show that 6007 has been removed from the Christmas White Rose Special and the Lindum Fayre.

Does this mean we're not likely to see 60007 on the main line again this year. Anyone got any information?

What Next

After the weekend trip to film 46201 Princess Elizabeth thoughts are turning to our next possible filming opportunity. This one might be much nearer to home.

Click here to go to the UKSteam Info page with more details of this charter

The Christmas White Rose from Cambridge to York and return on 01 December 2012 presents a chance to get some action footage of 60009 Union of South Africa. This locomotive hauled our charter train The Hadrian several weeks ago but obviously when you travel on the train action shots are not possible.

60007 Sir Nigel Gresley is due to haul the return journey and whilst I'd like to get some footage of this locomotive I'd like my first opportunity to be in daylight rather than darkness.

I've not done any filming over on the East Coast Main Line which will be a bit flat after the Settle to Carlisle line. I will need to plan careful where to go to take pictures.