It was a cold cloudy misty day in the Dales but with the possibility of photographing two  different steam locomotives we decided to make the trip.

Our first location was a little north of Settle Junction to photograph The West Coast Railway Companies “The  Lancastrian” steam hauled over the following section of route - Preston-Carnforth-Helifield-Blackburn-Preston.

48151 heading for Settle Junction

48151 heading for Settle Junction

The Ex London Midland and Scottish Railway's 8F class 2-8-0 No 48151 was in charge of the train seen here heading towards Settle Junction.

48151 heading for Settle Junction

Fortunately for us The Lancastrian was more or less on time giving us plenty of time to find somewhere for lunch before heading on to the station at Horton In Ribblesdale to take some photos before making our way to Helwith Bridge to wait for 60009 Union of South Africa with The Railway Touring Companies “The Winter Cumbrian Mountain Express”.

Due at Helwith Bridge by 16:27 I thought the light would just about hold out for some pictures. On a good day that might have been correct but with a dull cloudy day to start off with and 60009 over 30 minutes late before steaming through Helwith Bridge the light had just about disappeared.

60009 Union of South Africa with The Winter Cumbrian Mountain Express

The result a rather grainy picture of Union of South Africa crossing the viaduct over the River Ribble. 

And to finish off with here's our video of the days events.

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

I saw the notifications concerning the support move for 60009 Union of South Africa from The National Railway Museum to Carnforth. This move was in order for UoSA to work this Saturday's Winter Cumbrian Mountain Express for The Railway Touring Company. The steam hauled section is planned from Carnforth to Carlisle over Shap summit with the return leg via the famous Settle to Carlisle line. The tour starts and ends at Euston station (London) but is hauled up and down to Carnforth by an electric locomotive.

I supposed this would be an opportunity to get our first main line steam photographs of the year. We made our way to a spot near Colton Junction just South of York where UoSA should have made an appearance at about 14:15 if all had gone to plan.

Of course you're seeing this picture because everything didn't go to plan. After an hours wait there wasn't any hint of steam just lots of diesels. It was blowing a gale and quite difficult to stand up at times so in the end we decided to give it up as a bad job and head for home.

It turned out that UoSA's support coach had been derailed in York so I suppose its none appearance will have to be forgiven.

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

Welsh Railways on TV

I saw the programmes on TV over the last couple of nights about the restoration of the Welsh Highland Railway and the Ffestiniog Railway in North Wales.

Ffestiniog Railway at Blaenau Ffestiniog

We visited both railways on a holiday in North Wales in September 2011 and I never realised that the full length of the Welsh Highland Railway had only been open for a few months following 15 years of work by many volunteers.

So if you missed spotting these video I posted back then of these two Welsh mountain railways  I've posted them again below.

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

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.