We had originally planned to go to the Middleton Railway's Steam Gala on the 19th of September, but with no information available about what was running, and a lot of buzz on the internet about there being an unprecedented four steam charters, all hauled by large and impressive locos passing through York Station that day, we decided that a day there might prove to be a better option instead. I have to say in hindsight that it looks like we certainly made the right decision! 
After a very early morning start, and a trip over the Pennines in foggy conditions, things were brightening up by the time we reached York, and we were there in good time to see the mighty A4 Pacific 60007 'Sir Nigel Gresley' arrive at 7.30am to prepare to haul "The Heart of Midlothian" charter up the East Coast Main Line to Edinburgh. Departure time was 8.02am, and there were already a lot of enthusiasts on the station waiting to see this famous engine off on its journey. Next up was 6233 'Duchess of Sutherland', which was taking "The Tyne Valley Tourer" from York to Carlisle, and planned departure time for this one was 9.29am. The loco arrived from Peterborough hauled by diesel locos 57601 and 47851 - the second time I had seen the latter loco on charter duty in the past week! I'm glad I was able to photograph the Duchess as she backed onto her coaches, because when she parted she was doing a great impression of a stealth aircraft, and the only view that many enthusiasts had of her departure was a large cloud of steam, a bit of a disappointment for many waiting photographers. Third up was the great protector himself, as 70013 'Oliver Cromwell' arrived from Cleethorpes on his way to Hellifield with the 'Cumbrian Mountain Express' and bearing the headboard "The Waverley". What a lovely sight it was, with an even more impressive departure at 10.32am (well at least we could see this one!). Only mid morning and we'd already seen three of the most impressive locos around, and what was left to come - yes new boy 60163 'Tornado', who was bringing "The Cathedrals Express" from London Kings Cross for a three hour stopover in York. The loco arrived just after 1.20pm, and this gave us time to have a look around York and photograph a number of other service trains and buses (been a few years since I last did that at York Station). Tornado's departure was scheduled for 5.02pm, so we decided to catch this at a location to the south of York, and it looked a lovely sight as it powered down the ECML in bright sunlight. What a grand day out, well worth getting up at 5am, and who would have believed even 10 years ago that we would ever see four steam engines in the same day at a major mainline station like York ever again. That wasn't quite the end though, we knew that there was also a NENTA diesel charter which had been running from Norwich to Carlisle, and this was due to pass through Hebden Bridge on its return at around 6.40pm. Since this was on our way home we headed for there to try and catch this one. The light was fading fast as the charter approached, topped and tailed by two Class 47 locos, and in spite of the poor light and having to shoot at ISO1600, I was confident of at least getting a usable shot, that was until a service pacer came alongside me just as the train was appearing into view, and forced me to shoot it at a distance, and then wait until the pacer had passed to try and get the rear loco. Well these things happen, and you can't do much about it, but I wasn't too unhappy having had so much good stuff for the rest of the day, and I have included the two poor shots I did manage anyway, better than nothing I guess!
The numbers of these two locos were 47826 and 47787 (my thanks to Robin Lush for kindly providing this information and putting me out of my misery!)
Check out ConwyCastle's video of the incident via the collection link at the foot of the page, if you look carefully you can just see me at the end of the platform as the pacer passed between me and the 47s. Looking at it again I'm amazed I managed to get a picture at all!
Still, four steam locos and four diesels on charter duty, as well as numerous service trains (not to mention lots of buses and ships for my other galleries too), what a cracking day out it was! |
Sir Nigel arrives at York 1024x724 IMGP4015.jpg |
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These two locos had hauled the charter up to York 1024x748 IMGP4049.jpg |
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The Duchess doing her impression of a stealth bomber and trying not to be seen by the waiting hordes 1024x715 IMGP4060.jpg |
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Oliver Cromwell invades York 1024x841 IMGP4070.jpg |
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You'd think they'd know better at their age! 1024x685 IMGP4076.jpg |
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Poor old pigeon, it didn't stand a chance!:-( 1024x749 IMGP4093.jpg |
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Tornado arrives from Kings Cross 1024x734 IMGP4109.jpg |
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Wonder how long it has left on its boiler ticket?:-) 1024x760 IMGP4124.jpg |
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York Station as seen from the City Walls 1024x733 IMGP4132.jpg |
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Tornado departs from York on the ECML 1024x795 IMGP4161.jpg |
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NENTA Railtour arrives in near darkness at Hebden Bridge 1024x773 IMGP4166.jpg |
ConwyCastle films the railtour (see collection link below) 1024x696 IMGP4168.jpg |
