Two Heritage Railways & Two Mainline Rail tours.

That was the plan, to capture “Tornado” & “Flying Scotsman” pulling rail tours on the East Coast Main-line, with visits to Tanfield Railway & North York Moors Railway. 3/4 of the plan was executed, unfortunately Flying Scotsman failed and didn’t complete the rail tour.


The Edinburgh Flyer

A1 Class Pacific No. 60163 Tornado, hauling The Edinburgh Flyer leaving York around 6:30am. Seen here crossing Durham Viaduct at around 8:10am, before entering Durham Station to pick up more passengers. A quick drive across the city, to capture the train leaving Durham with the Cathedral in the background.


Tanfield Railway

One of the shortest drives of the day to Tanfield Railway, dubbed “The Worlds Oldest Railway” with the railways roots dating back to 1725. Originally a wagonway from the coal mines to the river, this eventually became the steam powered Tanfield Railway.

We visited the Marley Hill site, at one of end of the railway, where “Horden” was being prepared for the days activates. Along diesel “No.2” they shunted a coach around the yard, and then down the line for the first run of the day, unfortunately this appeared to be running late and we had to leave for our ill-fated “Flying Scotsman” journey.


The White Rose – Flying Scotsman

A trip back across the boarder to the outskirts of York, with the plan of capturing The White Rose rail tour with Flying Scotsman coming into York. Unfortunately, this was not to bad, the train already running 130min late had come to a standstill at Retford. No official update, a West Coast Railways diesel went thundering past and this ended up bringing the train into York. We’d already cut our losses and heading for the final location, The North York Moors Railway.


The North Yorkshire Moors Railway (NYMR)

The scenery and rolling hills of the North Yorkshire Moors is a good starting point, then add in miles of heritage railway and it’s an amazing combination. The line is the third longest heritage line in the UK and one of the busiest carrying upwards of 350,00 per year.

Such an expansive line, you could spend days travelling and photographing the line & scenery. Leaving York, aiming for Levisham, in-time for Repton & a Black 5 to pass. Then a trek over the moors to a classic shot on the railway, snaking through the evergreen trees towards Levisham, even a little sun visited. One last shot before home of the Black 5 climbing towards Levisham, along the bottom of a valley.