Saturday 10th March 2012 was a very good day for steam in the North of England with no fewer than 3 steam hauled trains running involving 4 locos and surprisingly, the weather wasn't too bad either.
The first of these trains that I was able to record was running from Cleethorpes to Newcastle and Morpeth with 70013 'Oliver Cromwell' and as it stopped at York for water I went to the river bank to try for a recording of it departing.
Alongside the River Ouse I found it was quite windy and there was very little shelter so all I could do was get set up and hope for the best. As you can hear, I was lucky as the wind did drop a little as 70013 departed having no difficulty getting its 12 coach load away. As 'Cromwell' heads north, a southbound Grand Central unit passes.
Not a bad recording to start the day.

After that, I met up with a friend and we headed off to Kirkby Stephen for the second of the three charters.
This one had been diesel hauled to Carlisle and was returning south over the Settle - Carlisle line behind another Brit, this one 70000 'Britannia' which had worked north to Carlisle the previous Saturday putting in an excellent performance by all accounts.
As often happens with trains which stop to take water at Appleby, 70000 was a few minutes early when it passed our usual spot near Greengate Bridge not far south of Kirkby Stephen and while it was going well enough with its 12 coach train, I don't think any records were in danger of being broken.
Because of the strength and direction of the wind we didn't hear it for as long as we had heard 70013 at the same spot two weeks before but it makes an interesting comparison none the less.
And the photograph? Well, like most of our recordings spots, this one doesn't really provide an opportunity to get a photo of the train but it does give us a very distant view of Kirkby Stephen's starting signal so we can, at least tell when a train is on its way!

The third charter one was running from Tyseley to Carlisle and back, outward via Shap returning over the Settle - Carlisle line and this one was double headed.
Now, I don't really like double headers at the best of times as two locos often mean shorter recordings with less noise, this one, for example, being loaded to 12 coaches meaning that each would have just 6 to haul. However, I can appreciate that double headers with appropriate pairings can make reasonable recordings but in this case the pairing was anything but appropriate.
The two locos involved were LMS Princess Royal Pacific 6201 'Princess Elizabeth' and GWR Castle 4-6-0 5043 'Earl of Mount Edgcumbe'. While these are both fine locos in their own right I can see no possible attraction in having them running them as a double header especially when either would be quite capable of taking the train over the route single handed - and just as well...
While waiting we received a message that 6201 had been failed at Carlisle with a hot tender axle box and the Castle would be taking train back south by itself.
Now, as everyone knows by now, I am no great fan of Great Western engines but I have to say that I was mightily impressed with the way 5043 came up from Kirkby Stephen with its 11 coach train. However, I also have to say, as I've said before that we must remember that this is a BR modified Castle and if GW fans want me to be really and truly impressed with the products of Swindon then they'll have to produce for me a similar performance with an original. as built Castle!
I'll not be holding my breath then...

The Castle, heard in the last track ran a good 15 minutes early which was a good thing as the timings of all these trains gave us the possibility, if the roads were clear, to get to Durham for 70013's return from the North East.
As things turned out we had plenty of time and went to a spot we had used before at the top of the deep cutting not far south of the station.
We have made a few recordings here but none of them could be described as special; this one, on the other hand had the potential to be very good as, unlike our previous attempts here, this train was stopping at Durham.
The train was booked to stand in the loop just north of Durham for some time while three or four service trains passed and, after the last of these had gone we thought we could just hear 70013 start out of the loop.
As I said, with a start out the station on the gradient to Relly Mill we were hoping for a really good recording. Well, I was more than happy with what we got, even with the interruption from a northbound East Coast service. See what you think.