Through the main summer season, according to their timetable, the North Yorkshire Moors Railway offers an hourly, all steam service but I've noticed in previous years that they have often struggled to have enough locos to cover this and diesels have often made an unwelcome appearance much to the disappointment of some passengers. In 2012, not having had the opportunity to visit, I had only heard at second hand how they were coping until the visit of a friend from Germany in late August gave me the chance to see for myself.
My first recordings were made in the evening of Friday 17th August 2012 of the evening diner running from Grosmont to Pickering and back and I was pleased to see that the BR Standard 2-6-0 75029 was in charge of this heavy train.
75029 coped very well as you can hear in this recording made near the road bridge at Darnholme.

The following day we returned to Darnholme in time for the first train from Grosmont which was in the hands of the ex LNER A4 Pacific 60007 'Sir Nigel Gresley' which is again heard from close to the road bridge.
After that, things must have gone badly wrong down at Grosmont as the next train didn't put in an appearance until 50 minutes after its booked time. Quite what the problem was we never discovered but a further problem proved to be grass cutting activities at the nearby house which made recording the late running train impossible; a shame as it was hauled by 45428.
The lateness continued until late in the afternoon when it appeared that a train had been dropped from the timetable to get things back on schedule.

So, the next train I attempted to record was hauled by the Black 5 later in the day and this is how 45428 sounded heard from the top of the cutting between Darnholme and Goathland.
As the recording begins the Black 5 can be heard slipping as it comes up from Water Ark. We heard slipping here on a few occasions and eventually decided it must be due to a flange greaser rather than general rail conditions.

Once again there was an evening dining train running and for the return from Pickering we went to Levisham, this time making our recordings from near the station.
As you can hear, as 75029 sets off into Newton Dale, this time the Owls were calling and as an added bonus we were able to watch the International Space Station pass silently overhead!

The next day was Sunday so, without trains running through to Whitby and one diesel diagram in the timetable, only two steam locos were in use and these proved to be 60007 and 825. A bonus for me was that the diesel in use was a Deltic. Now you may think that steamsounds shouldn't be recording diesels but I have always had a soft spot for Deltics and, if there's one about, I'll usually try for a recording. Don't worry though, although you can hear it in this track, it's mainly steam!
As the recording begins 55022 can be heard at the other end of the station departing for Pickering before the A4 departs for Grosmont.

Next came 825 which we recorded from a point near The Grange, about half a mile north of Levisham station.
As I've said before, 825 isn't a favourite of mine but there is nothing wrong with the noise in this recording.

On the next day, Monday 20th August we spent most of our time around Grosmont and Black 5 45428 was in use once more.
Despite some extraneous agricultural noises, the Black 5 sounds fine departing from Grosmont and, after passing through the tunnel, starting on the gradient to Goathland.

My last recording of the day was of 80072 departing from Grosmont.
It was nice to get a few more recordings of this loco which, I gather, will soon be returning to its home base at Llangollen.