Things had been pretty quiet on the railway photography front for a month until I made another trip up to North Yorkshire to spend a few days visiting Pickering and the NYMR.  My wife Elaine is to be thanked for this excursion as she had booked me on to one of the photography workshops organised by the NYMR as a 60th birthday present.

80072 at Moorgates

Naturally, I set off early enough on the long journey from home in South Wales to arrive in good time to spend a few hours photographing trains on the afternoon of Thursday 23rd, starting with 80072 passing Moorgates.   Friday 24th was devoted to the workshop, spent mainly in the NYMR's Learning Centre at Pickering station, but including a ride to Goathland after lunch for a practical session - unfortunately shorter than planned due to adverse weather.   We did manage to see 75029 climbing past Darnholm on the afternoon through service from Whitby.

75029 at Darnholm

It seemed hardly worthwhile to go all that way without spending at least one full day on the line, so on Saturday 25th I managed to see 75029 (again) at Ruswarp and Sleights on Network Rail's Esk Valley section as well as exploring the views available of the Grosmont to Goathland section from the nearby Rail Trail, formerly the original trackbed of the Pickering & Malton Railway.

45428 at Esk Valley

The Autumn gala season will be getting under way in the next week or two, so I expect to be adding albums to this site a little more frequently than of late.   The next outing will be to the West Somerset for their Late Summer Weekend on Sunday 2nd September, which also coincides with two steam hauled specials on the main line.   I may not be paying to much attention to the diesel hauled services, but looking at the working timetables for this event, for the first time the WSR will be utilising the Minehead turntable and Norton triangle to turn the steam locomotives at each end of their journey.