62712 Morayshire Coming Back To England In The Autumn 2014

I have done it twice for photo charters. I enjoyed both and was made very welcome on both so it was well worth the time and effort and the expense.

 

Well, I'll own up and admit that you have a point, Jonathan. 25 years ago, it was very different. Steam over the third rail just didn't happen and it still looked unlikely it ever would. Scotland saw more main line steam than Surrey or Sussex. Now we do very well if we're honest. Same with the heritage railway scene. How often have I thought how good it would be to see a particular engine or class in the south of England and lo and behold, it pops up somewhere not too far away. eventually

The net result is for me personally, I don't tend to travel too far for steam. I might do Haworth and back in a day (a round trip of about 300-350 miles from here) to see and travel behind 34092, one of my favourite locos, but Scotland just seems too much of a marathon from down here, even though I always enjoy photos of the "Jacobite" when they appear in the railway periodicals, so yes, I'm spoilt.

 

On its way back up now, just followed it for a couple of miles on the M6.

 

Or organise your own? They do say if you want a job doing well, do it yourself.

 

Lol; all of you guys have it easy. Next year i'm making the journey from Chiang Mai to ride The Jacobite and visit all possible Scottish steam venue's, as the last time i visited Aviemore etc was about 20 years ago, so i thought enough time had passed. I've calculated that by the time i return home i will have covered around 16,000 miles, all for the love of British steam, plus the odd visit to relatives etc.

Poses an intriguing question actually....who on the forum has travelled the farthest to rub shoulders with British steam ?

 

I have had to travel from Australia to see British steam (although 4472 did come to us at one point). Fortunately, I've been able to make the trip more than a dozen times and I'm still not bored with it.
Next year, I've been asked to lead a group tour of Britain's preseved railways & museums - looking forward to that.

 

Well done; reckon you must be the record holder. Maybe we will bump into each other somewhere on the circuit next year !