Pure Steam On The North Yorkshire Moors Railway ! Annual Steam Gala (2022)

The NYMR once again steps up to the plate to provide unrivaled hardworking steam action across four days at their annual Autumn steam gala with the star guest and former resident 'Sir Nigel Gresley' finally returning to the Moors after a seven year absence. The return of A4 was hyped up from the get go and rightly so, as the engine is not just popular with enthusiasts its also loved by the locals who've all had many trips behind arguably one of the most famous A4 locomotives, make no mistake its following is huge. The build up to the gala was less than ideal for SNGLT (owners) as the locomotive has been in the workshop all summer having some extensive work done to the engine which needed doing. Given the extra work involved the loco missed its slot in the paint shop so in turn the locomotive would remain in its temporary wartime black protective coat which made its return to the NYMR more exciting and fascinating. While the star was undoubtedly 4498, there was as usual a couple more visiting engines with there own great following. The second star to visit was courtesy of the Great Central Railway and that was STD 5 '73156' making its first visit to the Moorsline and while the loco is used to the gentle gradients of the GCR, the STD 5 would have its workload increased tenfold as it tackles the rugged terrain of North Yorkshire Moors. The third visiting engine would have no problem working on steep gradients though it would be considerably less loaded than its fellow visitors. the engine in question would be Taff Vale Railway No85 courtesy of the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway. The former Welsh Valleys loco would be needed for banking and use on the goods trains. On the final day it was paired up with Lambton Tank No29 'Peggy' for double headed run to Pickering, this would turn out to be one of the highlights of the gala. As usual the homefleet were all in action except Black Five 5428 'Eric Treacy' which was ruled out. In total nine locomotives feature in the video. 9F 92134 was the pick of the bunch as I was able to tick off one of my bucket list shots in fine style. the 9F was captured working northbound through Newtondale at Huggits Scar on a glorious Autumn morning. The reason it was a bucket list shot was the fact the 9F was facing North which is rare for any steam locomotive on the NYMR as all locos usually face south. The railway has some stunning vistas especially going northbound out of Levisham but as usual these would be tender first. With a superb morning forecast and a smokebox facing loco, this was 'Now Or Never' On a sidenote it took us nearly two hours on foot to complete a round trip to this location with the journey on foot being mostly off piste, I'm sure you'll agree it was well worth the long hike. Lambton Tank 29, the J27 and the Q6 alongside 926 Repton & fellow southerner 825 were all in fine form throughout the gala with plenty of double headed pairings and goods trains to get your teeth into. We also got to enjoy a ride behind the locos as we traveled the trains on the final day to top off one of our best visit's to the North York Moors in recent years. I hope you enjoy our coverage.