Riding Behind Southern Steam

34092 'City of Wells'
After having been restored and entered traffic on the Keighley and Worth valley Railway some years before Bullied West Country Pacific 34092 'City of Wells' reappeared on the main line in November 1981 and, since then has provided us with some tremendous performances.
On 7th April 1984 West Country 34092 'City of Wells' worked a Cumbrian Mountain Express from Leeds through to Carlisle.
It was Enthusiast Weekend on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway that weekend so the driver on 34092 puts on a bit of a show passing through Keighley station.

35028 'Clan Line'
The first ex SR locomotive to return to main line use was the Bullied Merchant Navy Pacific 35028 'Clan Line'.
Having been out of use for a few years the locomotive made a welcome return in 1984 and the locomotive's first workings were over the Welsh Marches route.
The first of these was on 29th September 1984 when the Merchant Navy Society ran a train with steam haulage from Hereford to Chester then back to Shrewsbury.
On the outward journey soon after departing from Craven Arms after a photo stop is quickly became apparent that all was not well. It appeared that someone had mismanaged the fire and with boiler pressure falling we eventually came to a stand at Marsh Brook on the climb to Church Stretton. After 20 minutes, with the fire sorted out and boiler pressure back to a respectable level 'Clan Line' can be heard in this recording making a fine sound restarting and continuing the climb.

777 'Sir Lamiel'
A favourite of mine, perhaps because I have travelled many miles behind it over the years, particularly on the Scarborough Spa Express in the 1980s, is the King Arthur 4-6-0 777 'Sir Lamiel'.
Just after Christmas in 1984 we had no less than three days of Santa Trains on the main line.
The first of these was on 27th December 1984 and was from Leeds to Appleby with 777 and I was delighted to find that our driver was Jim Melia as this virtually guaranteed a good noisy run.
We stopped to take water at Long Preston which gave the opportunity for a chat with Jim who told us that he was quite happy with the engine, added that he though it a little stronger than a 'Five' (meaning an LMS Black Five) and that we could expect a good climb up to Blea Moor. As can be heard in this recording made passing Settle Jc. at around 50 mph it sounds like Jim is trying to give us just that.

850 'Lord Nelson'
Another favourite of mine is LN 4-6-0 850 'Lord Nelson'. Perhaps a surprising choice in view of the fact that it can be a very difficult locomotive to record thanks to producing 8 exhaust beats per wheel revolution and usually having a very soft blast. Over the years I've had some very good runs with the loco, I've had some truly dreadful ones as well but we needn't dwell on that aspect!
Some of my best sound recordings of the loco were made shortly before the loco was withdrawn from service for a major overhaul in 1985. An overhaul which has been protracted in the extreme with the loco still awaiting completion.
'Lord Nelson' worked a Cumbrian Coast Express on the 10th August 1985 a train which made a pleasant change from the continuous diet of Scarborough Spa Expresses that we had travelled on during that summer. Some years previously these trains, which had always terminated at Sellafield or Seascale had been extended to run to Maryport where locomotives were changed. On this occasion we had A4 4498 'Sir Nigel Gresley' for the outward journey, returning with the LN.
After a reasonable, but not very noisy run up the coast with the A4 we were a little disappointed to find Carnforth driver David Walker on the footplate of 'Lord Nelson'. At that time Mr. Walker was still fairly new to the steam link at Carnforth but the few runs we with him up until then, while perfectly satisfactory in regard to timekeeping and enginemanship, had provided little in the way of entertainment from a performance or noise point of view.
On seeing him a few people with recorders decided not to bother trying to get any recordings but the faithful few stuck with it and were able to record some excellent and most unexpected sounds from this normally quiet locomotive such as in this recording made departing from Ravenglass.

34027 'Taw Valley'
It took quite a long time for the railway authorities to decide to allow steam locos to run once again on Southern metals. After some bad experiences in the early days of steams return to the main lines and with many lines having third rail electrification they no doubt felt that the prospect of lots of trespassing enthusiasts being fried on their lines was not something to be contemplated!
However, in the 1990's, after experimenting with a few steam hauled trains running after dark steam made a gradual return and we now have lots of regular steam hauled trains on the former Southern Railway network. I only wish that it wasn't so far away from where I live!
I was able to make a visit down south 28th February 1998 for rebuilt Bullied West Country Pacific 34027 'Taw Valley' running from Victoria to Salisbury and back out via Horsham and the coast and back via the main line.
Arriving at Victoria we found that the stock was already in the platform and we found our seats were in the third coach from the front. I thought I would try to find a window further forward. At a window at the back of the front coach was another sound recordist that I knew so I assumed that the front window was already occupied. However, he told me that he could have had a window in the front vestibule but as the water tank that provided supplies for the toilet was leaking and dripping water from the ceiling and he didn't have his wellies and brolly with him he had decided to give it a miss - no dedication some people. Well, I wasn't to be put off by an occasional drip, well not of water anyway and found myself in the enviable position of being on the right side for the wind immediately behind the tender as the support coach was attached at the rear.
Our first stop was at East Croydon and this is how 'Taw Valley' sounded leaving there and starting on the climb to Mertsham Tunnel as a Brighton bound EMU overtakes on the fast line.