Day 253

It was very entertaining watching the varieties of rail fans who came to the steam gala. You get the families with young children who love Thomas the Tank, and the middle-aged photographers who maybe remember the last days of steam, or grew up hearing their fathers talk about it. During the train ride to Shildon I was sat near a group of elderly chaps who worked on the railways during the glory days of steam, and were happily relating anecdotes to a fellow about my age who works on the model railway at the NRM in York. There was a party of retirees down from Durham, who were cheerfully reliving memories... in a more surreal moment of the day I was stood on the footplate of Galatea with her steam blowing all around me, when we heard the distinct sound of a propeller-driven aircraft. Everybody looked up, and the man next to me exclaimed "It's a Spitfire!"It wasn't actually, but it was definitely a fighter of that era. In the photo here, left to right, LNWR Webb Coal Tank No 1054 (built in 1888 and the sole surviving member of that class), LMS Jubilee Class No. 5699 Galatea (built 1936), and the streamlined LMS Princess Coronation class No 6229 Duchess of Hamilton (built 1938 and originally preserved to be an exhibit on a children's playground). Taken 9.21.13.