We were on our way back from Bedale on Monday morning when we realised that we were following one of the last few runs of the Black 5 which has been heading up the Polar Express.
When heading the Polar Express the loco is in steam but not really doing much work as it's actually being pulled one way and pushed the other way by the Class 47 on the other end of the train. We live on a slight rise so we would hear the chatter if the loco was doing any 'work', this has been absent on the Polar Express for the last few years.
However on two of the running days between Christmas and the New Year the steam loco actually does the work of pulling the train.
Getting back to Monday, Chris joked about racing the train and we soon caught up to it just before Crakehall crossing. From there we moved ahead and I was able to pull up in a farm lane just to the east of the village where we could see the train coming from a long way off so I decided to try an video it.
Apologies about the slight glitch in the middle where I got out of the car to get a better shot as it came closer. - What a lovely sound!
