After the dust has settled...

A very quick canter through the North Eastern Giants of Steam weekend. I'll let the photos speak for themselves in the main except to say that there were some 21,100 visitors over the three day event, the busiest that Locomotion has been since it opened in 2004.

Sunday morning began at 7.30am with a photo session - early in the morning so we could let folks get pictures without crowds and create some unique photo opportunities. 60163 stands on the sidings alongside the former banana warehouse in what is becoming a classic Shildon location.
We then lined up the J72 to meet the A1...

And the visitors began to arrive about 9.30 when the J72 moved over to start the passenger service

During the afternoon, Alan Middleton and Tim Owen of the Furness Railway Trust got short of supplies, so went shopping by train and are seen departing from the Goods shed with their Co-op bags!

At the end of the afternoon before the A1 did some demonstration runs, we lined up the oldest and newest working standard gauge steam locos in the world on Locomotion's sidings - a first for both engines.

The general scene across the museum apron during the Monday afternoon - the sun finally came out after a downpour at lunch time.

I was fortunate enough to be rostered fireman for the A1 during Monday afternoon, this is the view from the footplate as we moved off the apron and on to the sidings. How many people?

Just to prove that I did do something useful - thanks to Peter Neesam for the photo

To round things off, we held a final evening photo session on the Monday, and took the A1, V2 and J72 up to the coal drops for more classic opportunities. Here the V2 has its moment of glory.

Then we disposed of the locos and went home and collapsed! A fantastic weekend and thanks to all concerned who helped in any way.