At the end of my last post about mainline steam, I mentioned that I had noted some dates for future excursions. It turns out that most of the ones I had seen for spring and summer were either cancelled, rescheduled, or turned out to be diesel-hauled during their time coming through my part of the country. Which meant that, with one exception, it would not be until mid-November that I would be back chasing steam trains on the mainline.
Luckily, that meant getting a lot more practise in shooting steam, and befriending a few people who know a lot more than I do about chasing mainline steam, including spots to shoot and spots to avoid.
Unfortunately the first mainline excursion I encountered for this post was when I still didn’t really know what I was doing. In April of 2025 a Black 5, 45212, would be coming down the Brighton mainline, and I decided that I’d want to shoot it at the Ouse Valley Viaduct, figuring it would be a picturesque shot, with the added bonus of being somewhere I could get to and back home inside of a carefully timed lunch hour. Unfortunately it turns out this was not a very good idea, because I now know the locomotive would be running downhill on this part of the line, meaning it was basically coasting. The result was no noise and very little exhaust, and because I overcautiously used my 24-70mm lens, I didn’t even frame that close to the locomotive either.
This is a bit of a shame as this is, to date, the only time I’ve encountered a Black 5. Hopefully one will come back to my part of the world again before too long, either at the front of a mainline rail tour, or as a visitor to a heritage railway.
I’ve very selectively included only one decent shot here, but there are a few more in the gallery below. For some time I wasn’t even going to bother sharing these (save for a few Instagram posts), but I think it’s important in the context of this post and my development in mainline chasing to include them.
It would be seven months until the next opportunity to shoot a steam locomotive on the mainline near me. Although there were a handful of tours that came by, they were all pulled by diesels in our part of the country, only being steam-hauled later on in their journeys.
My next chance would come in mid-November, as 35028 Clan Line, a stalwart of mainline excursions since the 1970s, would be making a stop on her way down from London. Once again limiting myself to what I could reasonably achieve in a lunch break, I had intended to try out a spot near Balcombe Tunnel; this is admittedly also downhill, but the service was scheduled to stop to wait for a passing service around this part of the line, where the southerly Brighton Mainline goes from four lines to two. This should give some dramatic footage as the train got going again. However, monitoring from home it became apparent that Clan Line was running late, and this scheduled stop would no longer be happening. So instead, I headed straight to Haywards Heath station, where a decent stop was scheduled. I got there in time to photograph it arrive.
Watching a steam locomotive arrive at a mainline station is always interesting, because whilst most people there know it is coming by, there are usually at least a few people who have no idea and are then very bemused by the steam train that’s unexpectedly arrived from 60 years in the past.
Given the length of the stop, I was able to spend a little bit of time getting some closeup shots of the locomotive and some of the hustle and bustle surrounding her.
I also tried to get some shots of the hustle and bustle at the station. The platform was pretty busy, a combination of enthusiasts hoping to see Clan Line, travellers on the rail tour using the extended stop to alight, stretch their legs and see the locomotive, and passers by fascinated by the unexpected arrival of a steam engine.
Soon I decided that it was time to move on. Photographing Clan Line stationary was one thing, but obviously the goal was to shoot her in motion. I decided I wanted to correct the error I made last year when photographing her leaving Haywards Heath. On that occasion I had planned to shoot from a footbridge just south of the town, but didn’t recce the spot properly and didn’t realise the wall was too high to shoot over, so I had to make a quick hop to another location. This time, I made sure to bring a small step stool with me, so I would be able to use this spot and shoot over the wall.
Now, it was a bitingly cold day – we’d even had snow earlier that morning – and as such the exhaust from Clan Line was bordering on ludicrous.
You can just see a spot of red behind the smoke on the other line. I was pretty lucky because a rubbish commuter train nearly ruined my shot.
I still lucked out a little with this spot – just after the signal in the shot above, Clan Line shut off, making the rest of this run not very impressive. I did still hop over to the other side of the bridge, to shoot the train disappearing into the distance. This time there was a Class 700 – one of the most dreary, soulless trains on the network – coming in the other direction.
It felt good to finally right the slight wrong of the previous year, and prove that this spot is a decent one.
A month later, we were blessed with two consecutive days of mainline steam, as the Christmas market tours got into full swing. The first would be headed by 61306 Mayflower, a locomotive I have never seen before. This time, I sought counsel from Chailey Stowe as to some good options for where to go. It may have been a Friday, but I was on leave so for once didn’t have the same time constraints. In the end I opted to go to Hassocks station, which was uphill, and only a few miles south of Haywards Heath, where the locomotive was scheduled for a brief stop. There I met with a fair few familiar faces from the railway scene, including Mr Stowe himself.
This is when a slightly anxious wait began. Mayflower was not quite on time, and we as a group had settled ourselves on the northbound platform, opposite where she’d be coming through. This gives the benefit of a better shot (not least because the wheels aren’t obscured by the platform), but does bring with it the risk of being ‘bowled’ – rail enthusiast parlance for your view of the interesting locomotive you came to see being blocked by a boring scheduled train. The group were monitoring the timetables, and the situation – and an offending Class 700 – was getting a bit close. Luckily, before long we saw Mayflower in the distance closing down on us.
This was a run to behold. Mayflower came powering through at speed, pouring exhaust and looking gorgeous in her Apple Green livery.
This was probably my railway highlight of 2025. Definitely as a singular memory it is one of my favourite railway moments. I highly recommend giving the video a watch too.
Safe to say, I am now in love with Mayflower. Hopefully she’ll be on some other mainline tours in my area at some point.
I did also grab a shot of the support diesel as it passed, as it was an InterCity liveried Class 47, just like the model train I had as a kid.
The very next day, 34028 Eddystone would be making a similar journey. I’ve seen Eddystone in steam before, but only in service at the Swanage Railway, at heritage railway speeds (limited to 25mph). This would be something entirely different.
I again decided to start my day at Hassocks, after the success of the day before. Again there were a few familiar faces, and we positioned ourselves at the same spot as last time. Eddystone ended up running slightly late, and again we found ourselves at real risk of being bowled.
Indeed, it got really close. As we spotted Eddystone tearing up the track towards us, behind us a Southern unit was also fast approaching.
No sooner had Eddystone and the first few of her coaches passed us, then the Class 377 blocked our view. We cut it very close. The video below will show just how narrow we escaped disaster.
This time, I decided to chase Eddystone a little bit. She had a scheduled stop at Preston Park, which gave me a good opportunity to catch up. I beat the Southerner and Chailey to a vantage point up a hill, and we set up waiting for her to depart.
It was another cold day – colder than either of the previous days in this post. The atmospheric conditions were absolutely perfect for thick, claggy exhaust. And there were few better ways of demonstrating this than Eddystone‘s departure from Preston Park.
Just utterly, utterly ridiculous, glorious exhaust. You know it’s good when it gives you a thumbs up, like in this next image.
The exhaust looked so thick you could ski down it. Basically, we had perfect conditions for steam train photography. The only slight issue was the divot we were shooting into blocked the sunlight.
So which was the exhaust that it just hung in the air for several minutes after Eddystone had departed.
It was great seeing Eddystone, a locomotive I’d only seen on heritage railways, having completed her fit out for mainline running, powering along at full chat.
Both Chailey and the Southerner carried on chasing her towards the west. Their next stop, at a crossing somewhere, produced such lovely results I was a bit sad I didn’t tag along with them. Oh well. Perhaps in the future the conditions will be right for more involved mainline chase, but they involve long hours and many miles with tight timeframes.
Still, it was very rewarding to see some locomotives running at mainline speeds, something I’d never done before. So the temptation is definitely there.
Unfortunately that has proven to be the last chance for me to shoot mainline steam. There has only been one since, in April this year and again pulled by Eddystone, but I wasn’t able to get out to work to see it. Hopefully we’ll see a few more this way this winter.
And as ever, there are a few extra shots in the gallery below.
Creative Splurges 