Number Nine

An early but lovely start this morning; cold, misty but bright and with beautiful light. I was going to see this engine, an 'A4' Class No 60009 'Union of South Africa' on its journey up to York via Bedford. It was sad (from a photography point of view) to see that the electrification of the line has started so what has until now been an uncluttered stretch of track will soon have overhead wires. However, another reason this is a good spot is that it is uphill and normally steam trains have waited to change lines about a mile away. That means they are usually working hard so the steam should obscure the wires in the future. We'll see - it will probably still be the best spot for this type of shot.