The 3rd Fellsman of the 2024 season was headed by 60007 from Crewe via Chester to Carlisle and back while The Bucket & Spade charter, a charity tour for the Railway Benefit fund saw D213 take a mixed rake of LSL Mk3's from Crewe to Scarborough. The return legs of both tours were timed just 15 minutes apart at Warrington, so the ideal spot to capture both locos at work was at Norton, where the Chester line climbing towards Sutton Tunnel crosses over the WCML.
In the event the conditions for both tours passing couldn't have been more different; With a delay to the freight it was meant to be following to Hartford, D213 was 10 minutes early and came roaring past just as the rain started to come down heavy - good thing I'd brought the umbrella out of the car. By contrast when 60007 came into view on the Chester line just over half an hour later and running 10 minutes late, the rain had stopped and the slowly setting sun had come back out, giving a nice backlight to the exhaust as it rose above the trees on the far side of the line. Lucky it wasn't any later though as a couple of minutes later the sun had gone in again...