Saying hello
 

Hello all, new to all the train stuff to be honest, I used to do the numbers when I was a child but soon got bored of it..50 yrs later i found myself on platform 4 with the camera and am slowly getting drawn it!:)..also wanted to ask is what sites I could use to find where / with regards to photographing the steam trains and other specials?

Hello David and welcome to the forum from all the staff, enjoy and all the best. I was on Doncaster Station a week ago to photograph some of the Azuma trains.

Hi David welcome aboard, feel free to join in where ever you wish.
cheers,
Andy

Hi David, welcome to the forum.
I assume you're talking about main line specials, so these are good places to start:

Realtimes trains - https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/detailed/
Enter your the location to see what's passing through. You can filter by TOC (Train Operating Company, such as LS for Locomotive Services, or WR for West Coast); type of service (use non-passenger services for charters); and you can narrow down the time period.
One note with this, all the steam hauled services are normally listed as "diesel hauled" - I think this is just because they haven't got a steam hauled option!

Railadvent - https://www.railadvent.co.uk/railtours and Railway Herald - https://www.railwayherald.com/railtours
Both of these websites have a railtours section which gives more details about the tour including the route & intended motive power. When timings become available, they link to Realtime trains (as above).

Hope this helps,

Tony