If one were able to travel back in time to, say, June 1968, how much working BR steam would be actually observed in the North West? Assuming our hypothetical time traveller had no access to WTTs or whatever.
Well, that's a difficult question. You put June as the month of choice - and that includes the Manchester area sheds - Patricroft, Newton Heath and Bolton. I can't answer for those, as I was only up in the final 12 days, late July to August 3.
But at that point, if you were hanging around the shed areas (ie Carnforth, Lostock Hall and Rose Grove) there was usually something going on - locos being coaled, taking water, some very limited maintenance, passing freight. In fact, one of the most astonishing things at the time for me was: How are they going to end ALL this in a few days time?
But of course, once away from the sheds on specific lines, you had to rely on the odd freight or mineral goods. But yes, you did see (and could photograph) these, certainly at Preston, mostly limited to the East Lancs line IIRC.
Did any lines see booked steam passenger workings at this point, besides the Blackpool South and Ormskirk/Liverpool Exchange portion workings from Preston?
In the last month, I don't think the 21.xx Preston - Liverpool Exchange could be relied upon as a steam working. It was steam on Friday, Aug 2 (a surprise) and Saturday Aug 3, but not every day at all. I got the impression it was more often a Cl 24 or 25.
In the final 12 days, there were no other steam workings that I knew of, except for a failed DMU on the Windermere branch, which was hauled on the main line by a Black 5. We passed that early one morning on a Carlisle - Euston train, IIRC on the Tuesday of the last week.
And how far outside Lancashire could BR steam be seen in the final months?
Again, it depends how you define the "final months", but after Carlisle (end 67) and Liverpool (not sure when, March?) and Tebay (April?) sheds closed Things got much more restricted to historical Lancashire. I don't know when the last steam worked north from Barrow-in-Furness, and I forget if there were trip workings to Skipton at the end. And you still had stuff going over Copy Pit.
Someone else will surely have more details. This was my first time in the Lancashire area north of Manchester and Liverpool, so it was all new and a learning process for me. Magical time though.