Saltburn by sea pics, the Boulby Branch

[Joe7802]

Hi all, i though id share one of my all time favorite railway photo locations in Britain. Saltburn by sea has a local passenger service to middlesbourgh and beyond from a rather nice station building (now shops) however if you journey a little south there is the Boulby branch (a roughly 9 mile potash and steel freight only branch) which despite being closed in the 70's now sees regular use by trains going to and from the steel works and potash mine although the steel works is only 2 miles along the branch you can still capture great shots of both types of trains from a location called cragg hall. (although the actual location of cragg hall is disputed) To access the spot you will need to walk a good 2 mile each way along a footpath/public farmers track to reach the cliff edge view but it is definitely worth it. When i arrived last summer on a gorgeous sunny day i was just in time to see a class 66 apear with a steel train for the steel works working hard around a sharp horseshoe bend (which i was inside) in the background of my shot there is the sea as the railway is only a few feet from the cliff edge. Once i had captured that i walked on a little untill i reached a foot crossing by an old mine building from here you can see all the way tot he steel works and signal box (still with semaphores and tokens i think) as well as being able to look down the 1 in 64 gradient the potash trains have to climb. After positioning my self on some kind of old wall i waited untill a freightliner 66 emerged from behind the signalbox in the distance. From then on i took many shots (although a video would of been just as good with the noise of the 66 working hard) but the best shot is when the train rounds a bend right infront of my location so it is possibe to get the sea, the miners building and the steel works all in a shot with the glourious yorkshire countryside.

anyway heres some pictures and i was lucky as i also saw the NR 950 at saltburn station. By the way these pics are un editted so some appear a bit dark.
http://www.railforums.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=21139&stc=1&d=1423152340

http://www.railforums.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=21140&stc=1&d=1423152431

http://www.railforums.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=21141&stc=1&d=1423152534

http://www.railforums.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=21138&stc=1&d=1423152244

http://www.railforums.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=21142&stc=1&d=1423152629

http://www.railforums.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=21143&stc=1&d=1423152695



if you need any more advice on how to reach the spot let me know

by the way there is also the very nice saltburn minature railway and the saltburn cliff railway which are both worth a visit as well as the pier