Steam train on the tube!

So, my parents don't understand why I like twitter so much or what it really adds to...anything. Part of the reason is things like this: without seeing a random retweet, I wouldn't have known about the special steam train journeys on the old Metropolitan Line route. 

Yesterday (Jan 13th - there's another on Jan 20th) I went up to Barbican underground station (which is not actually underground) to see the steam train. I got a quick glimpse of it at Moorgate before it started moving, but I skipped on a normal tube so I could get to Barbican before it did...

Barbican station was, unsurprisingly, pretty busy (I think it's a pretty safe bet that all the stations along the route were like this!).

I was only a few minutes ahead of the train (helpful as it was bloody cold), although we had to wait for a few normal tubes to come and go. 

The Sarah Siddons locomotive (one of the world's oldest electric trains) at the front of the train:

The carriages going past:

And finally the Met Locomotive No 1 steam engine (built 1898):

This website was really useful when I was trying to work out where to go, in case anyone's planning on going up for the 20th: 

http://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2013/01/07/best-places-to-photograph-london-undergrounds-heritage-steam-train-trips/

Other info:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-20998737

http://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/whats-on/events/vehicles-on-the-move