Thank you for your replies here. Hopefully by the time I am booked to travel, there will have been some moderate rainfall and the FBU dispute may be settled so the steam traction can happen, otherwise I hope they don't cancel the train but run them by diesel or with diesel assistance, although I would much prefer steam. The scenery is still good anyway, especially on the SCR.
I will look up times and fares on NR service trains just in case though, as I have trains & hotels booked to Yorkshire. (There used to be some type of Northern Day Rover, which I suppose would let me do a circle type trip, York, Newcastle, Carlisle, Leeds, York or VV and a Cheap day return York/Scarborough, unless the Coastliner bus is cheaper.)
On a separate note, I did see what looked liked a Black 4 or 5, hauling the inbound leg of RTCs Weymouth service into Waterloo last night, so some steam is happening on the mainline, I don't know how much help, if any, the diesel on the back was providing.