Sunday 29 May 2011

A day at the NRM Part 3–The Grand Unveiling


What is my favourite Locomotive of all time? It is quite difficult to choose since I tend to choose a favourite Steam, Diesel and Electric Locomotive and even have favourite DMU's, & EMU's too. 
However, if I'm pushed it's an easier choice to make.

This Loco has had a chequered and well documented past but is now owned by the NRM and funded solely on revenue generated by the generosity of the general public. It has that certain aura about it, a real 'legend' of the railway, and just mentioning the running number, you'd instantly recognize which loco I mean......4472.
This particular Locomotive was designed by LNER's Chief Mechanical Engineer, the one and only Sir Nigel Gresley and was one of the brand new A3 Class of Loco. Built in 1923 this loco has a long and illustrious history, spending it's early years as an Exhibition, chosen from it's classmates to represent the pinnacle of British Railway Engineering at the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley, London.

This locomotive was one of only 5 Class A3's to haul the very first well known service from Kings Cross to Edinburgh, and the very first to run non-stop between the two capitals. Not only that but it holds the record of the first officially recorded steam locomotive to break the 100mph speed barrier. It would go on to spend time abroad running in both the USA and Australia.

It was in Australia when it broke another world record of non-stop running, 442 miles (711 km) from Parkes to Broken Hill, the longest such run by a steam locomotive ever recorded. Although it may have cost a lot of money during it's preservation years, even bankrupting some owners, it still captures the hearts of a nation as it has done for almost 90 years, none more than in 2004 when funds were raised to save this Locomotive after a high profile appeal to the British public, alongside large donations from the Heritage Lottery Funding Group and such rail enthusiasts as Sir Richard Branson & Sir William McAlpine to secure the Loco's future and take it's place as the Crown Jewel of the National Collection.

It is the one and only 'Flying Scotsman', arguably the most famous locomotive in the history of the railways.
In 2005, 4472 entered into the NRM's workshop to be overhauled. Almost 6 years later, after some major setbacks and another public funding appeal, Steam Our Scotsman, tonight would see 4472 back in the public eye, sitting proudly on the Turntable of the NRM's Great Hall. Although not quite out of the woods yet, we are nearing the end of her restoration and thus being closer to some main line testing! Please let this be soon! 

So why were me and my Grandad here tonight I hear you ask. Well, as donations were made by the both of us to the ‘Save Our Scotsman’ SOS Appeal, we were invited to see what our money has been used toward. We arrived back from our afternoon in York around 6pm. We were awaiting entrance into the Great Hall to take our places when all of a sudden there was a flurry of camera flashes, each lighting up two men intertwined with the Loco, still under its red shroud. The two gentlemen? None other than Sir Alan Peglar and Sir William McAlpine, both previous owners of ‘Flying Scotsman’. What a great touch that both of them could make it to add to this prestigious event. Although we decided to keep our distance out of respect, it was an honour to be in the same room as these two men.

It wasn’t long before we were joining the queue to enter the Great Hall via the North Yard Car Park. A Bagpiper was hired to add to the occasion which was a nice touch, the sound following us through the entrance and into the Hall. We quickly took our place around the turntable, right at the front and near to the barrage of TV Camera’s and professional photographers….well what’s is good for them! The room quickly filled and we were brought Champagne and Orange Juice for refreshments, courtesy of the NRM.
Even hid beneath the red shroud emblazoned with the number 4472, you could make out the distinctive shape of the A3, a wonderfully built engine. We enjoyed a few conversations with other guests, mostly about their memories of ‘Flying Scotsman’. Although I don’t recall it’s heyday, I still have my own memories, albeit mostly on the recent tour runs through York on the ‘Scarborough Spa Express’.

Next up on the Centre Stage the current NRM Director, Steve Davies, Head of Tata Steel, Chris Terrell, the company which has created much of the steel used in component parts of Scotsman, and Director of Operations for the Heritage Lottery Funding, Bob Bewley. All three gave a speech, giving us insight on the hard work not only in raising funds but the arduous mechanical road to the loco being here tonight, nearly complete. The pleasantries now finished it was time to reveal what we’d all be waiting for since those invites dropped through our doors, the Grand Unveiling of the most famous Locomotive in history.

Steve Davies announced that the restoration team from Riley’s in Bury, where Scotsman has been carefully put back together, were to enter stage right, each taking their place and a handful of the covering hiding 4472 from view. The whole place was now electrified, the excitement shown on every face, young and old as we counted down from ten to one, the sheet was pulled and there, here now, was the ‘Flying Scotsman in all its glory.


It was an fantastic moment and a truly wonderful experience for me personally. As I'm only 28, I have never experienced anything like the seeing a Steam Locomotive rolled out of the engine works, all shiny and new just like they would have been during the Steam heyday.

I was already aware that the Loco had been painted in an all over black LNER wartime livery, complete with running numbers 103 and 502 as it had done during World War II. This was the first time since the end of the war that it has been seen in this colour adding even more prestige to this once in a lifetime event. It looks stunning in this livery, really accentuating all of the lines and curves of the A3.

It was brilliant to be part of this night, history in the making I suppose, to be there at the return of 'Flying Scotsman'. restored back to it's full glory. I spent the next couple of hours just trying to take it all in, watching the enjoyment of people around me, speaking to others and sharing it with my Grandad. We were enjoying it so much we hardly noticed the time, 9.30pm when I next looked and with a drive back to the North East ahead of us, we said our goodbyes and headed for the Car, not before managing to rub shoulders with Mr and Mrs McAlpine, who joked with us ''It's just like 1973 all over again''.

What a brilliant day to have had, I dropped my Grandad off and headed home to bore the wife with tales of our Railway Adventure. A huge thank you to all at the NRM for their efforts for a day never to forget, the return of the ‘Flying Scotsman’!


Until next time,

Craig










Saturday 28 May 2011

A day at the NRM Part 2 – York


After the reasonably short journey from Shildon to York, we arrived and parked next to the North Yard at the NRM. As we weren’t due to visit the Museum until after closing time, we decided on having a quick look in the Great Hall before heading into York for the afternoon. 

We weaved our way in and out of the very impressive collection of Railway History, mainly Loco’s we’ve all heard of such as ‘Evening Star’, the last Steam Loco to be built by BR before the diesels would take precedence, the beautiful LMS ‘Duchess of Hamilton’ with Red and Gold Streamlined Casing, Japan’s 'Bullet' train, the only one to be on display outside it’s country of origin and my Grandad's favourite modern Train.




The NRM has a very special place in my heart having being a regular visitor since I was young and no matter how many times I’ve been, I’m always taken aback at the size of the place and diversity of the historical railway artefacts….and it was no different from today. However….

On a normal day, you can see one of the Museum's Loco's taking pride of place on the turntable in the Great Hall. Many a loco's have stood here over the years such as ‘Mallard’ ‘Tornado’ and the HST Prototype from recent memory. Whichever loco it is is circled by other loco's looking in on them, as if they are a star attraction and I find always makes for a great photo shot. Tonight, they would see possibly the biggest star attraction of them all. For here today, and the main reason for visiting on this date, shrouded in a red cloth, stood the most famous Locomotive of them all ready for its grand unveiling later tonight.....

104

Until Part 3...

Craig





A day at the NRM Part 1 – Shildon Locomotion


A day we’d been planning ever since I received a VIP invite through the post, I picked up my Grandad around 08:00, we headed off for our all day Railway Adventure which would start at Locomotion, the impressive NRM annex located in Shildon, County Durham. Although I’d been here before, it was a first for my Grandad.

We started off looking around the reception building, which houses the original 'Sans Pareil' locomotive created by local Engineer and Railwayman Timothy Hackworth. It was built to compete in the famous Rainhill Trials, held in 1825 this event was designed to test each entering Locomotive with the view to selecting the best to run on the newly created Manchester and Liverpool line. Unfortunately for Mr Hackworth ‘Sans Pareil’ did not win the trials, instead being won by a Loco named ‘Rocket’……..you may have heard the name once or twice!

Just outside of the Reception Building is a wagon shed, which has now become a platform to board Guards Vans behind a small locomotive to be ferried the short distance down to the Collections Building which as the name suggests, is the housing area for some of the National Collection. Unfortunately for us, there was no shuttle service by rail today, instead they had hired an old United Bristol Bus to drive there! Every cloud….
However, with it being my Grandad’s first visit we decided to stroll lineside to see the coal drop. He remembers such things as this in full use being brought up in the coal rich North East. After that the short walk takes you under the road bridge and out into the open area of the Collections Building. Just outside stood a Class 03 Shunter and a power car of the Class 370 Advanced Passenger Train (APT), desperately awaiting some much needed TLC.

One of the main reason’s for bringing my Grandad to Shildon before heading for York (more of that in part 2) was the fact that Locomotion is the temporary home of the World Famous, Record Breaking LNER Class A4 'Mallard'  He is very fond of the A4’s and has only seen No. 4468 once before, many moons ago. 
The first thing meeting us was the huge bulk of the Prototype 'Deltic' with its eye catching colour mix of Sky Blue and Cream. The 'cat's whiskers' on the front of this unique loco immediately draw you in. It is a shame that the layout of Locomotion doesn’t allow you to walk around Deltic, being sandwiched between 'Mallard' and the APT-E Prototype.

Not to dither on such details we looked around the Collections Buildings taking in such Locomotives as 'Olton Hall' which has movie star status after featuring as 'Hogwarts Express' in the Harry Potter films, to more diverse railway relics in the form of a N.E.R Snow Plough that ran out of Percy Main, North Shields, not a million miles away from where I live. Also here is a mining loco that worked at ‘Big E’, the Ellington Colliery in Northumberland which was the last operating deep mining location in the Great North Coalfields, right up till 2005!
Also, near to the back of the museum stood an imported 8F loco, having being brought (and bought) from a long stint in Turkey. Although housed inside Locomotion, this is a privately owned work in progress. It had been sitting derelict in the Turkish sun for many years and it requires a lot of work but I’m sure the hard work will be worth it once it is finished, good luck! 

Then it was back to marvel at the sight that is ‘Mallard’. Designed by Sir Nigel Gresley, it remains a masterpiece in British Railway Engineering and still holds the world speed record for a Steam Locomotive (125.88mph) set in 1938. A cup of overly expensive tea from the cafe later and we headed for the Bristol Bus for a short ride on this very interesting vehicle back to the car and onto our next destination for a little bit of history in the making.





Tuesday 17 May 2011

71000 Duke of Gloucester no-show at Tyne Yard


I received a phone call from my Grandad at around 10.30am informing me that he'd seen a plume of Smoke pass him by whilst at work near to Tyne Yard, Gateshead on the ECML. 

I began searching 'Steam Tours' on Google to see which loco had gone under my radar, when another call came in to say that it was No.71000 'Duke of Gloucester' hauling 'The Lothian Tornado' Railtour on route to Edinburgh. After a little more research I found out that it would be coming back via Tyne Yard later on in the day. Brilliant!

No. 60163 'Tornado' was in York having work done to her, so 'The Duke' had stepped up to the plate. This was the same Railtour that was featured in a race between Steam Train, Motorbike and Car on BBC's Top Gear in 2009. 

I'd just seen 'The Duke' a few weeks previously at the NYMR's 175th Anniversary Steam Gala, but I didn't want to miss out on catching No.71000 on mainline duties. So off I headed to Tyne Yard and got there for 8.30pm, armed with camera and fellow enthusiast Jim Harker. Jim had previously found a great spot to get close to where the loco would halt, close to the main office building but without actually trespassing onto railway property, Perfect! (Thanks Jim!)

We waited at our newly found vantage point, with dusk fast approaching and the bitter cold north easterly wind biting hard. And waited.....and waited! We were slightly warmed by the arrival of a CrossCountry Voyager Class 220 passing close by as it came onto the Yard at the end of it's shift to be cleaned to be stabled overnight as the class has done since Virgin days. Time was getting on, darkness setting in and temperatures dropping, we began to fear the worst....a no-show!

We braved it until 9.30pm and with still no sign of anything coming into view, we admitted defeat and headed back to the car. As we drove back over the road bridge that leans across the north entrance to the yard I stopped to speak to other visiting enthusiasts to see if they could shed any light on 'The Duke's' whereabouts. 
One of the guys had just been told that the rail tour was running an hour late due to 'technical difficulties' at Edinburgh Waverley. Downtrodden we headed back towards home and into our local pub to drown our sorrows.

The following day, we were told that 71000 had been struck by watering issue's at Edinburgh which has caused the delay. 'The Duke' didn't roll into Tyne Yard until 11.10pm! Luckily on this occasion we had given up hope which in hindsight, we'd have still been there now, frozen to the spot!
 
So here’s what I did see whilst there……


Although a bit disappointed not to see what I'd come for, I did manage to find this great video over on Steam Tube. Here's the link, enjoy http://steamtube.ning.com/video/71000-duke-of-gloucester-3

Until next time....

Craig