Scan of a slide taken 23/06/92: Around this time work occasionally took me north of Leicester and Loughborough always struck me as a good place to stop to eat my sandwiches. I cannot recall why the Great Central had loaned in No. 7760, which on the face of it seems underpowered for the line and its main line image. Anyway the chap on the footplate looks happy with the loco and, surprisingly given the number that have made it into preservation, the 57XXs are a class I seem to only rarely snap, so I was pretty chuffed too. No 7760 made it into preservation after spending a decade with London Transport as L90. I’m not sure what the odd reflection is on the side of the tanks; unfortunately it is somewhat distracting. I think by this time the Great Central has extended south as far as a newly built station on the Leicester outskirts that they named Leicester North and that presumably was this loco’s destination.
Tags: Great Central Railway 57XX 0-6-0PT No. 7760
Scan of a slide taken 23/06/92: The Class 10 was a variation on the Class 08 diesel-electric shunter in which a Blackstone diesel engine was fitted instead of one made by the English Electric company. Traction motors were by either the General Electric Company plc (GEC) or British Thomson-Houston (BTH). The locomotives were built at the BR Works in Darlington and Doncaster over the period 1953–1962.
Tags: Class 10 No. 4067 'Alfred Thomas and Mabel Ethel Naylor' Great Central Railway
Scan of a slide taken 23/06/92: No. 68088 was built in 1923 and originally numbered 985. The loco was built to a Wordsell design dating back to 1888. As such I'm not sure if it was technically a NER build or a LNER build to a NER design. It was initially allocated to Alexandra Dock Shed at Hull where it remained until 1937 when it was moved to Dairycoates shed at the West end of Hull. In 1943 it was moved to the Stratford Locomotive Works in East London where it remained until its withdrawal in 1952. Whilst at Stratford the loco was renumbered 8088 and then, on Nationalisation, in October 1948 to 68088. Withdrawn in November 1952 the loco was sold to the NCB's Bentick Colliery where it remained until 1964 when it was purchased by its current owner, the Y7 Preservation Society. At the time of writing (2012) the Y7 is based at the North Norfolk Railway, but is currently on a three year loan to Beamish Open Air Museum
Scan of a slide taken 23/06/92: In 1992 by chance, rather than design, I managed to photograph both of the locos that returned to the UK in 1989. The other was, of course, M7 No. 30053 which I saw a few weeks earlier at Swanage. ‘Repton’ was built in May 1934 and entered service on the Bournemouth route, with some time operating between Waterloo and Portsmouth before that line was electrified. It was one of the last of the class to be overhauled by British Railways in 1960, so was considered a good choice for preservation. In December 1962 the engine was withdrawn from service, and in 1966 it was purchased and overhauled at Eastleigh, before moving to the USA. It was donated by the purchaser to Steamtown, USA in Vermont, USA. Steamtown in turn loaned the engine to the Cape Breton Steam Railway in Canada, where it operated a regular passenger service. In 1989 it was sold again, to Clifford T. Brown who based the loco on the North York Moors Railway. At this distance I cannot recall if 'Repton' was on a straight forward loan to the GCR back in 1992, or if the loco was sent there for running in, before tackling the steeper gradients of the NYMR.
Tags: Maunsell C Class Maunsell SCools class 926 Repton 4-4-0 Great Central Railway Loughborough
Scan of a slide taken 23/06/92: Repton is well off Southern Railway territory, No. 926 being named after a public school in south Derbyshire that was founded in 1557. Quite why the Southern overlooked Stanley Technical School when naming the Maunsell 4-4-0s is, of course, a mystery, but there again, I’m also still waiting for City of London College to make the boat race final!
Coincidentally just last week, Neil Oliver visited Repton as part of his series on the Vikings; In 873/4 the Danish Army overwintered at Repton, the only place in England where a winter encampment has yet been located, identified by a mass grave of some 250 individuals, covered by the kerb stone of its former cairn. The Danes had commandeered the church as a stronghold on the cliff above the former course of the River Trent.
Tags: no. 926 Repton Schools Class Maunsell V Class