Ivatt D3 4-4-0 4075 depicted somewhat fuzzily at Tebay in September 1939. This loco lasted until BR days and was allocated the number 62000 but whether it wore that number I know not.

Ex-GER Hill N7 0-6-2T 69651 was a regular engine on the Annesley Dido, a workman's train that shuttled between Annesley and Bulwell Common, from 1951 to 1956. This 1956 shot was taken at the end of her time on former GCR and GNR metals.

An unidentifiable Gresley K3 2-6-0 leaves Dinting working 'wrong line'. The other shots in this series suggest that it was taken just prior to the start of electric services via Woodhead. There's no doubting the location as witnessed by the large sign near the right side of the image.

A pair of Ivatt J6 0-6-0's attract quite some audience at Robin Hood on 21st September 1958 whilst hauling the RCTS sponsored South Yorks No. 4 railtour. The pilot engine is 64222 whilst the train engine is 64268.

There are some images that just 'grab me' and this is just such an example.
Clipstone, firmly in Great Central territory, is the location for this shot of ex-GCR Robinson designed O4/3 2-8-0 No 63852 on March 15th, 1952. The engine was built in 1919 and worked until 1964 when it was withdrawn from Staveley mpd.

Sheffield (Victoria) plays host to Gresley K2 61773 whilst she awaits departure with an express for Manchester on May 29th, 1950. The loco was built by Kitson in 1919 and had a relatively short working life remaining in service only until 1960. Arguably of even greater interest is that clerestory coach in the right background but which I'm unable to identify at this time.

It's October 1938 and one of Wilson Worsdell's powerful J27 0-6-0's pounds along the NER Wearhead branch whilst hauling a goods train near Eastgate. LNER 1221 was built by Beyer Peacock in 1898 and lasted until 1965 when she was withdrawn from 52F Blyth mpd. The Wearhead branch closed to all traffic in 1953.

Ex-NER Worsdell D20 4-4-0 62387 in charge of the first leg of the RCTS sponsored 'Yorkshire Coast' railtour approaches York in June 23rd, 1957. I couldn't have taken this shot as I was riding behind a Marsh H2 on Western Region metals that day.

A very poor but interesting shot of one of the NER's Armstrong-Whitworth railcars but I know not which one it is. It was taken at Leeds (New) in December 1934 apparently.

According to the allegedly contemporaneous notes on the back of the contact print that matches the negative this is Peppercorn K1 mogul 62014 with a 32B shedplate (Ipswich) depicted at Sheffield (Victoria) on July 9th, 1950 whilst awaiting departure with a Harwich Boat Train.
There are, however, serious question marks regarding those notes as pointed out by Brian Green and Brian Easter and this is a somewhat lame attempt at sorting their contributions into some semblance of order.
Ipswich shed never had a K1 allocated to it is the first discrepancy but the less than sharp plate, when magnified at high definition, certainly looks as if it does, indeed, say 32B. As there is a lack of image clarity I would suggest that it is, in reality, 31B (March) which was the home shed for 62014 at that date. The next mystery is the working itself as 9/7/50 was a Sunday and it’s highly unlikely that the Harwich train ran on that day of the week. Also pointed out by my knowledgeable informants is that the head signals indicate a class B local passenger train whereas the Boat express would have displayed the class A express headlamp code.
The only reasonable conclusion that I can reach is that 62014 is standing in for a 31B B17 and is about to embark on the journey back to her home territory with a lesser train than a Harwich Boat express which she would very likely have never hauled in her working life in any case except as substitute motive power for a failed loco.

The cabside number isn't pin sharp but it seems to be 6910 which belonged to a GNSR D41 class 4-4-0 designed by Pickersgill. The shot was taken at Boat of Garten in September 1939 but the real point of interest for in this shot is that marvellous teak-bodied 6-wheeler.

Designed by the Great Central's Robinson just before the grouping, the B7 Valour goods class 4-6-0's had relatively short working lives. This example, 61705, was photographed at Sheffield (Vic.) in September 1949 only five months before consignment to the scrap merchant.

It's near the end of steam on the Glasgow - Aberdeen 3-hour services and here we see Gresley A4 pacific 60024 inside St. Rollox shed (Glasgow) in late August 1966 only days before the end of her illustrious career .

69594 is a Gresley N2 0-6-2T depicted at the unlikely location of Watton-at-Stone whilst working the REC's Saracens Head railtour on June 15th, 1957. Thanks are due to The Norbury Club for the tour data.

1927-built 69704 was a Gresley modification to the Hill designed N7 0-6-2T built originally for the GER and is depicted here in early BR non-passenger livery at the newly opened Ilford Electric depot in September 1949 during a visit by a group of enthusiasts.

A much earlier view of Gresley A4 pacific 60024 Kingfisher liveried in BR blue with the first emblem on the tender. This shot was taken from Princes Street gardens in Edinburgh during May 1951.

During the summer of 1954 there was major disruption at weekends to the ECML whilst Potters Bar was altered and bridge demolition/construction took place and traffic was diverted via the Hertford Loop. This is a southbound express hauled by Gresley A3 pacific 60038 Firdaussi passing Cuffley and Goffs Oak station. Brian Perren thinks that judging by, the composition of the stock, it looks like an ecs working.

Not the best of shots but a nice illustration of ex-works Thompson B1 4-6-0 61234 at Stratford in 1949.

One of Reid's handsome Glen class 4-4-0's, 62484 Glen Lyon, on a southbound train at What Matt Stoddon has kindly informed me is Whitrope Siding.
This shot is taken from a colour 35mm negative of the period hence the poor quality. 62484 was withdrawn from service in 1961 at Hawick mpd.

Worsdell J25 0-6-0 65662 awaits the cutter's torch at Darlington in 1960.

Darlington must have been the designated overhaul centre for Thompson's L1 class of 2-6-4T's as here we see ex-works 67732 far from home proudly displaying a 30A Stratford shed plate in 1960.

It's May 1951 again in Princes Street gardens, Edinburgh. This ecs working is being hauled by one of Haymarket shed's gaggle of Holmes-designed and always very clean J83 0-6-0T''s in the form of 68478.

Summer of 1960 at Darlington again and here we see a handsome Gresley A8 4-6-2T 69883 awaiting its fate.

During the summer of 1954 there was major disruption at weekends to the ECML whilst Potters Bar was altered and bridge demolition/construction took place and traffic was diverted via the Hertford Loop. This is a northbound express hauled by an unidentifiable Gresley V2 2-6-2 passing Hertford North station.

Another Holmes J83 0-6-0T but this time a very grubby no. 68444 taken at Kipps mpd (65E) circa 1958.

Another careworn 0-6-0T but this time from the north east of England rather than Scotland. 1914-built Wilson Worsdell J72 68692 is depicted here at West Hartlepool shed alongside J94 0-6-0ST 68055 on August 6th, 1950.

Gresley rebuild of a Claud Hamilton D16 4-4-0. Neither the date nor the location for this shot of 8821 is known but when I first showed it on the web nearly seven years ago one Ian Bowskill suggested the early days of WW2 because of the wall of sandbags at the right edge of the image.

This is Kittybrewster shed and the loco depicted is ex-NBR Holmes D31 4-4-0 9211 which was withdrawn from LNER service in September 1937

An unidentifiable ex-GER E4 2-4-0 on shed.

A nice line-up of ex-GCR J10 0-6-0's at Northwich shed. The leading loco is no. 5131 and Northwich seems to have been her home for many a year as she was withdrawn from there as BR no. 65202 in 1958.

I've rarely come across portraits of the H&BR J28 class of 0-6-0 but here's one and it depicts Kitson-built no. 2418 which was withdrawn from service at Langwith Junction shed in 1937.

Holden D13 4-4-0 7756 photographed on shed at Norwich on 5th March, 1938 and with only seven months more service to look forward to.

A little photographed class is this Marriott designed J93 0-6-0T seen here wearing the LNER legend on the tank sides which suggests that the picture was taken in 1937 at the earliest. This was a home grown class of nine engines all built at the M&GN works in Melton Constable. The location is almost certainly South Lynn shed yard.

The handsome lines of Gresley B17 4-6-0 2818 Wynyard Park are shown off beautifully by the combination of apple green livery and the ambient light at Cambridge mpd on June 6th, 1937.

A late 30's shot depicting Ivatt C1 4-4-2 no. 4440 at what is probably Cambridge. 4440 just about made it into BR days but was withdrawn in 1948.

This all-Pullman train has brought Gresley A1 pacific 4475 Flying Fox to an unlikely locaion on April 27th 1938 as a Newmarket racegoers special rounds the curve eastwards from Coldham Junction north of Cambridge. 4475 was upgraded to A3 status in 1947 and was subsequently numbered 60106 under the BR regime. I was privileged to be a passenger behind Flying Fox in May 1964 when it hauled the Doncaster out and back legs of a railtour to York and Darlington.

What a shame that this is such a poor negative not because I regard it as a favoured engine type but because original images of this class seem to be thin on the ground. Robinson L 2-6-4T 5344 is depicted at Neasden on 6th May, 1937.

5773 was a Parker designed N5 0-6-2T for the GCR and was withdrawn from Retford(GC) shed in1955 whilst bearing the BR number 69313.

Jersey Lily 6091 was about as elegant a design of steam engine as one could imagine and was one of 25 C4 atlantics designed by Robinson for the GCR and which entered service between 1904 and 1906. 6091 was withdrawn in 1948.

To my SR oriented eyes this seems to be an unusual pairing although one suspects that it's merely a yard movement within the confines of Cambridge shed on May 30th, 1937. The leading loco is Claud D16 4-4-0 8810 whilst the ex-works Ivatt C1 atlantic isn't quite identifiable unfortunately.

Holden F3 2-4-2T 8091 at Cambridge mpd on October 20th 1935 only seven months before withdrawal.

Designed by M. Stirling for the Hull & Barnsley Railway, J75 0-6-0T 2532 was built by Kitson in 1908 and was withdrawn from service as BR 68365 in 1949.

North Eastern Railway J77 0-6-0T no. 1000 survived into BR ownership as 68433 but never actually carried that number and succumbed to the cutter's torch in 1951.

Locos of this wheel arrangement were unusual on Britain's railways and photos of them are correspondingly scarce. This is Robinson designed S1/1 0-8-4T here seen with it's LNER number 6173 applied. 6173 was built by Beyer Peacock in 1908 with works no. 5005, was subsequently numbered 69903 after nationalisation and became the first of the class of six engines to be withdrawn in 1954 from Immingham mpd (40B).

For a change this image can be placed both by date and location. Ex-works Gresley V2 4801 sparkles in the sunshine whilst being turned at Cambridge mpd on May 6th, 1938. She would have arrived there on a running-in turn from King's Cross after arriving new from Darlington where she had been built. Even in my own spotting days at KX in the mid- to late fifties it was quite normal to still witness ex-major overhaul locos working that routine.

Simply stunning! And that applies both to the image itself and the exhibition finish of the engine and its accompanying coach. This is a Y5 0-4-0T designed by Neilson Reid way back in 1874. This loco, no. 7230, outlasted the other five class members by some 17 yearsand is seen here on exhibition at Lowestoft on June 9th, 1938. 7230 became a Stratford works shunter and was withdrawn in 1948.

Great North of Scotland D49 4-4-0 62279 Glen Grant but where this was taken I have no idea I'm afraid.

Late August 1964 and Gresley A4 pacific 60034 Lord Faringdon has breathed her last as she awaits her fate at Perth mpd. Apparently the absence of a tender was because it had been half-inched by Aberdeen (Ferryhill) shed to keep another A4 on the road.

This shot taken inside the workshop at Aberdeen (Ferryhill) shed in the last days of August 1964 depicts Gresley A4 pacific 60009 undergoing the beginnings of major maintenance work as she was being prepared, brilliantly as it turned out, for the upcoming last official steam train ex-King's Cross (The Jubilee Requiem) on October 24th. That was how I first heard of the trip and what a splendid sight and sound she presented as she shot past my camera.

Gresley K3 mogul 61801 at Stratford mpd displays the full British Railways legend on its tender.

I was taken aback when I first saw this negative as I hadn't realised that Stratford works overhauled and painted non-Eastern section engines. That isn't the only reason that I found this shot of Gresley J52/1 0-6-0ST 68834 interesting. Although it's definitely just out of the paint shop the paint job is pretty shoddy as, despite the heavy application of all over black gloss, both LNER and the former number 4235 are clearly visible on the tank side. A future upload will feature a close-up of those phenomena.