Iconic loco steams in for spring
AFTER the culmination of a six-year, £1,000,000 overhaul, Gresley LNER class A4 No. 4498 Sir Nigel Gresley will return to the rails at the Severn Valley Railway’s Spring Steam Gala on Thursday, April 21. A short midday ceremony at Kidderminster station will mark the occasion.
Nigel Wilson, Chairman of the Sir Nigel Gresley Locomotive Trust, which owns No. 4498, said; “The event marks the return of our popular A4 class locomotive following the tremendous efforts of our essentially volunteer engineering team. This overhaul is probably the most thorough the locomotive has ever had. Thanks to all involved and the results of the hard work are now for everybody to enjoy. We’re also very grateful to the SVR for hosting us for the all-important running in tests.”
4498 or 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley has been a celebrity locomotive since it was named for its designer in 1937. Its illustrious career saw it at the head of a press train for the re-launch of the ‘Flying Scotsman’ service in 1938, and hauling the Royal Train in 1956 with Her Majesty the Queen on board. The undoubted climax however, was when it set the official post-war speed record for steam traction of 112mph on May 23, 1959.
The locomotive, brother of world speed record holder Mallard, is now the only operational A4 locomotive; the other surviving members of the class are unlikely to return to steam in the next few years, and in many cases will never steam again. Sir Nigel Gresley is owned by a charitable trust committed to keeping it steaming as long as is possible. It will operate at the SVR’S Spring Steam Gala between April 21-24, before relocation to the Locomotive Services Group depot at Crewe where it will be prepared for main line trips from May onwards.
The overhaul, which started in late 2015, was completed in March this year prior to a period of running in at the SVR. The loco is currently in a temporary livery of LNER black, which it carried in the 1940s. Later this year it will be repainted in British Railways express passenger blue and returned to its other running number of 60007.
The Sir Nigel Gresley Locomotive Trust was formed in 1964 and purchased 60007 from British Railways in 1966, returning it to mainline operation after a full overhaul at Crewe in 1967. The locomotive has remained active on the mainline and heritage lines across the UK ever since.