GCR MARKS 50 YEARS
The first weekend of the Great Central Railway’s end of steam commemoration had some uncanny parallels with August 1968 – but not in the way that anyone wanted.
Recreating the atmosphere of 1968 with ‘7MT’ and a ‘scrapped’ Standard
Just about everything that could go wrong did when the Railway Correspondence & Travel Society bade farewell to BR steam in 1968.
The ‘End of Steam Commemorative Railtour’ promoted by the prestigious enthusiast organisation on August 4 that year promised an ambitious itinerary, using ‘8F’ No. 48476, Standard ‘5MT’ No. 73069 and ‘Britannia’ No. 70013 Oliver Cromwell on an epic trek round the North West, taking in Bolton, Blackburn, Hellifield, Liverpool Docks and the historic Liverpool & Manchester line.
But the problems began even before the ‘8F’ and ‘Standard Five’ backed onto the train at Manchester Victoria, signal checks and engineering works having made the electric and diesel-hauled leg of the tour 1¼ hours late during its journey from Euston.
Another signal check on departure from Manchester (reportedly because of a permanent way trolley in the section ahead) increased the delay to two hours, then the ‘8F’ had to take water 22 miles further on at Bury because its tender was leaking, and the Stanier 2-8-0 was replaced at Blackburn by ‘Black Five’ No. 45407 – a last-minute substitute that had not even been cleaned for the occasion.
With the train nearly four hours behind schedule, it was decided to cut out the visits to the docks and the L&M, but the saga wasn’t over. Attempts to replenish the restaurant car’s water supply at Victoria with a hand pump meant another half-hour was lost; then, having waved goodbye to the ‘Brit’ at Stockport, the train stopped at Crewe to water the restaurant car, only for the buffet car’s tank to be filled by mistake!
By the time the train arrived back at Euston in the early hours of the next morning, it was 4½ hours late and a fleet