Another ‘Black Five’ gets the bird

OUR feathered friends seem to have taken a liking to Stanier's finest. In last issue's Next Stop, we reported how ‘Black Five' No. 45305 was temporarily unavailable for traffic at the Great Central Railway because a blackbird was nesting in its cab.

Now one of the restoration jobs on an ex-Barry scrapyard classmate has had to stop for similar reasons.

The British Enginemen Steam Preservation Society is building a new smokebox for No. 45293 at the Colne Valley Railway, and had got as far as drilling and bolting in the door ring when a swallow made its nest inside.

Obviously, the occupants can't be disturbed by the deafening noise of riveting the ring into place, so efforts must be concentrated elsewhere on the former Carlisle Upperby locomotive until the birds fly the nest.

Another swallow – or probably the same one – has been spotted inside the neighbouring shed housing classmate No. 45163.

If this avian trend continues, railways could find themselves attracting just as many ‘twitchers' as they do ‘gricers'.

Looking upwards into the new smokebox under construction for ‘Black Five' No. 45293, standing on its end with the top sheeted over, a swallow has built its nest on the bar temporarily welded across the door ring. BRITISH ENGINEMEN STEAM PRESERVATION SOCIETY