Travels with the Ivatt tanks

A total of 130 of the Ivatt 2-6-2Ts were built between 1946 and 1952, and here Keith Widdowson summarises his journeys with them in BR service.

With metal for the war effort being prioritised, relatively few steam locomotives were constructed throughout the United Kingdom during the World War II years of 1939 to 1945. However, with an eye to the future revitalisation of the railways, Henry George Ivatt (1886-1972), who succeeded Charles Fairburn as chief mechanical engineer of the LMS in February 1946, proposed a series of three new designs, one of which was a 2-6-2T. These locomotives would incorporate labour-saving devices such as self-emptying ash pans and rocking grates, and were designated to replace ageing nonstandard types that were nearing the end of their lives. With good weather protection and a coal space recess to provide improved observation when running bunker-first, their light axle-weight gave these tank engines a wide ranging route availability, with British Railways going on to classify them as ‘2MT’. Between December 1946 and June 1952, 120 were built at Crewe Works, whilst the final ten (numerically speaking) were completed at Derby during the first five months of 1952.

Affectionately known as ‘Mickey Mouse’ tanks, I always thought that they acquired the nickname because of the happy babbling/chuntering noise emitted whilst at work, this being akin to the Disney cartoon character’s exhalations, but research on-line states that the nickname was acquired during their early days as the white route indication discs found on the front of the locomotive would resemble Mickey Mouse’s ears when positioned on each side of the smokebox door. Perhaps a vote amongst readers would decide!

As I was a late entrant to the steam scene, in 1964, I can only factually relate this article from then. By the January of that year an astonishing 40 of these youngsters had already been withdrawn – victims of both branch line closures and many passenger services being turned over to the much-despised dieselmultiple-units – and the year-on-year allocations for New Year’s Day 1964, 1965, 1966 and 1967 are presented in Table One to further track the whereabouts of the fleet and the number of the class in use. For reasons unknown to the author, the North Eastern Region had wholly condemned all of its allocation of Ivatt 2-6-2Ts during the years 1962/63, while September 1963 saw the Western Region achieve the dubious accolade of crass waste by condemning its Exmouth Junction-based No 41318 –accident damage

perhaps – as the shortest-lived example, at just 11 years 4 months. In contrast, the longest in service, at a ‘majestic’ 18 years and 9 months, proved to be Bournemouth shed’s No 41224.

So where was my first encounter with these distinctive tanks? Made aware by those more knowledgeable than I that the Adur Valley line (Shoreham-by-Sea to Horsham) was being turned over to diesel-electric-multiple-units from the May 1964 timetable change, I headed to the area with the intention of taking some lineside photographs of them in action en route. The selected day, Tuesday, 28 April, turned out to be an exceptionally wet one, and although catching a run with Brighton shed’s No 41299 over the 4½ miles from Hove to Shoreham-by-Sea, I naively abandoned any photographic plans and went ‘track-bashing’ to Littlehampton, Bognor Regis and Portsmouth, returning home via ‘The Alps’. Within weeks, the stud of Ivatt 2-6-2Ts at Brighton, excepting the four that were sent to Guildford to resource the meagre remaining trains over the Guildford to Horsham line, were either condemned or sent to Eastleigh.

Both the Lymington and Swanage branches were visited that May, again as a result of informed sources (namely the boss at my Waterloo workplace). He said that the former London & South Western Railway Drummond ‘M7’ 0-4-4Ts were on their last legs and a visit to the two branches must be undertaken before it was too late. He in fact released me early from my Saturday morning duty to enable me to catch the 11.30am Bournemouth departure to facilitate it. Bournemouth shed had received a number of Ivatt tanks to replace the ageing ‘M7s’, and one of them, No 41312, was noted crossing my train at Corfe Castle. It wasn’t until 8 January 1967 that I finally caught a run with this particular Ivatt locomotive when it was working a Lymington branch train.

Next up, on Saturday, 18 July 1964, was one of Barnstaple Junction shed’s stud – No 41249. It was working the 10.52am Halwill Junction to Torrington service, changing the stock of one Bulleid BCK coach at Torrington for a two-coach Western Region set – Hawksworth? – and taking them the 14¼ miles to Barnstaple Junction itself. With both Torrington lines closing during the following year, the local Ivatt 2-6-2Ts were either condemned or forwarded to Exmouth Junction or Templecombe for the remaining short period of their lives.

On my way back to London that August, following a week’s stay with my Leicester relations and having seen the closure dates in Railway World magazine, I called in on the Buckingham and Newport Pagnell branch lines, which were both to lose their passenger trains a little less than two weeks later, from Monday, 7 September. Although the Buckingham visit was a diesel-multiple-unit, Bletchley shed’s sole ‘Mickey’, No 41222, worked the Newport Pagnell train. Operated in push-pull mode, No 41222 was the regular locomotive on the four-mile branch line from the Euston main line at Wolverton and was affectionately called the ‘Newport Nobby’. This locomotive’s 16-year stay at Bletchley shed ended the following January when transferred to Carlisle (Upperby), where I ‘copped’ it again on a shed bash there in March 1966.

The Guildford to Horsham line was briefly visited on 31 October 1964, with No 41294 working the 1.34pm (Saturdaysonly) Guildford to Horsham service, and sister engine No 41299 returning me on the 3.09pm opposite-way working. With both these trains not running on Mondays to Fridays, a lengthy six-hour gap in services was not necessarily customer friendly!

Another month, and another line closure – this time it was the Bangor to Pwllheli line, which in December 1964 was to be severed south of Carnarvon. By this time the one and only steam-hauled train over the line resulted from the necessity to convey mail and newspapers through to Pwllheli. It left Bangor at 5.20am, having connected out of the

2.19am Crewe to Holyhead train. Visited three weeks prior to the closure of Bangor shed, Bangor’s No 41234 took us the 32 miles through the inky darkness of a winter morning. This locomotive survived the cull there by escaping to Llandudno Junction.

Secretly hoping for a Southern ‘Q1’ class 0-6-0, having heard reports that they were sometimes sent out on the ‘rush hour’ Cranleigh terminating evening service, I was instead treated to runs with two of Guildford shed’s Ivatt 2-6-2Ts – Nos 41299 and 41287 (and I saw No 41294 too) – on a 19 May 1965 visit to the Guildford-Horsham line, just weeks before its complete closure. Upon the line’s closure in mid-June, all three of these Ivatt tanks were transferred to Eastleigh; Guildford’s other Ivatt 2-6-2T, No 41301, was sent to Weymouth.

Without knowing that a stay of execution date was to be made, resulting from a bus company’s withdrawal of its substitute service, a visit to the Somerset & Dorset line was made on 18 September 1965. The established order of ex-GWR Collett ‘2251’ class 0-6-0s on the one-coach Evercreech Junction to Highbridge ‘main line’ had been usurped by the arrival of a deluge of Ivatt 2-6-2Ts, two of them, Nos 41223 and 41307, being witnessed in action. A revisit to the line on 26 February 1966, a week before closure, saw me aboard the 06.00 Bristol (Temple Meads) to Branksome ‘through’ train hauled by British

Railways Standard ‘4MT’ 2-6-0 No 76011 from Bath (Green Park) shed. Ivatt No 41290 was the draw-back locomotive out of Templecombe (Upper) that morning and was enjoyed for haulage, and No 41296 was out of use on the nearby shed. In addition, rumours of the dieselisation of the Swanage branch, enacted that September, saw me on that same day progress on to the branch, one of the Ivatt locomotives in circulation being No 41320. I travelled behind it on the 11.28 WarehamSwanage service, while Bournemouth shedmate No 41316 was caught on 19 April 1966 while performing a shunt at Central station, adding extra coaches to the rear of an incoming Weymouth-Waterloo train.

The London Midland Region’s allocation of Ivatt ‘2MT’ 2-6-2Ts was a mere 15 in November 1966, which was to be whittled down to just five the following month, but not before 55 miles were enjoyed behind Stockport (Edgeley) shed’s No 41204 on the Manchester Rail Travel Society’s ‘Three Counties Special’ rail tour. A multi-engine tour. The Ivatt took us from Stockport to Buxton, and returned into Manchester (Central) with its four-vehicle formation; the tour ran on 11 November.

Into 1967, and it was just the eight Southern Region Ivatt tanks remaining. With the end of Southern steam in sight, desperation set in, and Sunday outings were now in the mix. As a semi-regular traveller on the 11.30 London (Waterloo) to Bournemouth train all eyes were on the Lymington branch connection upon drawing into Brockenhurst, to ascertain which tank engine was on the branch duties that day. I continued through to Bournemouth to kill time – there were no return steam services to London usually before 6pm – on the second Sunday of January 1967 I back-tracked to Brockenhurst to catch the 16.03 branch departure to Lymington with Ivatt No 41295. Upon returning into Brockenhurst, what should the changeover locomotive be, having travelled light engine from Bournemouth shed, but a ‘required’ No 41312, so, much to the guard’s amusement, a trip back down the branch on the 16.58 service was the order of the day.

Two weeks later, on 21 January No 41230 fell

to me on the 16.00 departure; times varied according to engineering works affecting the main line trains.

Although participating on ‘The Bridport Belle’ rail tour on Sunday, 22 January 1967, the ‘Mickeys’ used – Nos 41295 and 41320 – were (disappointingly) not ‘scratched’ for new haulage, but at least their heroics on Toller bank were relished. My final Bournemouth-based Ivatt tank required for haulage, No 41224, was nailed the following month on the Lymington branch, on Thursday, 9 February. This left just the two Nine Elms miscreants, Nos 41284 and the now-preserved No 41298, together with Eastleigh’s solitary No 41319.

As a regular commuter on the unadvertised ‘Kenny Belle’ Post Office service between Clapham Junction and Kensington (Olympia), there was always hope for a change of diet from the British Railways Standard tanks usually working it and, sure enough, on Wednesday and Thursday 8/9 February the Ivatt ‘2MTs’ duly worked it – No 41298 on the Wednesday, followed by No 41284 on the following morning, the duties being the 08.16 ex- Clapham Junction and 08.33 return. So, by the time I departed Brockenhurst for Lymington Pier behind No 41224 on the 16.08 service that same day, the flurry of success just left Eastleigh’s No 41319 as still ‘required’ – it was often tantalisingly seen on East yard shunting duties as we passed by.

Wonder of wonders, perhaps because of the ailing condition of Nine Elms shed’s fleet, it was transferred there on 17 April, a day after I enjoyed a ‘shunt’ with the newly-preserved No 41241 on the embryonic Keighley & Worth Valley Railway at Haworth, albeit not on the branch itself – the necessary authorisation of the Light Railway Order had not been granted as expected.

When, if ever, would Ivatt 2-6-2T No 41319 work the 08.16 out of Clapham Junction? It seemed an interminable wait, but finally it appeared on this train on Monday,

22 May – then again on Tuesday, 20 June, Thursday 29 June, and on the final Friday of Southern steam – 7 July.

In due course four Ivatt 2-6-2Ts reached preservation – Nos 41241, 41298, 41312 and 41313 – and all have seen post-BR use. Of these, just No 41313 had eluded me thus far. Withdrawn from Eastleigh shed in June 1965 and subsequently sold as scrap and then saved for preservation, initially as spare parts for sister engine No 41298. Thanks to a change of heart and many hours of work by volunteers, No 41313 was restored to service in 2017 and has since been based on the Isle of Wight Steam Railway. Being a regular holidaymaker to the island it was only a matter of time before this 2-6-2T fell into my hands for haulage, the day in question being 26 May 2018. So there we have it. That is my take on these lovable little locomotives, perhaps being turned out a little late in the day for the existence of steam on British Railways.

R N Smith Collection One of the well known Ivatt ‘2MT’ 2-6-2T operations within easy reach of London, and thus sampled on three different occasions by the author, was the use of Guildford-allocated engines across to Cranleigh and Horsham, albeit the crews were generally Three Bridges men in the Ivatt era. Although no route discs are yet displayed, No 41294 is in platform 8 at Guildford station with the 1.34pm Saturdays-only to Horsham on 2 January 1965. The use of a restriction 1 Maunsell set on this duty was unusual as they were in extremely short supply by this time and those that were available were confined to RedhillReading services. However, these had started to go over to diesel units and would switch completely from the following Monday, so presumably a set could now be spared.

Larry Fullwood/Transport Treasury With just a few weeks to go before the service went over to diesel unit operation, traffic is held up at the A27 Old Shoreham toll bridge level crossing for Ivatt ‘2MT’ 2-6-2T No 41299 to pass with the 9.30am Brighton to Horsham service on Saturday, 25 April 1964. Interestingly, British Railways could be blamed by road users for both the level crossing delay and the inconvenience of the toll as the bridge over the River Adur was also owned by the railway. Both were dispensed with when an elevated flyover for the A27 trunk road north of here was opened in 1970, albeit the railway was by then just a truncated freight-only line to Beeding cement works. Incidentally, the author travelled from Hove to Shoreham with the very same engine just three days later, in shocking weather.

F Butler/Kidderminster Railway Museum Leamington-allocated Ivatt ‘2MT’ 2-6-2T No 41241 approaches Knowle & Dorridge from the south with a goods duty on Monday, 13 April 1964. The stock appears to be for transporting cars, and a loading/unloading facility for this was established on the up side at the nearby station. Although this line is of Great Western origin, the regional boundary changes of 1963 saw it pass to the London Midland Region. However, on the regional allocations shown in Table One for New Year’s Day 1964 this locomotive will be within the fold at Wellington. This shed had been lost by the Western Region in 1963, likewise passing to the LMR, and the subsequent move for No 41241 was thus within region (from 2M to 2L) and came about in the February. The stay at Leamington proved to be brief, a little over four months.

R Patterson/Colour-Rail.com/315721 The tide is partially in at Fremington Pill as BR-built Ivatt ‘2MT’ 2-6-2T No 41283 crosses the water on approach to the station with a service from Torrington to Barnstaple Junction on Sunday, 3 May 1964. The train will connect with an Ilfracombe to Exeter service at Barnstaple Junction. These engines displaced the last remaining Drummond ‘M7s’ in the West Country shortly after the Western Region gained full control of the former SR lines west of Wilton in early 1963. However, despite this being an LMS-designed engine hauling former GWR stock, it was not until the start of the winter 1964 timetable that the new order began dismantling the carefully honed timetable of through coaches and well-timed connecting services.

Tony Doyle/R N Smith Collection Bletchley shed’s lone Ivatt ‘2MT’, No 41222, is seen at Wolverton station while in use on its regular duties on the Newport Pagnall branch, south-east from the London & Birmingham section of the West Coast main line. This view was recorded on 16 July 1964, but the author visited and enjoyed the same traction on 29 August, by which time the branch was very close to its passenger demise on 7 September. It would continue as a goods-only route for a while but would be lost to the network on 22 May 1967, and by then the sands of time had also expired for No 41222, its final home being Carlisle (Kingmoor).

Keith Widdowson/ANISTR.COM If ever there is an idyllic scene long lost in time, it is this. Ivatt ‘2MT’ 2-6-2T No 41249 rests from its exertions at Torrington after working the singlecoach 10.52am service from Halwill Junction on Saturday, 18 July 1964. Trains on this line could operate as mixed so there were times when passengers, usually in a Bulleid brake composite, could find themselves involved in a shunt, with livestock and other goods sharing the same train. Whether it was worth paying the extra to sit on your own in first class as opposed to doing the same in second is open to question!

M J Fox/Rail Archive Stephenson In glorious winter sunshine, Ivatt ‘2MT’ No 41214 is reflected in the disused Glastonbury Canal as it leaves Edington Burtle with the 14.20 service from Highbridge to Templecombe on Saturday, 27 February 1965. A single composite coach was adequate for what little passenger business there was by now, which was often eclipsed by the volume of parcels business conveyed with the guard in the GUV. The engine was one of the class displaced from Barnstaple Junction near the end of the summer 1964 timetable, and its time on Somerset & Dorset metals would conclude upon withdrawal from Templecombe shed on 2 July 1965.

Keith Widdowson/ANISTR.COM Known locally as the ‘6-5 special’, Guildford shed’s No 41299 has arrived at Baynards with the 18.05 Guildford to Horsham service on 19 May 1965. The author detrained here and changed platforms to catch the 18.15 ex-Horsham but took this view as he passed over the level crossing in readiness to join that train. The idea of rushing between platforms in the window when two trains are booked to pass is classic for those seeking haulage, and here it was not too stressful thanks to the process of tablet exchange – the section of line from Christ’s Hospital through to Peasmarsh Junction was single-track with passing loops. The signalman had to communicate with the neighbouring boxes, confirming that the trains were out of section, gain permission to send each train onwards,. Then of course he would amble back out to each locomotive crew to hand-over the correct staff for them to proceed.

Keith Widdowson/ANISTR.COM With Guildford-allocated Ivatt No 41287 at its head, the 18.15 ex-Horsham reaches the Portsmouth Direct main line at Peasmarsh Junction on the evening of 19 May 1965. Having slowed to give up the single-line staff, the driver accelerates away from ex-London, Brighton & South Coast Railway metals and joins those of the L&SWR, the Bramley & Wonersh to Peasmarsh Junction staff now in the safe custody of the signalman. Having departed from Baynards at 18.36, the light is beginning to fade, termination in Guildford being booked for 19.10.

Keith Widdowson/ANISTR.COM Push-pull fitted No 41217 simmers within its home shed, the roundhouse of Carlisle (Upperby), while awaiting its next call of duty on 31 March 1966. The first 11 Ivatt 2-6-2Ts of the BR era were push-pull fitted, Nos 41210-20. Used on pilot work in Carlisle, the Ivatt ‘2MTs’ had performed well, and this one went on to be in the last five members of its class on the London Midland Region. None would remain on the LMR books after the week ending 31 December 1966, which was the official withdrawal period of the pictured locomotive.

Keith Widdowson/ANISTR.COM With the 11.40 from Bournemouth (West) to Bristol (Temple Meads) now out of the way at Evercreech Junction, Ivatt ‘2MT’ 2-6-2T No 41223 waits in the centre road to be platformed before conveying the author on the 13.15 service to Highbridge on Saturday, 18 September 1965. Shortly after arrival there, Ivatt No 41307 departed Highbridge in the other direction with the 14.18 to Templecombe. Both engines had arrived on the line from Exmouth Junction shed to take over these duties in the middle of June.

Keith Widdowson/ANISTR.COM New to Crewe North shed in January 1952, incredibly Ivatt ‘2MT’ No 41320 was on its 13th shed when re-allocated to Bournemouth in the four week period to 10 May 1965, and here it lingers in the down bay platform at Wareham prior to working the 11.28 service to Swanage on 26 February 1966. By now branch passenger duties were shared between Ivatt ‘2MTs’ and BR Standard ‘4MT’ 2-6-4Ts, but diesel-electricmultiple-units would take over from the start of the winter timetable on 5 September 1966. Naturally, the author ‘scratched’ this locomotive in his haulage log, photographing it and then travelling through to Swanage on this service.

John H Bird/ANISTR.COM A Royal Blue Bristol RELH has been caught by the level crossing gates as Ivatt 2-6-2T No 41312 sets out from Lymington Town station with an evening branch service from Lymington Pier to Brockenhurst on Wednesday, 28 July 1965. The author ‘scratched’ this Ivatt for haulage on 8 January 1967, travelling on the 16.03 from Brockenhurst and the 16.30 return, and then immediately did the same with No 41312 on the 16.58 and its 17.30 return. While two later visits were also a success, with No 41230 gained on 21 January (16.00 ex-Brockenhurst) and finally No 41224 on 9 February 1967, initially on the 16.08 down service. Steam prevailed on the branch until the pictured engine brought down the curtain on Sunday, 2 April 1967, and on Monday, 3 April a diesel-electric-multiple-unit took over ahead of electrification. The displaced Ivatt ‘Mickey Mouse’ tanks soon found a new home at Nine Elms, albeit not for long.

Keith Widdowson/ANISTR.COM Stockport’s Edgeley shed provided its No 41204 for a 55 mile leg of the Manchester Rail Travel Society’s ‘Three Counties Special’ on 26 November 1966. The tour reached Stockport behind a brace of ‘Jinty’ 0-6-0Ts, Nos 47202 and 47383, which had worked it from Bury. This photograph was taken upon completion of the loco change. The Ivatt would head out through Hazel Grove and Dove Holes to Buxton, where a turnback engine aided a trip down to Millers Dale, the Ivatt then undergoing a solo trip to Manchester from there. No 41204 would be withdrawn within days.

R N Smith Collection Ivatt hunting at Lymington had the advantage of locomotive changeovers. No 41224 returns light engine from Bournemouth shed on duty 404 on Tuesday, 31 May 1966. The duty started at 05.45 from Lymington shed, with the engine operating two return passenger trips on the branch, these were worked by a local crew before they handed over to a Bournemouth crew for the 07.56 passenger train from Brockenhurst to Bournemouth (Central). The engine then spent the day around Bournemouth and Poole on various jobs, including banking, before ending up on Bournemouth shed, where an engine swap may occur, before departure at 17.52 light engine back to Brockenhurst, where the engine was handed over to the Lymington crew for two trips to Lymington Pier. It then retired to Lymington shed, ready for the following day. Other branch trains were covered by Eastleigh duty 314 and Bournemouth duty 400, both booked for a BR Standard ‘4MT’ 2-6-4T.

Peter D T Pescod/Transport Treasury Rattling over the junction pointwork at St Denys, Ivatt ‘2MT’ 2-6-2T No 41319 heads an afternoon van train to either Southampton Terminus or the Old Docks on Thursday, 13 May 1966. Such duties had occupied this locomotive for several years, most likely since it reached Eastleigh from Tunbridge Wells West shed back in the summer of 1959.

Colour-Rail.com/12113 Ivatt ‘2MT’ 2-6-2T No 41298 was transferred from Weymouth to Nine Elms in October 1966 and it remained in service until the final day of Southern Region steam – Sunday, 9 July 1967. It is captured in this period at London (Waterloo) while waiting to work empty coaching stock to Clapham Junction yard, which was its bread and butter work. The distinctly different looking chimney – taller, thinner and slightly tapered – stands out in this view; it was only fitted to Nos 41290-99. In addition, locomotives from No 41290 also had the round eave cab profile and the later pattern pony truck with integral guard irons.

Keith Widdowson/ANISTR.COM Having arrived at Maiden Newton from Westbury behind ‘West Country’ Pacific No 34013 Okehampton, the LCGB-operated ‘Bridport Belle Rail Tour’ of 22 January 1967 underwent a locomotive change to allow it to visit the Bridport branch, this view records the formation of ‘top and tailed’ Ivatt ‘2MT’ tanks. We are looking at the rear of the train upon its reversal and before departure, with No 41320 adorned with the headboard, while in the distance it seems that No 41295 is bursting to get on its way to Bridport. The author was on board, and while he had travelled behind both of the Ivatts before, on the Swanage and Lymington branches (Nos 41320 and 41295 respectively), the run back from Bridport proved to be memorable.

John H Bird/ANISTR.COM Ivatt ‘2MT’ 2-6-2Ts Nos 41313 and 41298 are seen at Havenstreet on 28 May 2018 during the very successful ‘Three Ivatts’ gala on the Isle of Wight Steam Railway. The third Ivatt in question was ‘2MT’ 2-6-0 No 46447, the three locomotives being in the hands of the resident Ivatt Locomotive Trust. It was two days earlier that the author ‘scratched’ his last Ivatt for haulage, No 41313. The full list, including two in preservation, reads: 41204, 41222/23/24, 41230/34, 41241/49, 41284/87, 41290/94/95/98/99, 41312/13/16/19 and 41320.

Colour-Rail.com/304437 Although it was well known in enthusiast circles, an unadvertised steam-hauled passenger service ran between Clapham Junction and Kensington Olympia in the morning and evening for Post Office Savings bank workers. At Kensington Olympia, Ivatt 2-6-2T No 41319 has run round a morning service and awaits return to Clapham Junction. The engine has been taken off Duty 106, carriage shunting at Clapham yard, to stand in for the booked engine on this duty. A BR ‘3MT’ 2-6-2T was usually booked for the two morning trips and the job was part of Nine Elms Duty 103, which was mostly Waterloo empty stock workings. The ‘Kenny Belle’ workings as they were known, left Clapham Junction at 08.16 and 08.46, returning from Olympia at 08.33 and 09.00. The evening train was worked by a BR ‘4MT’ 2-6-4T as part of Duty 105 – it left Clapham Junction and ran empty stock to Kensington Olympia at 16.15, returning from there at 16.36. Another trip departed from Clapham Junction at 16.50, and departed back at 17.06. Just to confuse matters, the evening trains ran ½ hour later on Mondays and Tuesdays. The job was inherited by Nine Elms when the steam shed at Stewarts Lane shut.

Arthur Wooller Collection, courtesy Keith Robertson After just 17 years and 3 months in service and by coming straight into traffic after its last duties at Skipton shed, the fledgling preservation scheme to re-open the Worth Valley branch found itself with perhaps the perfect engine for its line – No 41241. The author had it for haulage on 16 April 1967 when operations were restricted to Haworth yard, and this view was recorded exactly three months later, during a shunt by prototype diesel No D0226 and before the Ivatt lost its British Railways livery; we showed it previously at Knowle & Dorridge. While BR was still running steam locomotives, to laymen there seemed to be something very similar going on at Haworth – doubtless there were interesting conversations about ‘identity’ and before long No 41241 would be seen in its one off KWVR red livery.