‘7F’ HEADS NORTH FOR MIDLAND BASH

Looking right at home on the former Midland Railway Oxenhope branch, Somerset & Dorset ‘7F’ 2-8-0 No. 53808 rounds the curve towards Mytholmes Viaduct with a morning goods train on March 11. It was one of nine engines in steam for the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway’s Spring Steam Gala of March 9-11; the other guests being ‘Britannia’ No. 70013 Oliver Cromwell (see pages 8/9) reunited with a fellow ‘Fifteen Guinea Special’ engine ‘Black Five’ No. 44871. During the event, the Mineheadbased ‘7F’ also recreated a typical S&D pairing when it double-headed with resident ‘4F’ 0-6-0 No. 43924.