DOUBLE ‘BRITS’ HOPE FOR NNR

‘Cromwell’ confirmed for ‘Poppy Line’ return with Britannia negotiations under way.

Oliver Cromwell is to return to the county where it was first preserved – exactly 50 years after it arrived at Bressingham Steam Museum. The Steam Railway appeal ‘Britannia’s’ return to the North Norfolk Railway could also herald the long-awaited public reunion with the classmate whose place in preservation it took in 1968: No. 70000 Britannia. The BR Standard ‘Pacific’ spectacle is hoped to take top billing at the NNR’s Autumn Steam Gala. However, while the National Railway Museum’s No. 70013 has been confirmed to attend the ‘Poppy Line’ event, negotiations for the hire of Britannia from the Royal Scot Locomotive & General Trust are still at an early stage and the locomotive has yet to run since it was sidelined in October 2015 with axle problems. The NNR hopes to be able to face the ‘Brits’ in opposite directions, so that evocative passing scenes at Sheringham, Weybourne and Holt can rekindle the essence of what were once everyday scenes on the Great Eastern Main Line. If the NNR does pull off the ‘7MT’ coup it will have been at the second time of asking, having first made approaches to their owners in 2010, and it did have agreement for a much-anticipated meeting in March 2013, only to be thwarted by overrunning maintenance to No. 70013. Britannia did appear, but suffered front-end damage in a shunting collision with ‘2MT’ No. 78019. ‘Cromwell’ has previously made four solo appearances on the Norfolk coast since it reopened Sheringham crossing in 2009. The NNR’s August 31September 2 event represents the final opportunity to run Britannia and ‘Cromwell’ together for the foreseeable future, as the latter will be withdrawn for overhaul at the end of the year. This also raises the prospect of an all-Norwich Thorpe shed gathering, with engines that were all allocated to 32A at the same time for a period in 1960, with NNR resident ‘Y14’ No. 564 (nee ‘J15’ No. 65462) and ‘B12’ No. 8572 (BR No. 61572) having both come under the jurisdiction of the late Bill Harvey together with Nos. 70000 and 70013.

The North Norfolk Railway welcomed two other BR Standards for its most recent spring gala in the shape of Llangollen-based ‘4MT’ 2-6-4T No. 80072 (see picture on page 108) and ‘2MT’ 2-6-0 No. 78018 from the Great Central Railway.

ROBERT FALCONER Oliver Cromwell was allocated to the London Midland Region in the latter part of its BR career, and recreates the type of freight duty that it would have been charged with, at its Great Central Railway home on May 12.