GREAT CENTRAL RAILWAY ‘IMPROVED DIRECTOR’/LNER ‘D11’ No. 506 BUTLER-HENDERSON (1982-1992)
1982 was something of a red letter year for the Great Central Railway, for only months after the arrival and return to steam of GNR Stirling ‘Single’ No. 1 (see left), original GCR ‘Improved Director’ No. 506 Butler-Henderson also returned to the fold.
Its return to working order for the first time since it was withdrawn in 1960 was the undoubted highlight in the 4-4-0’s preservation career, as it had led a somewhat nomadic and low-key existence ever since it entered the National Collection. Following withdrawal, it was stored out of the public eye at Gorton works, where it was given a full overhaul and reverted as close as possible to original GCR condition. It remained there for a number of years, before travelling down the old Great Central Main Line on its way to London, destined for display at the Museum of British Transport at Clapham.
When Clapham closed, and with space at a premium in the nascent NRM at York, it was decided to loan Butler-Henderson to the GCR for static display. A few years later, the railway approached the NRM about restoring No. 506 to working order and it was promptly transferred to the shed at Loughborough where work began in 1981.
The GCR’s then mechanical foreman Alen Grice led the restoration – a somewhat grand term for what amounted to little more than a re-tube. Alen says: “John Bellwood came down and asked me what I was going to do with it. ‘Nothing,’ I told him, to which he replied, ‘That’s just what I wanted to hear!’.
“Butler-Henderson was like it came fresh from a box; it was brand new. They’d replaced so much on it at Gorton. I looked at it and realised I didn’t need to do anything to it. All we did was give it a re-tube, because the boiler insurers wouldn’t insure it without us replacing all the small and big tubes, but that was more or less it. The only major work we did was fitting a new snifting valve behind the chimney.”
The ‘Improved Director’ returned to steam in March 1982. Shortly after its entry into traffic, a gentleman approached Alen claiming that Butler-Henderson “sounded wrong” as it had an incorrect whistle.
“From behind his back, he produced the original whistle from [classmate No. 62667] Somme. We fitted it straight away, and it carries that whistle to this day.”
Butler-Henderson remained on the GCR for the entirety of its ‘ten-year’ ticket, which expired on February 24 1992. It made one final flourish before bowing out however, as it was repainted into BR guise as No. 62660 by the Main Line Steam Trust for its final weekend in traffic on February 21-24, with lining applied to its right-hand side, while the left remained unlined.
Following its withdrawal, it was repainted back into GCR lined green and returned to the NRM, unlikely ever to steam again.
It today resides at Barrow Hill Roundhouse, alongside Midland Compound No. 1000.