Ken Baker 14th October 2007 45110GCR

Photo by Ken Baker and posted with his permission.

Ken has caught me nonchalantly leaning out of the cab of Black 5 4-6-0 45110 double-heading a freight train with 8F 2-8-0 48305 at the GCR's Autumn Gala last year. A perfect example of the Great Central's motto: "Recreating the Experience" on the double track main line at Kinchley Lane. A black and white image is particularly fitting and 45110 had not been cleaned for some time so had a real 1960's look to it.

We had both goods rakes behind us for a total of 22 wagons and 4 brakes, I think. A Black 5 or 8F could have handled the train alone but for the spectacle it was double-headed. At Loughborough 48305 let us do the pulling out of the Up through siding which was quite a sight. We briefly slipped, controlled quickly by Dave my driver, but the plume of steam & smoke would have made a fine shot for any lucky photographer on Beeches Road bridge.

45110 was visiting from the Severn Valley Railway and of course, with GCR resident 70013, pulled the very last British Railways steam train on 11th August 1968. The Black 5 actually hauled the final leg back into Liverpool Lime Street so was THE last locomotive on a BR passenger train.