Afternoon all. Today we were treated to the sight of an old friend passing the depot in the form of LNER B1 No61306 "Mayflower". The Bongo was steaming from Crewe to Southall with her support coach ready to work some Steam Dreams jobs over the coming weeks. I say an old friend as I was lucky enough to spend a few seasons helping to crew "Mayflower" as a trainee when it was owned by the late Gerald Boden. The engine was then residing on the Leicestershire withered arm and Gerald kindly allowed us trainees to go out as third men with his crews who then looked after the Eastern 4-6-0. This was the first standard gauge main liner I'd ever regularly crewed and it was a great thrill as a youngster to be out with her. Here I am snapped crewing "Mayflower" in 2010, aged 18. How things change...
Unlike the usual engine and coach moves where the loco is out of sight within seconds, today saw 61306 hanging around for about 25-minutes. During this time she waited on the up goods line at a red signal whilst various passenger and freight services passed her by. It was actually nice to have her around for a while to get a good look...
As her right time neared, the fireman made up the fire with what (from a distance) looked to be a harder coal. It certainly gave off some smoke! When the signal cleared, 61306 burst into life and hissed gently southward with one of her safety valves blowing. She then disappeared into the distance under a cloak of smoke and steam...
And that's that. I wonder when I'll see "Mayflower" again? No doubt she'll be back this way later in the year. A nice bit of nostalgia that was on an otherwise uneventful Tuesday afternoon. Thanks for reading folks. Cheers all, Sam...
Please note that the above images were taken from land outside of the NR boundary fence.
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