A Marston Jabbett Merchant Navy...

Living so near to the West Coast Main Line, it's quite often that locomotive moves take place between West Coast Railway's depot in Carnforth and their London outpost at Southall. Most of these runs take place during the working day and therefore I usually miss them. However, occasionally, the timings work out perfectly. This afternoon, in warm and breezy conditions, West Coast's Merchant Navy Pacific was working southbound with her support coach not long after I got in from work. Therefore, with minutes to spare, I headed out to spot her. 35018 "British India Line" was withdrawn from BR service in 1964 and, like so many of her Bulleid sisters, ended up at Barry Scrapyard in South Wales. Rescued in 1979, her painstaking restoration to main line standards began in 2012. Finally, after countless hours work by the team at Carnforth, 35018 returned to the main line under her own steam in May 2017. The Merchant Navy's make for a lovely big engine and it was a pleasure to see 35018 slip effortlessly through the Warwickshire countryside heading to the big smoke. This was the first time, however briefly, that I'd seen her 'in the metal'. Thanks all, Sam...