Chapter 48: Two Different Trains: Two Different Engines

(Wednesday, September 12th 2012 – 8:05am, Tidmouth Sheds)

"What do you think we'll be doing for this morning, Simon?" Carrie asked, as she and Simon, as well as many of the other recruits on the apprenticeship scheme, stepped out from the crew building at Tidmouth Sheds. She had a cup of tea in her left hand along with a pastry in her right hand, just like all of the other recruits, and each of them were dressed in their work clothes, including their familiar overalls, solid work boots, bright orange Hi-Viz safety vests, as well as their peaked railway caps on their heads.

"No idea, Carrie. But whatever jobs we're given to work on with whatever engines today, I just hope that we all do the work to the best of our full ability." Simon said, as he took a sip of his tea.

"Yeah, let's hope we can." Carrie said, as she took a quick sip of tea before taking a bite out of her pastry. She'd had a very good night's sleep the evening before after a long day of work the previous day, and she was eager to get back to work again, as well as being quite eager to see what the day ahead would bring.

The recruits gathered together in small groups before a number of men who would assign them to whichever engines they would be working on, either for the day or for the morning, and then they would be assigned to work on different engines later on in the day. As she waited to be assigned to the engine she would be working on while she watched other recruits being assigned to their selected engines, Carrie took in a deep breath through her nose, and took in the various different smells that would be expected to be encountered in a yard full of steam locomotives, including the smells of paint, coal dust, ash, oil, as well as smoke and steam. But they were smells she was well-used to smelling by now, and so she didn't think too much of it as she waited for her turn to be assigned.

Soon, it was finally Carrie's turn to be assigned to her engine, and the man with the clipboard, who was one of the different managers for the yard, turned to her.

"Okay Carrie…follow me please. The engine you're going to be working on is right over this way on one of the other sheds." the yard manager said, as he turned and headed off in the direction where the engine was waiting.

"All right then." Carrie said, as she followed the yard manager to where he was going, and wondered which engine she would be working on.

They walked along for a few moments, and passed by a number of other different engines that were being readied for their day ahead, including G.W.R. Saint Class engines, No.2918 Saint Catherine and No.2924 Saint Helena, G.W.R. Star Class engines, No.4054 Princess Charlotte and No.4059 Princess Patricia, L.M.S. Patriots No.5512 Bunsen, No.45532 Illustrious and No.45535 Sir Herbert Walker K.C.B., as well as L.N.E.R. Peppercorn A1s No.60119 Patrick Stirling, No.60123 H. A. Ivatt, and No.60143 Sir Walter Scott, L.M.S. Princess Coronation Class engines No.6227 Duchess of Devonshire, No.6232 Duchess of Montrose, and No.46256 Sir William A Stanier F.R.S., and many other different engines who were being readied for their day ahead. Carrie said "Good morning" to many of the engines she walked past, and all the other engines she passed also said "Good morning, Carrie!" to her as well before she went on her way.

Carrie saw a small number of other engines who were having their fires dropped from their fireboxes, which either meant they were being disposed of after the end of a long period of hard work, or they were just having the clinker and ashes cleared out of the fireboxes before fresh fires were lit. At the same time though, Carrie did wonder if any if the fires were being dropped as the engines were due for some repairs and needed some time to completely cool down before the workmen could go over them.

Carrie followed the yard manager until they finally stepped into one of the sheds, where a large 4-6-0 locomotive, painted in a black livery, and steam to be seen drifting about as the shed crew worked about at getting him ready for his day of hard work ahead.

"And this is the engine you'll be working on for this morning, Carrie. You'll be moved to work on another engine after lunch today." the manager said, as he looked at his clipboard.

"All right then." Carrie said.

"Carrie, this engine is No.44686, one of a number of L.M.S. Black Five 4-6-0s that are here on Sodor." said the manager, as he introduced Carrie to No.44686.

"Hi, there!" Carrie said, as she looked up to the Black Five standing above her.

"Hello there, Carrie! It's nice that I'm gonna be working with you today!" said No.44686 with a smile, as he looked down at Carrie (85).

"Actually, it's just gonna be for this morning, No.44686. Carrie's gonna be going over to work on another engine after lunch today." said the manager, as he looked up at No.44686.

"Oh, silly me then." No.44686 said, as he looked away in slight embarrassment.

"Don't worry too much about it, No.44686. Anyway, now let's see what job we have for you to do for this morning." the manager said, as he looked through the papers on his clipboard for the page he was looking for. Both Carrie and No.44686, as well as the driver and fireman, looked on and waited.

"Ah, yes! Here we are! Now then…your job for this morning is to go to over to the Knapford Yards and to collect a very lengthy and fully fitted freight train and take it over the Northern Main Line to Vicarstown Station. Now, this train is going to be very heavy, so please be careful on your trip with it." said the manager.

"Yes, sir!" the driver, fireman, Carrie, and No.44686 said together.

"All right, I'd best go and get the next recruit and bring them to their assigned engine for today. Good luck out there this morning!" the manager said, as he turned and walked away.

"Thank you!" Carrie said, as he introduced herself to the driver and fireman.

(85): The L.M.S. Stanier Class 5MT 4-6-0 mixed-traffic locomotives, better known to many people as "Black Fives", are some of the most famous classes of steam locomotives ever built, as well as being one of the most versatile. They were built in order to move heavier freight and mixed-traffic trains around the L.M.S. system, as well as to replace a lot of the older pre-Grouping designs that were showing their age and couldn't cope with the increasingly heavy traffic that was becoming the norm at that time.

When William Stanier left the G.W.R. and took over as the C.M.E. of the L.M.S. in 1932, one of his main objectives was to introduce a new class of engine that could be built in large numbers and do any job which was asked of it, while at the same time the new design would replace the numerous older Pre-Grouping engine classes that were reaching the end of their useful lives at that point. He had introduced his highly successful Mogul 2-6-0 design in 1933 and, though it was a good design, it was only built in small numbers as Stanier realised something better and larger was needed. So, Stanier turned to the G.W.R. for inspiration and saw that an L.M.S. version of the G.W.R.'s Hall 49XX 4-6-0 mixed-traffic engines, designed by Charles Collett, would be the ideal engine for the L.M.S. However, the G.W.R. Hall design was just a little bit too wide for the L.M.S. loading gauge, and so the new design would be a little narrowed a little, but the design would share a similar two-cylinder arrangement as well as 6ft driving wheels.

In 1934, the first examples of Stanier's new Class 5MT design emerged from the Vulcan Foundry, and they were numbered from No.5020 to No.5065, with the next batch of engines emerging from Crewe Works in early 1935, and they were numbered from No.5000 to No.5019. In total, 842 examples of the Black Five Class were built between 1934 and 1951, and they were numbered from No.4658 to No.5499 during L.M.S. days, and were built by a number of different locomotive works in the U.K. These works included;

Crewe Works; built 241 examples from 1935 to 1949.

Derby Works; built 54 examples from 1943 to 1945.

Horwich Works; built 120 engines from 1934 to 1935.

Vulcan Foundry; built 100 engines from 1934 to 1935.

Armstrong Whitworth; built 327 locomotives from 1935 to 1937.

The locomotives of the Black Five Class were fitted with two outside cylinders, which were 18.5in in diameter with a 28in piston stroke, six driving wheels that were 6ft 0in in diameter, and a boiler that was pressed to 225psi and fitted with superheating elements. All this combined to give the Black Five Class a maximum tractive effort of 25,455lbf. The 6ft driving wheels allowed the class to have the ability to work on anything, ranging from a slow loose-coupled coal train right away through to an express passenger train, and the wheels were also large enough to allow the class to have a good turn of speed, with speeds of up to 96mph being recorded.

The tenders that the Black Fives were paired with ran on six wheels and could carry up to 9 tons of coal and 4,000 gallons of water. The tenders also had water scoops fitted so that the engines could replenish their tender tanks from water troughs.

The Black Five Class were known as "Black Staniers" in their early days, likely in order to avoid being confused with Stanier's 5XP Jubilee Class 4-6-0 engines, which were painted in crimson-red paint and were known until April 1935 as "Red Staniers." The Black Fives were given their name after their power classification, as well as due to the fact that they were painted in L.M.S. lined black livery.

The Black Fives were an immediate success when they were introduced onto the L.M.S. system, and proved to be very popular machines with their crews, who admired their "go-anywhere, do-anything" capabilities. With their excellent route availability, the Black Fives could be seen working everywhere, hauling different trains in places which ranged from Bournemouth in the south to Thurso in the north.

They also proved to be very reliable machines in service, with their running gear able to run freely and give trouble-free service. Also, up to the year 1939, the engines of the Black Five Class were running up to 145,000 miles between general repairs, and from 1938 to 1939, there were only 54 cases were an axle-box ran hot. In fact, as the engines got older, the mileages they ran in between general repairs actually increased, which by 1952 was around 160,000 miles. This was due to the fact that the refined axle-boxes had manganese steel liners in the horn guides.

Only four members of the class were ever given names at all during their service lives. These four engines that were named were;

No.5154 Lanarkshire Yeomanry, No.5156 Ayrshire Yeomanry, No.5157 The Glasgow Highlander, and No.5158 Glasgow Yeomanry.

One other member of the class, No.5155, was reportedly given the name of The Queen's Edinburgh and supposedly carried the name for two years from 1942 to 1944, but photographic evidence for this has never been found, and no evidence for the nameplates being cast has ever been found.

There were a number of differences between the different engines in the Black Five Class, many of which were made as time went on during their construction. The first 70 engines to be built (No.5000 to No.5069) had domeless boilers and low temperature 24-element superheaters. The next 382 engines (No.5070 to No.5451) to be built had larger firebox grates, more firebox heating surface, and 24-element superheaters. The regulator was in the dome, and the top-feed on the second ring of the boiler. Many of the original boilers were converted to the 24-element superheaters and were fitted with domes. At one point, 20 Black Fives that were built by Crewe in 1936 had boilers that had 28-element superheaters.

Most of the engines in the Black Five Class were of an identical design, but when H.G. Ivatt took over as C.M.E. of the L.M.S. in 1946, he set about making some changes to the Black Five design in order to keep them abreast of modern developments, as well as to produce an increase in availability and periods in between general overhauls. Also, reducing the workload of maintenance, servicing, and inspections of engines was seen as important in the post-war period. Timken roller bearings were fitted to those members of the class built after 1947, although the wheelbase of the locomotives had to be stretched slightly in order to prevent the roller-bearing housings from fouling the ashpans. Also, any engines built after 1947 from No.4998 onwards had the top-feed on the front ring of the boiler.

Electric lighting for the cab as well as electric headlights were fitted to a number of engines within the class in 1947 and 1948 with Stone's turbo-generator sets being fitted to power the lights. However, in 1952 and 1953, the turbo-generators were removed due to defects encounter during normal running. From 1958 onwards, Automatic Warning System (A.W.S.) equipment, to warn the crews of the states of signals along the line, was fitted to the class. Those members of the class that worked in Scotland were fitted with tablet catchers in order to facilitate in working over the single line sections.

One of the most unusual modifications was made to No.4767 when it was built in December 1947. It was fitted with outside Stephenson's valve gear in place of the usual Walschaerts valve gear. Instead of eccentrics, double return cranks were used to drive the eccentric rods, and a launch-type expansion link was used. The intention with this rather unusual arrangement was to find out if a valve gear having variable lead would affect performance. During trial runs, it proved to have no big advantage, although in normal service, No.4767 did gain a reputation as a good performer when working on banks.

In 1948, more modifications were made to the bearings and valve gear of the new Black Fives coming into service at that time. Some of the new features that were seen included certain engines having inner fireboxes made of steel instead of the usual copper, as well as seeing some engines being fitted with double chimneys and blastpipes, which helped to improve steaming. Rocking grates, hopper ashpans, and self-cleaning smokeboxes were also fitted, which helped to reduce disposal times of engines at depots.

Also starting in 1948, a number of Black Fives were fitted with Caprotti rotary cam poppet valve gear, with the first engines to be so-fitted, No.M4748 to No.M4750, emerging from Crewe in February 1948, followed by No.M4751 and No.M4752 in March 1948, No.44754 and No.44755 in April, No.44756 in June, and No.44757 in December. All these engines were fitted with Timken roller bearings to their axles, with the last three engines being fitted with double chimneys.

Between May and August 1948, a further 10 Black Fives fitted with Caprotti valve gear were built, and these engines were numbered from No.44738 to No.44747. These engines had plain bearings fitted onto their axles instead of roller bearings.

The last two Black Fives to be built were also fitted with Caprotti valve gear, only it was later modified British Caprotti valve gear. These two members of the Black Five Class were No.44686 and No.44687, which were built by British Railways at Horwich Works in 1951 at a cost of £20,642 each, over £5,000 more than a contemporary Black Five. This was due to the fact that the development costs had been high in order to build only two examples of a special type. The two engines were fitted with British Caprotti valve gear, as well as having their running plates raised up much high than what was normally seen on the Black Five Class in order to allow for easier access for maintenance purposes, as well as a double chimney, and SKF roller bearings on all axles.

The Caprotti-fitted Black Fives gave good performances during their time in service, being more economical in terms of coal and water use than the Black Fives equipped with Walschaerts valve gear. They were also able to generate considerably power at high speeds, and were able to coast freely, although their acceleration when starting off from a standing stop was poor, as it usually was for any engine equipped with Caprotti valve gear.

The Caprotti-equipped Black Fives incorporated a number of modifications from the original design, including having the boiler raised by 2in, and the smokebox lengthened by 4in, as well as having the moved forward to allow room for the Caprotti valve box as well as the associated steam and exhaust pipes. One major feature that allowed people to easily identify a Black Five equipped with Caprotti valve gear were the large and rather bulky steam pipes that stretched out from the sides of the smokeboxes to the two outside cylinders below them.

The problem with the slow acceleration of the Caprotti-equipped Black Fives was due to inefficiencies in the drive and valve events, which were addressed with the construction of No.44686 and No.44687, which had their gears driven by two external drive shafts on each side of the locomotives. Due to the success of No.44686 and No.44687, B.R. decided to build 30 examples of the B.R. Standard Class 5MT 4-6-0 engines with British Caprotti valve gear, as well as fitting it to the sole B.R. Standard Class 8P express passenger Pacific No.71000 Duke of Gloucester.

In addition, a number of Black Fives were modified to burn oil after the end of the Second World War during the coal crisis that took place during that time. However, these engines were later converted back to burn coal once the crisis had ended.

When Britain's railways nationalised in January 1948, the number 40000 was added to the Black Five Class, thus renumbering them all from No.44658 to No.45499. And during the rest of their time in service throughout B.R. days, the Black Fives always worked very hard at their usual jobs, whether it was hauling a 600-ton coal train at 35mph or an express passenger train running at 90mph, and going all over the British Railway system, as well as where they were normally based in the London Midland Region. Even in their last days of work on British Railways, the Black Fives did suffer from the lack of maintenance that was characteristic of many steam locomotives at this time, but even in their worn down states, the class could still work well on their trains right up to their last days of work. Though the class could be a little rough-riding when they were ill-maintained, they never-the-less got their jobs done.

Withdrawals of the class began in 1961, when the first example of the class, No.45401, was withdrawn from service after suffering damage from a collision with another train at Warrington, although its boiler survived and remained in use until the end of steam on B.R. More members of the class were rapidly removed over the next seven years, with 1967 seeing the greatest number of the class removed with 305 engines being withdrawn from service that year. By the start of 1968, there were only 151 Black Fives still in service on British Railways, and by the final day of steam on B.R. in August 1968, there were 46 engines still in service. For the Fifteen Guinea Special on 11th August 1968, a number of Black Fives took part in that special train, including No.45110, which double-headed with No.70013 Oliver Cromwell at taking the train up to Carlisle, with No.44781 and No.44871 taking the train, doubled-headed, back south to Manchester Victoria. It was hoped to preserve No.44781 after the end of this historic run, but she was scrapped not too long afterwards.

Thankfully, 18 examples of the Black Five Class have survived into preservation in various states, ranging from engines waiting for restoration to engines certified to run on the main line. Of the 18 survivors, 12 were bought from B.R. after being withdrawn, while the other 6 engines were saved from Woodham's Scrapyard in Barry, South Wales.

The surviving 18 Black Fives include;

No.44767; entered service on 31st December 1947, she's rather unique as she is fitted with outside Stephenson's link motion in place of traditional Walschaerts valve gear. She was originally fitted with a double chimney, but was eventually fitted with a single chimney. She was withdrawn from service on December 31st 1967 from its home-base of Carlisle Kingmoor. It was initially sent to a scrapyard near Newport before it was bought for preservation. Restoration began not long after, and it was steam for the first time in preservation in March 1975, with the engine appearing in its original L.M.S. livery with its original number of No.4767 that August. For the Rail 150 celebrations at Shildon in August 1975, No.4767 was named George Stephenson, and she took part in the cavalcade that month.

During her career in preservation, No.4767 travelled many miles on both the main line and on different heritage railways, and has visited many places around Great Britain, including places that would have never seen a Black Five back in the days before nationalisation. As of early 2024, No.4767 is currently at the West Coast Railways at Carnforth and awaiting an overhaul.

No.44806; built in 1944 at Derby, she was withdrawn from service in August 1968 from its home base of Lostock Hall. After being withdrawn, she was saved for preservation and stationed in Carnforth. In 1973, she was based for a time on the newly reopened Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway as their largest and only tender engine, as operating a tender engine on that line was difficult without a turntable. While there, No.44806 was given the name Magpie, after being adopted by the ITV children's TV series of the same name.

After being stored for a number of years due to a cracked firebox, No.44806 was taken to the Llangollen Railway for repair work in 1993, with the job being finished in 1995 and her returning to steam that September. In 2003, after the death of her own Kenneth Aldcroft, No.44806 was renamed Kenneth Aldcroft in his honour.

During her career in preservation, No.44806 has worked on the Llangollen Railway, as well as on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, but has never worked on the main line since being withdrawn in August 1968. Currently, she's at the N.Y.M.R. and undergoing an overhaul, with the intention of operating it on the main line section down to Whitby.

No.44871; built at Crewe in 1945, she was withdrawn from service in August 1968 after playing her part in the Fifteen Guinea Special that month. She was bought not too long afterwards and spent some time at Steamtown at Carnforth, before returning to the main line in 1972 carrying the name Sovereign. For the 1980's and 1990's, No.44871 also worked on the West Highland Line from Fort William to Mallaig.

In 2009, after a major overhaul, No.44871 ran under its own power after an absence of 17 years, and returned to the main line again later that year, including running on the West Highland Line. She's currently in working order on the East Lancashire Railway, though she's due to be withdrawn in the near future for an overhaul.

No.44901; built at Crewe in 1945 and withdrawn from service in August 1965, it was sold to Barry Scrapyard in 1966. It spent the next 47 years at Barry, and lost its tender and many other parts to be used as spares to restore other Black Fives. In 2013, No.44901 was finally purchased by Black 5 44901 Ltd, whose aim is to restore No.44901 to running order again, and taken to Moveright International's yard in the Midlands until restoration work could begin. In 2015, she was moved to Sharpness Engine Shed, where it was planned that the restoration of the engine could start.

No.44932; built at Horwich in September 1945 and withdrawn from service in August 1968 at Rose Grove Depot. It returned to the main line in 1972, and hauled a special train from Steamtown at Carnforth to Barrow-In-Furness. At the time, No.44932 was painted in Brunswick green livery, which it had never carried before during its years of service.

After Steamtown closed, No.44932 was moved down to the Midland Railway Centre at Butterley, where she was overhauled. By 2010, she was back in action on the main line, and had continued operating on the main line since then, from its base at Southall. As of 2024, No.44932 is in operational condition, but is due to be fitted with the new European Train Control System (E.T.C.S.) so that it can run safely on the main line.

No.45000; built at Crewe in February 1935, she wasn't the first member of the Black Five Class to be built, that honour belonged to No.5020. After being withdrawn from its base of Preston Shed in 1967, she was selected to become a part of the National Collection. After being stored at Preston Park in Brighton for some time, No.45000 was taken to the Severn Valley Railway in September 1977, with restoration to running order beginning in late 1978, and finally being completed in 1979 with then engine entering service in L.M.S. livery and her original number of No.5000.

During her time when she was in steam and running, No.5000 mostly ran on the Severn Valley Railway, but she took part in the Rocket 150 celebrations at Rainhill in May 1980, and worked at other steam centres across Britain, including at the Bulmer's Railway Centre at Hereford, as well as on trips out on the main line. She returned to the National Railway Museum in the spring of 1991 and went on static display, and has been that way ever since, with no plans currently afoot to return her to running order again.

No.45025; built at the Vulcan Foundry in 1934, she's the oldest existing member of the Black Five Class. From February 1968, she was regularly rostered on the Belfast Boat Express from Manchester to Heysham, where she regularly achieved speeds of up to 80mph on this train before ceasing to do so in May 1968. She was withdrawn from service in August 1968, after having double-headed a special Farewell to Steam special with No.45390 in that month. After being bought shortly after being withdrawn, she was taken to the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway and overhauled by the Hunslet Engine Company there in 1969. Once the overhaul was complete, she operated on the K&WVY until 1974.

It then worked on the Strathspey Railway, as well as tours out on the main line, until 1994, when it was taken out of service for major repair and restoration work. In 2012, the restoration work on No.5025 began, with the cost of the overhaul estimated to be around £354,000. It was hoped to have the job completed in 2015, but the scale of the work needed was far more extensive then had been first thought, which included casting new cylinders, building a new cab, as well as a new tender tank. By May 2021, all the work was finally completed, and she moved under her own steam for the first time since 1994, with the final cost of the overhaul being £450,000, considerably more than had first been expected.

As part of the overhaul, No.5025 was returned to as close to her original condition as possible, including having a slightly higher chimney, which means changes would need to be made to allow No.5025 to run on the main line, though the current owners have no intention of doing that at present. No.5025 is currently in operation at the Strathspey Line, and painted in original L.M.S. livery.

No.45110; built in 1935 by the Vulcan Foundry, she took part in the Fifteen Guinea Special in August 1968 on the stretch that ran from Liverpool Lime Street to Manchester Victoria. After being withdrawn from service following the end of the tour, No.45110 was purchased for preservation and taken to the Severn Valley Railway in 1970, and was named R.A.F. Biggin Hill in September 1971.

She operated on the Severn Valley Railway between 1970 and 1980, and again from 1998 to 2008, along with running special tours on the national network, until her boiler certificate expired in August 2008. In 2009, she was put on static display at the Barrow Hill Roundhouse and remained there until September 2013, when she returned to the Severn Valley Railway and put on display in the Engine House at Highley. In August 2023, No.45110 was sold by the Severn Valley Railway, as it was realised it would cost up to a million pounds to return to working order again.

No.45163; built by Armstrong Whitworth Limited in July 1935, she spent most of her working life in North West England and in Scotland before being withdrawn from Carlisle Kingmoor in May 1965. She was then sent down to Barry Scrapyard in January 1966, and remained there for 21 years before leaving the yard in 1987. She was moved by the Humberside Locomotive Preservation Group to Hull where restoration work commenced.

In 1991, No.45163 was sold to the Colme Valley Railway and moved there in 1993, and restoration work has been undergoing on the engine at different times ever since. New parts are being made, or older ones sourced, with the intention of returning No.45163 to steam again by 2026.

No.45212; built by Armstrong Whitworth Limited in 1935, she was withdrawn from service in August 1968 and saved not long afterwards, before being taken to the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway in October 1968.

In 2000, No.45212 was moved up to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway where she remained until 2011 running trains on that line, before returning to the K&WVR before its boiler certificate expired in October 2011. After undergoing another major overhaul, No.45212 returned to steam in 2016 on the K&WVR, and was fitted with air brakes so that she could run on the main line. She's currently in operational condition on the K built by Armstrong Whitworth Limited in 1936, she was withdrawn from service at Carnforth in August 1968, but was purchased for preservation not long afterwards, and was taken back to the Carnforth depot, which later became the Steamtown Museum. In 1973, she was moved to Loughborough on the Great Central Railway and hauled the official opening train on the newly reopened railway to Quorn at the end of September that year. In 1976, she was given a name; 3rd (Volunteer) Battalion, The Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment.

After an overhaul was completed by 1988, she moved to the Nene Valley Railway, before returning to the Great Central Railway in 1996 and receiving a simplified name; The Sherwood Forester. In 2005, after being overhauled to main-line standards, No.45231 returned to the main line for the first time since 1968, and remained working on the main line for a number of years, as well as visiting different heritage railways. She's currently in operational condition and certified to run on the main line.

No.45293; built by Armstrong Whitworth Ltd in December 1936, and was withdrawn from service as its base depot of Carlisle Kingmoor in August 1965 and sold to Barry Scrapyard in January 1966. It was rescued from Barry in December 1986, and taken to North Woolwich Old Station Museum for restoration, with the boiler being lifted out from the frames in 1989. In 1996, No.45293 was moved to the Colme Valley Railway, and restoration work has been continuing on her ever since then, with no timeline set for her return to steam.

No.45305; built by Armstrong Whitworth Ltd in 1936, she was withdrawn from service in August 1968, and sent to Albert Drapers and Sons Ltd in Hull for scrapping. However, the scrapyard's owner saved No.45305 from scrapping, and had it put into the care of the Humberside Locomotive Preservation Group where it was brought up to main line standard and steamed again in its original L.M.S. livery in 1976.

During her career in preservation, No.5305 has travelled far and wide, visiting a number of different heritage railways, as well as going on trips out on the main line, including on the West Highland Line, and the Great Central Railway. At one point on a run in 1984, she was recorded as taking only 27 minutes and 6 seconds to travel the 26-mile journey between York and Leeds. Also in 1984, No.5305 was named Alderman A. E. Draper, although for reasons of authenticity, the engine doesn't always carry these nameplates.

As of 2024, No.5305 is at the Great Central Railway and undergoing a major overhaul.

No.45337; built by Armstrong Whitworth in 1937, and withdrawn in February 1965 and sent to Barry Scrapyard in January 1966. She was rescued from Barry in May 1984 and taken to Bury on the East Lancashire Railway for restoration, which was completed in 1995 when she steamed again. For her first stint of steaming in preservation, No.5337 ran on the East Lancs Railway, and also visited the West Somerset Railway, the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, the Mid Hants Railway, and the Nene Valley Railway.

After an overhaul from 2005 to 2010, No.5337 returned to steam again and ran on the Llangollen Railway for a time. At times, she also ran as long-scrapped classmate No.5156 Ayrshire Yeomanry. As of 2024, No.45337 is undergoing an overhaul at the Llangollen Railway, which is estimated to cost up to £300,000.

No.45379; built by Armstrong Whitworth in 1937, and withdrawn from service in July 1965, she was sold to Barry Scrapyard in October of that year. She remained in the yard until May 1974 when she was rescued and taken to the Avon Valley Railway, and then to the Great Central Railway for restoration. It was then moved to the Mid Hants Railway in 2002 for the work to continue.

By September 2010, the restoration work was finally completed, and No.45379 ran under her own power for the first time since she had been withdrawn in 1965. She ran on the Mid Hants Railway, as well as on the East Lancashire Railway, before she was withdrawn from service in September 2018 when her boiler certificate had expired. She's currently in storage and awaiting an overhaul at the Locomotive Storage Ltd facility in Margate.

No.45407; built by Armstrong Whitworth in 1937, and withdrawn from service in August 1968, she was bought after being withdrawn and taken to Carnforth for restoration. In 1974, she was sold again and used by her new owner on the main line, including on the Settle to Carlisle line, the Cumbrian Coast route, and the line from Crewe to Holyhead. She was famously known for her exploits on the West Highland Line from Fort William to Mallaig, particularly in the 1980's.

In 1997, No.5407, now carrying the name The Lancashire Fusilier, underwent an overhaul to main line standards, which included a new tender tank with greater water capacity, fitting air braking equipment, and fitting A.W.S. electronic systems to comply with modern main line standards. In 2010, No.5407 underwent what's believed to be the fastest overhaul of a steam locomotive in preservation, which only took about 14 weeks.

In recent years, No.5407 has travelled extensively on the main line, often double-heading with other preserved Black Fives, including No.44871. Although she's based on the East Lancs Railway, she's currently operational and certified to run on the main line.

No.45428; built by Armstrong Whitworth in 1937, and withdrawn from service in July 1967, she made her way under her own steam to the Birmingham Railway Museum at Tyseley in August 1968. It stayed there for a number of years and was named Eric Treacy, after the former Bishop of Wakefield, and a noted railway photographer. No.45428 was later moved to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, and she ran there in the 1980's and the 1990's before she was withdrawn from service for a complete overhaul.

The overhaul was completed in 2010, at a cost of £600,000, and No.45428 returned to steam again after an absence of 11 years. On May 26th 2011, No.45428 hauled a special train from Whitby to Pickering, in order to commemorate the 175th anniversary of the opening of the Whitby and Pickering Railway. As of 2024, No.5428 is operational on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.

No.45491; built at Derby Works in December 1943, she was withdrawn from service in July 1965, and was sold to Barry Scrapyard in October of that year. She stayed at Barry for 16 years before being bought in 1981 and taken to the ICI works at Hillhouse, Thorton for restoration. After being moved to the Fleetwood Steam Centre, it was moved to the Midland Railway Centre at Butterley in September 1991, and then being moved to the Great Central Railway in 2011, where restoration work began.

A lot of work has already been completed on No.45491 in the last few years, with many new parts having been made for the engine since the job began. And so, it shouldn't be too long before we can see No.45491 back in steam again.

In this story, a number of different Black Fives will be appearing as needed, either standard ones that were fitted with Walschaerts valve gear with piston valves, or the more unique ones that are fitted with Caprotti valve gear. As Henry the Green Engine is a Black Five, he'll be the one Black Five that will be appearing most prominently.

Once the introductions with the driver and fireman were completed, Carrie set to work at helping to get No.44686 ready for his day of work ahead, including helping to oil up the Caprotti valve gear, the motion, and all other moving parts, keeping the boiler stoked with more coal so as to build up more steam pressure, as well as to be sure that the coal in the tender was evenly spread around so that none would come loose from the tender when they were on the move on the main line. There was no need to hurry with the work, as there was plenty of time before they needed to leave the depot and collect their train.

By 9:00am, they were finally ready to go, and so, with a full head of steam in the boiler, the driver, fireman, and Carrie took their places in the cab and set off from the depot. Before they left, No.44686 rolled onto the turntable and was turned round so he would be facing the right way to collect his train. Once they were turned round, No.44686 slowly rolled in reverse off the turntable and then back out onto the main line, where he ran in reverse back down the line towards Knapford Yards.

(At Knapford Yards)

(Insert soundtrack – Busy Station Theme – Season 1)

Once No.44686 finally rolled into the very busy freight yards near to Knapford Station, the driver drove him to a place where one of the yard managers was standing and waiting for them to arrive so he could direct them to where their train was.

"Ah, welcome there, you lot. And right on time as well!" the yard manager said, as he looked up to where the driver was sitting at his place on the footplate.

"Yeah, and we're here to collect the train that's to go over to Vicarstown." the driver said, as he looked out from the side of the cab.

"I know, and I'll tell you where it is." said the yard manager.

While the yard manager told the driver where the train was and where to go and pick it up, Carrie took hold of the shovel and put some more coal onto the fire. So far, the work this morning had been reasonably light and nothing she hadn't done before, and so she was able to keep pace with the demand for steam that No.44686 needed for the run down to Knapford Yards. However, she also knew that once they were coupled up to their train, and making their way along the main line at higher speeds, the demand for steam would be much greater and so, it meant that the workload would be greater as more coal was moved from the tender into the firebox.

Once the driver had been given his instructions on where to collect their train, the signalman reset the signals and points and, once given the signal to move, the driver slowly drove No.44686 in reverse over the different lines and points until they arrived at the siding where their long and heavy train waited for them.

They slowly and carefully reversed up to the front of their train, while a shunter stood by the side of the train and guided them back with a wave of his arm. Then, with a slight bump and a clanking sound of buffers touching together, No.44686 buffered up to the front van of the train and came to a stop as the driver quickly put on the brakes. As the shunter got in between the tender and the front of the train and coupled up, Carrie leaned out from the driver's side of the cab and looked back along the length of the train they were to take; it consisted of around 60 or so different vans, con-flats, tankers, a few hopper wagons, and flatbeds. In fact, it was a fitted freight train that would have been a typical one for a Black Five to pull back during the days of active steam.

"That's a lot of trucks for us to pull. Do you think you'll be able to pull them all?" Carrie asked to No.44686, as she turned round to face forwards

"Don't you worry about a thing, Carrie! I've hauled many trains like that, including back in the day, and so it shouldn't be any different." No.44686 said, in an attempt to reassure Carrie. He sounded confident, but No.44686 was also a very highly experienced engine, having indeed taken charge of many identical trains like that back during B.R. days. He knew how things worked, and so he was sure he would be able to take this train from one side of Sodor to the other without a single problem.

"Okay then…if you're so sure." Carrie said, just before she pulled herself back into the cab and sat down on the folding fireman's seat while they waited for the time to set off on their way for the trip to Vicarstown.

They didn't have to wait for too long, for soon with all the couplings between the wagons having been checked, as well as a vacuum having been created through all the brake pipes along the train, the guard in his brake van far at the back of the train leaned out and blew his whistle while also waving his green flag.

"Right away! Here we go!" the driver said, as he blew the whistle for a few seconds and then opened the regulator a little. Slowly, with steam shooting out from the front, No.44686 rolled forwards out from the long siding, taking up the weight of the train behind him as he moved off. Carrie checked her watch; it was 9:35am, and they were pulling out from the yard, right on time.

"Well…I guess we're on our way now." Carrie said to the fireman, as they looked out from the right-hand side of the cab, which was the fireman's side.

"Yes, we are, Carrie. And with a bit of luck, we'll have this train safely in the freight yards at Vicarstown sometime around half eleven." said the fireman.

"Sounds good to me! We should be there in plenty of time for lunch as well!" Carrie said, as she turned to look ahead as they moved through the complex of lines through Knapford Yards. It wasn't too long before they were on the line leading out of the yards and, with signals showing green, the driver opened the regulator even more and wound back towards mid-gear, causing the train to build up some more speed.

(Out on the Northern Main Line)

Once clear of the yards, No.44686 built up more speed until he was going along at about 50mph or so, and the train followed along very smoothly behind him. Taking a quick look back, while keeping one hand on her cap, Carrie watched as the different wagons in the train followed along behind them, and she saw all the different wagons in the train as they went around a shallow curve.

"That is one long train…" Carrie thought, as she watched for a few more moments before pulling her head back into the cab and turning forward to have a look at what was going on before her; the driver was sitting over on the left-hand side of the cab with one hand on the regulator and looking ahead. The fireman was taking a go at stoking the boiler with coal, and Carrie noticed just how much coal was on the blade of the shovel each time the fireman turned back and forth to stoke the boiler. It was quite clear that a LOT of coal would be needed to keep the fire burning brightly and to make enough steam so they could get to Vicarstown on time.

After going through Tidmouth Station, where they passed Duck who was waiting to take his passengers along the Little Western, they passed by the junction that would lead to the Little Western line and then were on their way northwards, passing by many different landmarks that Carrie was familiar with seeing. Taking a glance up to the morning sky as they went along, Carrie noticed that there was a layer of light grey overcast stretching all over the whole sky. Although the light-grey overcast in the sky showed no signs of unleashing rain upon the Island of Sodor at any time, Carrie knew that as time went on and they got deeper into autumn, the chances of rain coming in would increase by the day.

Just then, Carrie's thoughts were interrupted by the voice of the fireman.

"Hey, Carrie…" he said, as Carrie turned her attention to him, "…do you want to have another go at stoking the boiler?" he asked, as he offered her the shovel.

"Sure would." Carrie said, as she took hold of the shovel and set about starting to stoke the boiler with more coal.

As they passed through the station at Heathfield sometime later on, they had to slow down quite a bit, as there was likely going to be signal at danger up at the junction ahead. As the junctions to the north of Heathfield were some of the busiest on Sodor, it was highly they would have to stop for a time so as to allow another train to go by before they could continue on their way again.

"What's the state of the signals?" Carrie asked, as she leaned out from driver's side of the cab behind the driver.

"We just went by a distant signal at caution, and the next signal might be at danger, so we're slowing down just in case." said the driver.

"Okay!" Carrie said, as she looked forward along the line ahead of them as they slowed down and wondered what the state of the next signal would be. She soon found out; the signal was at red, so they had to stop.

"I wonder what train is coming along towards us." No.44686 said, as he came to a stop.

"We'll find out soon enough, old boy. Just be patient." said the driver, as he looked out from the side of the cab to see what might be coming through this busy junction.

They didn't have to wait for very long, for soon there came the loud sounds of whistling and chuffing from the line that branched off to the left. A few short moments later, U.S.A.T.C S160 2-8-0 No.2300, painted in light grey livery, came into view from round the bend and then rolled towards them on the line heading southward. Behind his tender, No.2300 had a long and very heavy line of loose-coupled wagons following along behind him, and so he had to go at a slower speed so as to ensure he didn't run out of control with it as he went along.

"Good morning, No.44686!" No.2300 said, as he went on by with his train rattling along behind him.

"Good morning, No.2300!" No.44686 said, as he stood and watched the S160 head on by with his long train. From the cab of the Black Five, Carrie stood and watched as the train behind No.2300 head on past them, with the different wagons rattling and clanking along as they went by. By now, Carrie was well-used to seeing long trains of different wagons head on past her, but she was still quite impressed to see them go on by as well as seeing what kinds of wagons made up the trains.

As soon as the last of the wagons in No.2300's train went on by, the signal dropped and the driver, after blowing the whistle for a few seconds, opened the regulator a little, and they were on their way again. Slowly taking up the weight of the train, No.44686 moved forward through the junction and on his way north.

"Here we go again!" Carrie said, as she took hold of the coal shovel and readied herself to start work on stoking the boiler.

"Absolutely! And let's see if we can keep to our schedule for the rest of the trip!" the driver said, as he opened the regulator some more and then wound the reverser back towards mid-gear, allowing them to build up some more speed as they went along. The fireman opened the firehole doors with the long level fitted to them, and then Carrie started work on stoking the boiler with fresh coal. Turning back and forth, she placed around six heavily-laden shovelfuls of coal into the firebox, placing the coal to where it would burn most efficiently in order to make an adequate level of steam.

After a few moments, the fireman leaned forward and said, "Okay, Carrie…I think that's probably enough coal for now."

"All right then." Carrie said, as she handed the shovel to the fireman.

"You're doing a very good job so far, Carrie. But the one thing I would say though is don't push yourself too hard. After all, we don't want anyone to get hurt while we're out working." said the fireman.

"Okay." Carrie said, as she went over to look out as the passing scenery from behind the driver. By now, they were passing by the enormous marshalling yards that were positioned between Heathfield and Widdlington Junction, and there was a lot of activity taking place in that yard, with trains that had arrived recently being pushed up the hump by a shunting engine at the head of the yard, and then the different trucks and wagons being uncoupled and sorted out into the many different sidings in the main yard. Carrie was always amazed whenever she saw the place, and just how many different varieties and numbers of trucks that were in there.

Not only was this place the site of an enormous and busy marshalling yard, there were also many other different factories and rail-side businesses located around here as well, where they could quickly dispatch their different products by rail. Among them was a steel works that made all different varieties of steel products, and a factory that produced different types of cables. There were also a number of different industrial estates in the area as well, all of which were rail-connected.

With a blast of his whistle as he went along, No.44686 headed on northwards along the line, slowly building up more speed as the fire burned brightly inside the firebox. From the fireman's side of the cab, Carrie sat on the fold-up seat and leaned out as they went on by, with her looking over many of the different buildings in the industrial estates they were passing by, and she could also see other steam engines on the lines that ran through some of the industrial estates. At times, she could see into some of the open doors of the various industrial buildings and saw different things taking place in there, including the bright white-blue lights from welding torches as workmen assembled things from metal, forklift trucks going about, as well as the sight of things being loaded or unloaded from different trucks in some of the sidings.

Then there came the sounds of another whistle from further up the line. Looking forward and through the forward cab window, Carrie saw another engine coming down along the down line from around the gentle bend that curved off towards the right; it turned out to be L.M.S. 8F Class 2-8-0 No.48355, who was heading southwards to the yards at Knapford with a very long train of 16-ton steel mineral wagons that were heavily-laden were coal. As No.48355 and No.44686 passed by each other, both of them whistle in greeting to each other and called out "Hello!" before they headed on their ways with their trains.

It wasn't long before they finally passed through Emily Road Station, one of the northern-most stations on Sodor, and Carrie had finished stoking the boiler in time to see the platform from the driver's side of the cab. She could see a few passengers standing out on the northern platform and waiting for the next train to take them down to Vicarstown, and she also saw the sea off to the north. With the bank of overcast clouds above them, and with the clouds seeming to get a little darker as time went on, the ocean didn't appear as friendly as it would normally be in the summertime when the sun would be shining brightly.

At the same time, with fewer tourists now visiting Sodor because the summer season was over, it didn't feel as busy as it had been in previous weeks. But Carrie knew they would get used to there not being as many people around as there had been before…well, until next summer anyway!

Giving those people waiting on the platforms of Emily Road a short blast of his whistle and calling out "Hello!" No.44686 continued on his way with his heavy train.

(Later on; 11:20am)

The rest of the journey down the Northern Main Line that ran close to the north-east coast of the Island of Sodor went very smoothly, with the only things to create some distractions along the way being the scenery they passed by along the way, including the higher hill and peaks further inland from the coast, as well as other trains that were running in the other direction or waiting in the other stations along the rest of the way to Vicarstown.

They were soon on their final approach to Vicarstown Station, and by this part of the journey Carrie was feeling tired from the work she had done for the morning train. Her muscles were sore from having moved so much coal from the tender into the firebox, and she was also feeling quite hungry as well, and her mind was already wondering what might be on offer for lunch once they arrived at the crew building at the engine depot in a little while.

"Shouldn't be too long before we arrive at the depot near the station, and then we'll be able to take ourselves over to the engine sheds." the driver said, just before he blew the whistle for a few seconds as they went over a level crossing not too far away from Vicky Road, which was the major junction just to the west of Vicarstown.

"Sounds good to me! I'll be glad of a good long rest and some lunch after we get to the engine depot!" Carrie said to the driver, as she handed the coal shovel back to the fireman, having just finished taking another go at stoking the boiler.

"Well Carrie…seeing how much work you've done in here this morning…I think you've certainly earned a good rest and something to eat." said the fireman. Feeling herself smile gratefully, Carrie went over to sit on the fireman's side of the cab and leaned her head out a little as they went along. It felt really nice to be able to feel the breeze made as they went along to blow around her, and to listen to the sounds of the wind around her ears with the landscape rushing by felt really exhilarating.

Then, as they went round a gently bend that went to the right and they came upon Vicky Road, the last junction before they finally arrived in Vicarstown, Carrie saw another engine coming along the line going in the opposite direction. It was L.M.S. 5XP Jubilee Class 4-6-0 No.5659 Drake, and, despite the overcast sky, his L.M.S. crimson red livery shone brightly. He had a line of 14 coaches, all of which were filled with passengers on their way back to Knapford via the Northern Main Line.

"Morning, No.44686!" Drake said, as he approached.

"Good morning, Drake!" No.44686 said, as he went on past with his fitted freight train. As the two engines went on by, Carrie pulled herself back into the cab and listened to the passenger train as it went by. The sounds of the coaches were loud, but brief and soon the last coach had gone past them on its way north.

It wasn't long before they finally arrived in the extensive freight yards near to Vicarstown, and they rolled along into one of the long sidings there. From the cab, Carrie watched in the other sidings as they rolled into the siding they were rolling into. She could see lines of different trucks waiting in the other sidings, some of which were being moved out from the sidings in order to be moved around and formed into other trains. With a gentle squealing sound, the driver put the brakes on fully as they reached the end of the siding, and they came to a complete stop.

"And there we are! We're here, safe and sound!" No.44686 said with a smile, as he stopped.

"And we're right on time too, old boy!" the driver said, as he looked at his watch; the time was 11:35am. No.44686 was feeling very pleased with himself; he was always determined to try and get his trains to where they needed to be on time, and he was always pleased when he was able to do that.

"Well done, No.44686! You did a great job of getting this train here on time!" Carrie said, as she leaned out from the cab.

"Thank you, Carrie!" said No.44686, as he smiled again.

As a shunter uncoupled No.44686 from the train and disconnected the brake pipes, the driver reset the controls in readiness for setting off again. In the meantime, the fireman opened the firehole doors and, using one of the fire-irons, he set about checking the state of the fire, including breaking through any clinker that had formed, spreading out the burning coals inside more evenly, and placing fresh coal inside if needed.

While waiting to set off for the depot, Carrie took another look up into the sky; by now the overcast had gotten heavier and a little darker, which surely meant that there was going to be a chance of rain sometime later this morning.

"And here's me thinking that today would be a dry one." Carrie said quietly, as she looked around the sky above. Suddenly, her thoughts were interrupted by a man shouting.

"Okay, we're all uncoupled back here!" came the voice of the shunter, as he stepped up to below the cab and called up to the driver.

"Thanks, we'll be off on our way to the engine depot now! Best of luck for the rest of the day! It looks like it might rain in a while." the driver said, as he took a glance up towards the sky.

"I know…and I'm not looking forward to working out here in the rain if it does happen!" said the shunter, as he also looked up into the sky with some concern.

"Well…best of luck anyway!" the driver said, before he then sounded the whistle and opened the regulator. With a whooshing cloud of steam shooting out from the cylinder drains, No.44686 moved slowly forwards out from the siding and towards the engine depot not too far away from the main freight yards.

(A short while later)

It wasn't too long before No.44686 finally arrived in the main motive power depot, and he reversed back along one of the lines and into one of the engines sheds. There was an inspection pit in between the rails where the ashpan could be emptied out, as well as having the axle-boxes examined before No.44686 could go out for his next job. The shed was also next door to the crew building, which meant that Carrie, the driver, and fireman didn't have very far to go to get some well-earned lunch.

"And there we are!" the driver said, as he fully applied the brakes and brought No.44686 to a gentle stop, just before the buffers on the back of the tender touched the buffers at the back of the shed.

"And I guess that's it for the work this morning." Carrie said, as she leaned out from the driver's side of the cab.

"Yes, Carrie. The work for the morning is done, but just remember that you're gonna be assigned to a different engine later on this afternoon." said the fireman.

"I know…but let's go and get some lunch before then." Carrie said, as she prepared to leave.

"Absolutely! I think we're all hungry after working out on the main line for the morning." the driver said, as he checked to see if the brakes were fully on, as well as seeing that the regulator fully closed.

After Carrie, the driver, and fireman stepped off the footplate, the driver briefly spoke with some members of the shed crew about needed to be done on the footplate of No.44686. As he did that, Carrie went around to the front of No.44686 to speak with the Black Five before she went off to get lunch and rest up for a while.

"Thanks for getting me here safe and sound, No.44686." Carrie said, as she looked up at the large engine above her.

"Oh, it's no problem at all, Carrie. And I'm pleased that you had a smooth journey over here too." said No.44686, as he looked back down at Carrie.

"I hope we'll get a chance to work with each other again in the future." Carrie said.

"I'm sure that we will, Carrie. Now I think that you've earned a good rest after working this morning. Now go and get some rest." said No.44686.

"I will, and I'll go and get some food as well." Carrie said with a smile, as she then turned and walked over towards the crew building.

"And good luck with whoever you're working with later on today!" No.44686 said, as he watched Carrie walk away.

"Thank you!" Carrie called.

A little later on, having taken the chance to thoroughly wash her hands in the ladies changing room, Carrie went back downstairs to the cafeteria to get some well-earned lunch. By this time, it was just a little after 12:00pm. The cafeteria wasn't too busy this afternoon and there were plenty of tables still available inside, with those occupied having engine crews sitting at them and enjoying the food they had.

Feeling hungry, and wanting to get what she wanted before the cafeteria got too busy, Carrie grabbed a tray from beside the buffet line, and lined up ready to get the food she wanted.

After a few short minutes, Carrie was sitting down at one of the empty tables in the cafeteria, and beside one of the windows where she could have a look outside. Right now, the clouds in the sky above had gotten a little bit darker than they had before in the day, and now it did look like there would be some heavy rain this afternoon.

Sighing heavily to herself, and hoping that the rain wouldn't be too heavy, Carrie sat down at the table. On her tray, she had a plate with roast pork, with mashed potatoes, peas, carrots, and apple sauce. She also had a bottle of Coca Cola as well to wash it all down with.

"Oh, I need this after such a long and hard morning." Carrie said quietly, as she picked up her knife and fork and prepared to tuck in. She had only just started eating when she heard a noise coming from outside; looking up, she saw the rain falling from the sky and it was soon falling very heavily all-round outside.

"Oh no, here comes the rain." Carrie said with a quiet dismay, as she watched the rain start to fall very heavily. After a few more moments, Carrie turned away from the window and back to her food.

For a few long moments, she just sat down and enjoyed her lunch, which she really enjoyed very much. She savoured the taste of the food and felt herself smile as she ate. Taking a glance around the cafeteria, she saw other people, including engine crews and shed crews, going in and out of the large room; some were coming in to get lunch, as those who were finished were leaving to go to wherever they needed to go next, no doubt to get their engines ready for their next jobs later in the day.

"Hey, Carrie." came a familiar voice near to her. Looking up, Carrie saw Olivia standing by the table with a tray in her hands.

"Oh, hi there, Olivia. Did you just get in here?" Carrie asked, pleased to see one of her friends standing beside her.

"Yeah, I did…and just before the ran began to fall too." Olivia said, as she looked out the window at the heavy rain falling outside.

"I know, and I hope it doesn't last for the rest of the day. I want to be able to work on an engine when it isn't raining." Carrie said, as Olivia sat down beside her.

After a few moments, where Olivia had taken the chance to eat, she and Carrie resumed the conversation between them.

"So, how's your day been so far, Carrie?" Olivia asked.

"Well, there's not too much to report so far. I was working on the footplate of No.44686 for the morning, and we took a long and heavy freight train from Knapford over to here along the Northern Main Line, which we delivered safe and sound." Carrie said, as she took a quick drink from her bottle of Coca Cola.

"Well…my morning was a bit more eventful than that. We left from Knapford Station with a stopping passenger train at 9:15am, and we had to stop at each station along the Southern Main Line on our way from Knapford to here." Olivia said, as she took in some of her lunch, which was a bowl of beef stew with boiled potatoes.

"Which engine were you on this morning?" Carrie asked.

"I was on the footplate of No.76040, and it was a little bit boring at times to keep stopping at every station along the route to pick up and drop off the passengers. I know why it needs to be done, but it does get a little bit repetitive during the trip. And nothing much to report happened as well, although in between taking goes on the shovel, I was keeping one eye on the sky as the clouds got darker." Olivia said, as she took a quick glance out the window again.

"I know; I did as well in between when I took goes on the shovel." Carrie said.

"What engine do you think you might be assigned to work on later on today?" Olivia asked.

"No idea yet. But I'm sure the I'll be finding out after lunch, if not sooner." Carrie said.

"Well, let's enjoy our lunches while they're still hot." Olivia said, and agreeing with that, both Carrie and Olivia both continued with their lunches.

Once the two girls had finished with their lunches, they were about to stand up and go over to the buffet line to see what desserts might be there when a man with a clipboard in his hands came over towards them.

"Excuse me, but which one of you is Carrie White?" he asked.

"That would be me." Carrie said, as she stood up and looked at the man.

"Excuse me, Carrie…but I'm one of the yard managers for here, and I just need to assign you to your next duties for later this afternoon." said the yard manager, as he looked through the papers on his clipboard.

"Okay, and what do I need to do and where do I go?" Carrie asked.

"All right…the engine you're going to be working on later on should be arriving in the yard very soon, but it needs to be readied for the job they need to do. It'll be in the very same shed where you got off of No.44686 a little earlier on. The engine will be No.61200, and you'll be working with him for the rest of the day." said the yard manager.

"Okay, and what train will we be pulling?" Carrie asked.

"You'll be helping to take the 2:15pm train from Vicarstown back to Knapford Station. So, there's plenty of time between now and then. But one thing I would say is this; be downstairs and ready to get back to work by about half past one, as there'll probably be a few things that need to be done before you can go and get the train." said the yard manager.

"All right then." Carrie said, now that she knew what her next job for the day would be.

"And Olivia…I assume you're going to be working with No.76040 for today?" the yard manager asked.

"Yes, sir. I am. I'll be joining back with him and his crew later on today." Olivia said.

"Okay then. I guess that's it for now. I need to get back to the offices and get some more work there. Good luck later on today, you two." said the yard manager, as he turned and made his way out from the cafeteria.

"Well…I guess I know what my job and engine I'm to work on are for the rest of today." Carrie said, as she looked at Olivia.

"And I think it makes it easier for you now, knowing that you don't need to worry." Olivia said.

"Yeah…anyway, come on and let's get whatever desserts we want from the buffet line before they're all gone." Carrie said.

"Sounds like a good idea to me. Let's go and get them!" Olivia said, as she and Carrie went back over to the buffet line.

They arrived back at the table a few minutes later with the desserts they wanted to have, and sat down to enjoy them. Carrie had apple crumble, while Olivia had a lemon sponge pudding, both of which had custard over them. Both of them also had gotten cups of tea from the drinks station while they were along the buffet line.

"Oh, I'm looking forward to having this." Carrie said, as she sat back down.

"Me too. I really love lemon sponge pudding, especially with custard on it." Olivia said, just after she sat back down and picked up her spoon.

They soon tucked into their desserts and cups of hot tea, and they really enjoyed it while the rain fell heavily outside the windows and some of the other crewmen in the cafeteria going about.

When they finished a little while later, Carrie and Olivia left the cafeteria and went upstairs to the recreation room, where they would rest and relax until the time came for them to go back to work again. They went over to one of the empty couches inside the room, which was close to the windows where they could look outside the window at what was going on.

They spent the next while inside the recreation room resting and socialising with each other, as the rain slowly and gradually eased off outside. They heard the sounds of the different engines moving about as needed, as well as the sounds of whistles being sounded.

Eventually though, Olivia looked at her watch and then turned to look at Carrie.

"Well Carrie…it's almost 1pm, and I need to get back to work very soon." Olivia said, as she stretched out her arms and legs and then began to stand up.

"All right then, Olivia. Best of luck for the rest of the day, and I'll see you later on." Carrie said, as she watched Olivia stand up.

"Thanks, Carrie. And I'll see you later on as well. Best of luck!" Olivia said, as she bid Carrie goodbye and then left the recreation room. After Olivia left, Carrie looked at her own watch; it was 12:56pm, and she still had some time left to go before she could go back on duty on the engine she had been assigned to work on this afternoon. To fill up the remaining time in between now and then, Carrie went over to one of the book cases at the end of the room and looked through some of the different books there until she noticed the time was a little before 1:30pm, and then she went back downstairs to get back to work again.

(Outside)

Soon, Carrie was back outside in the yard and was in the same shed that No.44686 had reversed into earlier on in the day, only this time she looking for the engine she was assigned to work on for the rest of the day whose number was No.61200. By this time, No.44686 was no longer in the shed, having already moved out from the depot and on to whatever other work he needed to do out on the main line.

"Hey miss!" came a voice from a man standing near to where Carrie was. Turning round, Carrie saw a man coming towards her, and he was dressed in dark-blue overalls just like her, as well as having a peaked railway cap on his head, and wearing a bright orange safety vest over his overalls.

"Yes?" Carrie asked, as the man approached her.

"Are you Carrie White?" the man asked.

"Yes, I am. Are you the driver for No.61200?" Carrie asked.

"I am, indeed. And he's right over this way." the driver said, as he indicated behind him.

"Okay, let's go over to him then." Carrie said, and she and the driver walked over to where No.61200 was waiting for them and being readied for his next job that afternoon.

They walked along the track in front of the sheds, until the driver stopped and pointed in front of him.

"And this is No.61200, Carrie. One of the finest engines that I've ever driven." said the driver, with a sense of pride. Looking up, Carrie saw No.61200 for the first time; he was an L.N.E.R. Thompson B1 Class 4-6-0 mixed traffic engine (86), and he was painted in lined B.R. black livery with late B.R. crest on the tender sides. His paintwork had been polished and rubbed down so that it looked very smart, as he was going to be pulling a passenger train in a little while.

"We've gotten quite a bit of work done already in readying No.61000 for his passenger train in a short while. But there's still plenty left to do until we need to leave the depot." said the driver.

"Okay, shall we get to it then?" Carrie asked.

"Let's get going." said the driver, and they stepped over towards No.61200 and steeled themselves up to doing whatever needed to be done.

(86): The Thompson B1 Class 4-6-0 mixed traffic locomotives of the London and North Eastern Railway (L.N.E.R.) was designed by Edward Thompson, and it was the L.N.E.R.'s equivalent of the G.W.R.'s highly successful 49XX Hall Class 4-6-0s and the equally successful L.M.S. Stanier Black Five Class 4-6-0s. They were created as part of Thompson's policy of modernisation and standardisation for the L.N.E.R., as well as replace a lot of older pre-Grouping locomotive designs that the L.N.E.R. had absorbed in 1923 that were getting past their prime by that point in time.

When Gresley was the Chief Mechanical Engineer of the L.N.E.R., he would do things very differently from the C.M.E.s of other railway companies and create specific designs of locomotives that were built for specific purposes, instead of doing the usual thing of creating a limited number of locomotive classes that could be built in large numbers, were suitable for a wide area of operations and handle any kind of job they were tasked with. This had to be done as the L.N.E.R. was always short of money and couldn't afford to build large numbers of a single class of engine the way that other railway companies in Britain could. While Gresley's policy did suit the L.N.E.R.'s financial restraints, it also meant that by the time Gresley died in April 1941, the L.N.E.R. was in possession of a large number of different locomotive types with very little standardisation between them.

When Thompson took over as C.M.E. of the L.N.E.R. after Gresley's death, he set about his own policy of standardisation the company's locomotive stock. High on his list of priorities was a 4-6-0 mixed traffic engine, which he felt the L.N.E.R. badly needed, and which could be built in large numbers and could also replace many of the older pre-Grouping locomotive designs, which were coming very near to the end of their working lives, or had been forced to soldier on in the absence of anything better.

Thompson's new B1 Class 4-6-0 engines looked very similar in appearance to Gresley's B17 Class 4-6-0 engines, and in fact the new B1s were fitted with an upgraded B17-type boiler, but one that was pressed to work at 225psi instead of the original pressure of 200psi, as well as a larger grate area. The design was simplified during 1942, especially in the areas of the cab, the running plates, as well as the steam pipe casings. Thompson intended to keep the design as simple as possible in order to make maintenance and construction easier, as well as standardise as much as possible with other L.N.E.R. designs. The long front of the B17 design was also reduced in length, as the B1 Class had only two cylinders, while the B17 Class had three. Thompson also introduced a brand-new type of front bogie design to the class, which had the centre rubbing plates found on preceding Doncaster bogie designs removed.

Cost savings for the new B1 Class was a major priority, especially during wartime, and so the L.N.E.R.'s draughtsmen went to great lengths to re-use existing patterns, jigs, and tools to economise on both labour and materials. Extensive use was made of welding instead of using traditional steel castings. The B1 Class locomotives that were built by North British cost about £14,895 each to build, with the engines built by the Vulcan Foundry costing around about £15,300 each.

Construction on the first batch of 10 B1s began during 1942. In December 1942, the very first member of Thompson's new B1 Class 4-6-0, No.8301, which was later renumbered as No.1000, entered traffic. Once No.8301 came into service, the two engines of the previous B1 Class 4-6-0 were redesignated as B18s, and the pair of them were withdrawn from service in 1947. The second Thompson B1, No.8302, entered service in June 1943, while the final engine of the first batch didn't enter service until the middle of 1944.

The locomotives of the Thompson B1 Class were fitted with two outside cylinders which were 20in in diameter with a 26in piston stroke, a boiler fitted with superheating elements and pressed to 225psi, and six driving wheels that were 6ft 2in in diameter, all of which combined to give the B1 Class a maximum tractive effort of 26,878lbf. The tender design that the B1 Class was paired with ran on six wheels and could carry up to 4,200 gallons of water and 7.5 tons of coal. The tenders were also equipped with water scoops which allowed the class to top up their water supplies from water troughs set in between the rails when they were on the move.

The first locomotive, No.8301, was given the name of Springbok, in honour of a recent visit by Field Marshal Jan Smuts, the prime minister of South Africa. This resulted in many of the first B1s being given names of different breeds of antelope, and resulted in the class the nickname of the "Antelopes." They were also unofficially known as "Bongos" after the name that was given to No.8306. After being built, 18 more B1s were named after L.N.E.R. Directors, and one engine built after nationalisation, No.61379, was named Mayflower in 1951. No.61379 also carried a plaque stating "This locomotive was named Mayflower 13th July 1951 as a symbol of the ties between the two towns of Boston and of the lasting friendship between the USA and the British Commonwealth". Another engine, No.1239, was allocated the name Rupert E Beckett, but for some reason the name was never put onto the engine.

The numbers and names of the B1 Class that were named were as follows;

No.1000 Springbok, No.1001 Eland, No.1002 Impala, No.1003 Gazelle, No.1004 Oryx, No.1005 Bongo, No.1006 Blackbuck, No.1007 Klipspringer, No.1008 Kudu,

No.1009 Hartebeeste, No.1010 Wildebeeste, No.1011 Waterbuck, No.1012 Puku, No.1013 Topi, No.1014 Oribi, No.1015 Duiker, No.1016 Inyala, No.1017 Bushbuck,

No.1018 Gnu, No.1019 Nilghai, No.1020 Gemsbok, No.1021 Reitbok, No.1022 Sassaby, No.1023 Hirola, No.1024 Addax, No.1025 Pallah, No.1026 Ourebi, No.1027 Madoqua,

No.1028 Umseke, No.1029 Chamois, No.1030 Nyala, No.1031 Reedbuck, No.1032 Stembok, No.1033 Dibatag, No.1034 Chiru, No.1035 Pronghorn, No.1036 Ralph Assheton,

No.1037 Jairou, No.1038 Blacktail, No.1039 Steinbok, No.1040 Roedeer, No.1089 Sir William Gray, No.1215 William Henton Carver, No.1221 Sir Alexander Erskine-Hill,

No.1237 Geoffrey H. Kitson, No.1238 Leslie Runciman, No.1240 Harry Hinchliffe, No.1241 Viscount Ridley, No.1242 Alexander Reith Gray, No.1243 Sir Harold Michell,

No.1244 Strang Steel, No.1245 Murray of Elibank, No.1246 Lord Balfour of Burleigh, No.1247 Lord Burghley, No.1248 Geoffrey Gibbs, No.1249 Fitzherbert Wright,

No.1250 A. Harold Bibby, No.1251 Oliver Bury, and No.61379 Mayflower.

During 1943, No.8303 Impala was extensively tested on various lines the L.N.E.R. owned in Scotland, and proved that the B1s were excellent at starting, which was seen as important on many Scottish lines which had many stations on gradients. Although poor-quality coal was used on the tests, they did prove that the B1s had excellent free-steaming capabilities and fast acceleration, which was important for the running of efficient semi-fast passenger trains. One negative aspect of the test was that the B1s tended to move unevenly when operating at cut-offs below 25%, which is said to have caused many drivers to use the regulator instead of the reversing gear.

More tests were ordered in 1944 across the entire L.N.E.R. system against a variety of different engine types, including 4-6-0s, 4-4-0s, and 0-6-0s. During these tests, the B1s ran very well, although they only ran against those engine types they were expected to replace. One problem that the B1 Class did have was the quality of the ride they gave to their crews, which was something the crews weren't used to from years of working on Gresley designs which ran much more smoothly with three cylinders.

A second batch of 30 B1s was ordered in May 1944, but due to the war and the numbers of back-orders that were being experienced at that time, large scale construction of these engines wouldn't start until 1945, when the L.N.E.R. began a five-year modernisation programme. This plan included an order for 400 B1s in addition to the original batch of 10 engines. All of these engines were built between 1946 and 1952 in a total of eight batches. In all, 410 Thompson B1s were built, with Gorton Works building 10 examples, Darlington building 60 engines, the Vulcan Foundry building another 50, and the North British Locomotive Company in Glasgow building a grand total of 290 engines. One of these batches, which was built by North British, totalled 150 engines and it was the largest single batch of engines which the L.N.E.R. had ever ordered at any time.

There was a concern with the L.N.E.R. civil engineer about the effect of the hammerblow of the two-cylinder B1 Class, and so the reciprocating balancing on the class was reduced from 60 per cent to 36 per cent, but this led to very poor riding quality and accelerating the wear in the horn, motion, and side rod bushes. Like the earlier Gresley B17 Class, the Thompson B1 Class gained a reputation for rough riding as their mileages rose in between overhauls. Due to these problems, No.61035 was involved in an experiment in 1954, which involved fitting additional balance weights onto the coupled driving wheels in an attempt to try and restore the 60 per cent reciprocating balance. Tests made showed that an improvement was made, and a few other B1s were fitted with the new improvement.

In 1953, the average mileage of the B1 Class that they covered in between major overhauls was about 78,396 miles, much better than the Stanier Black Five mileage of 56,969 miles but somewhat less than the G.W.R. Hall Class mileage of 87,942 miles.

After the war, all the B1s built in the post-war period were fitted with reverse sanders, along with hopper ashpans, but the original 10 B1s never had hopper ashpans fitted and only had sanders for forward drive. Self-cleaning smokeboxes were tested out in 1946, and were also fitted to many of those built in the post-war period. Continental-style spark arrestors were fitted in 1950, but these tended to get clogged up with soot. In 1959, a spark arrestor from the Western Region was fitted, but this was found in influence the locomotives steaming ability as well as experience the same problem of getting clogged up with soot.

Many of the B1 Class were fitted with electric lamps and lighting inside the cabs to make things easier for their crews when working at night, but many of them were never fitted with any electrics at all. Those who were fitted with electric equipment had axle-driven alternators to power them, but these often gave problems and so steam generators were often used instead. In 1956, the first members of the class were fitted with Automatic Warning System (A.W.S.) starting with No.61331 and fitting it to the class continued right up until 1959, but not all members of the B1 Class were fitted with A.W.S. equipment.

When the railways of Britain nationalised in January 1948, the entire B1 Class was renumbered by having the number 60000 added to their numbers. By the time that construction came to an end in 1952, the B1s were numbered from No.61000 to No.61409, and were given the power classification of 5MT. The B1 Class worked all over the Eastern and North Eastern Regions of British Railways, as well as all over Scotland, and pulled any kind of train that they were tasked with hauling. And just like the engines of the L.M.S. Black Five Class that had been built before them, the B1 Class gained a reputation as the kind of engines that could "go anywhere" and "do anything."

On 7th March 1950, No. 61057 crashed into a stationary goods train in dense fog while it was hauling a mail train from Ipswich bound to London. Due to the severe nature of the damage, No.61057 was withdrawn from service and scrapped not long afterwards. Although B1s were still being built at that time, an extra replacement engine wasn't ordered to replace No.61057. As a result of that, the number of B1s in service peaked at 409 locomotives and not the intended 410. Even so, the Thompson B1 Class was the largest class of engines that were ever built by the L.N.E.R., even though they never did appear in the numbers that the L.M.S. Black Five Class was built in.

During their time in service, the engines of the B1 Class were based at a number of different depots all over the former L.N.E.R. network, including at the former Great Eastern Railway depots of Ipswich, Norwich, and Stratford in London, at depots along the Great Central Main Line, and in Scotland. During the 1950's, around 70 or so B1s were stationed in ex-G.E.R. territory, where they proved to be very successful engines and became very popular with their crews. On the former G.E.R. lines, they worked boat trains from Liverpool Street Station to Harwich, including the Hook Continental, the Day Continental, and the Scandinavian. They were also a common sight on other top-link trains like The East Anglian, The Broadsman, and The Fenman. Over time, the work began to overload the B1s, so they would be replaced on the heavier routes by the B.R. Standard Britannia Class 7MT Pacifics when these arrived in East Anglia in 1951. The B1s would then be reassigned to work on some of the freight services that ran on the ex-G.E.R. lines.

When the B1s arrived on the Great Central Main Line in 1946, they were quickly put to work on pulling all the express passenger trains that ran on the G.C. Main Line, especially those that ran in Lincolnshire and on the London extension. They also worked on freight services on the Great Central, where they displaced the older 0-6-0 types.

Those B1s that worked on the Great Northern Section from Hitchin worked on suburban services that ran to Kings Cross, and they proved to be very popular engines with their crews. On the occasions where the engines of the larger Gresley and Peppercorn Pacific classes or the Gresley V2 Class failed for whatever reason, the B1s would often stand in for them. King's Cross even used its allocated number of B1s to pull Cambridge buffet expresses when they were introduced in the late 1940's, and the Great Northern Section B1s were also used on passenger excursions, such as rugby trains and Butlins specials, as well as on fast fitted freight trains, such as on the fast fish trains that ran from Hull.

In the North Eastern Section, the allocated B1s that arrived in 1946 replaced the older D49 Class 4-4-0s that were being used on the fast services to Newcastle due to a shortage of Pacific Class types. As soon as the Pacifics returned, the B1s were assigned to work on secondary services, but they also worked on the passenger trains that ran all over the North East and proved particularly popular on Saturday excursion trains. However, those B1s that were based at Dairycotes, Borough Gardens, and Stockton worked on freight trains.

In Scotland, those B1s worked passenger trains on the main line from Edinburgh to Perth, the first Scottish line on which they were used on a regular basis, and as more B1s came into service they quickly replaced a variety of 4-4-0 types, as well as older Gresley K2 Class 2-6-0 moguls. They were generally very successful in the Scottish Area and were used on a wide variety of different service types, including on fish and goods trains out of Aberdeen. They also worked very well on long distance freight trains that ran between Newcastle and Carlisle. After nationalisation, they could also be seen working on former L.M.S. lines in Scotland.

In 1953 after a fracture on the crank axle of No.35020 Bibby Line, the entire Merchant Navy Class was withdrawn from use on the Southern Region until they were rebuilt. In this time, the Southern Region was short of motive power and so a few of the new B.R. Standard Class 7MT Britannia Pacifics, some ex-L.M.S. Stanier Black Fives, ex-L.N.E.R. Gresley V2 Class 2-6-2s and a number of Thompson B1s, around 14 in total, were despatched to the Southern Region to order to assist with the shortfall until the Merchant Navy Class engines were returned to service. However, the B1s didn't prove to be very popular with the Southern crews, mostly due to rough riding.

During their careers the B1 Class didn't require any major developments, as their design was simple and robust in nature. However, one problem they did have was that their firebox plates tended to fracture at times. It was severe enough that in 1955 a plan was made to replace the boilers with BR Type 3 boilers, as fitted to the BR Standard Class 5MT. However, this heavier boiler design would have increased the axle loading and thus reduced the B1s route availability. By now, the conversion to diesel power had begun and it was felt it was too late to start a major reboilering programme. However, the problems with the boilers were partially solved with strengthening plates being added to the firebox flanges.

For their whole working lives on the line, the B1s worked very well on all the jobs they were assigned to doing. Excluding the withdrawal of No.61057 after its accident in 1950, the first B1, No.61085, was withdrawn from service. The rest of the class followed along over the next six years, with 1962 seeing the largest numbers withdrawn when 120 B1s were removed from service that year. In 1967, the final 27 examples of the B1 Class were withdrawn from service, with the last two engines still running being No.61306 and No.61337. However, a number of the class, 17 in all, were converted to use as stationary boilers for heating passenger coaches between 1963 and 1967. These engines had their coupling hooks removed so they couldn't pull any trains, but they were still capable of moving around under their own power. By 1968, all the Departmental Stock B1s that were being used as coach heating boilers were withdrawn from service with most of them being scrapped not too long afterwards.

Thankfully, two members of the Thompson B1 Class have survived into preservation after having been withdrawn from service on B.R. at the end of their working lives. These two Thompson B1s are;

No.61264; she was built by the North British Locomotive Company in December 1947, and worked from Parkeston Quay for 13 years, where she hauled express passenger trains running to and from London Liverpool Street, and frequently worked on the famous Scandinavian boat trains. In 1960, she was transferred to Colwick and stayed there for the rest of her working life on B.R., being used on express passenger services between Nottingham, Leicester, and London Marylebone along the old Great Central Main Line. She was withdrawn in November 1965 but was kept in service to be used as a carriage heating engine at Colwick as Department Number 29, but became very run-down in the process.

Finally, by October 1968, No.61264 had been retired from carriage heating duties and sent down to Barry Scrapyard, where she became very unique as the ONLY former L.N.E.R. engine ever to be sent down to Woodham's Scrapyard in Barry, South Wales. After being purchased for preservation and restoration, she was removed from Barry in July 1976 and taken to Loughborough on the Great Central Railway for restoration, which lasted for 21 years and cost around £230,000 to complete. Much of the work that was done was carried out on the boiler, which was found to be clad in blue asbestos which needed a specialist firm to remove. But after the boiler was lifted from the frames and the asbestos removed, it was found that both the boiler and firebox were in very bad condition, and were declared to be irreparable. Six years were spent trying to find someone who could either build a new boiler or be willing to repair the original one. Finally, the group who was restoring No.61264 found Pridham Engineering who took the boiler in for restoration.

The restored boiler was returned to be fitted to No.61264 in August 1995, and was reunited with the B1 in 1996. After the restoration was completed, No.61264 moved under her own power for the first time in preservation in March 1997, and she was painted in L.N.E.R. apple green livery and carrying the number No.1264.

During her career in preservation, No.61264 has travelled far and wide across the U.K., visiting many heritage railways, as well as seeing extensive service on the main line, including on the line from Fort William to Mallaig, as well as along the Settle and Carlisle Line. She also represented long-scrapped members of the B1 Class at times in her career, including No.61001 Eland and No.61002 Impala. She underwent an extensive overhaul from 2008 to 2012, which cost around £450,000 and was extensively repaired, with many parts being completely replaced with new ones on the boiler as well.

As of early 2024, No.61264 is based on the Great Central Railway and is about to undergo another major overhaul in order to return her to full main line operating condition.

No.61306; built by the North British Locomotive Company in April 1948, No.61306 worked mostly in the North Eastern Region for nearly her entire working life until she was withdrawn from Low Moor, Bradford in September 1967 as one of the last three B1s that were in operation at that time. On the day she was withdrawn from service, No.61306 hauled the final steam hauled portion of the Yorkshire Pullman from Bradford Exchange. She was also the final B1 to run on the old Great Central Main Line to Marylebone which took place in August 1966 a month before most of the line closed down.

In February 1968, No.61306 was privately purchased for preservation and taken to Steamtown at Carnforth. While No.61306 was at Steamtown, she was painted into L.N.E.R. Apple Green Livery, and given the number No.1306, which would have been her allocated running number if the L.N.E.R. hadn't been nationalised. She was also given the name Mayflower which had been the name given to No.61379, which had been withdrawn from service and scrapped back in 1962. In 1978, No.61306 was moved to the Great Central Railway, and she remained there until 1989, when she was taken out of service for a full overhaul.

During her career in preservation, No.61306 has travelled along many heritage railways throughout the U.K., as well as having undertaken a lot of main line work as well. As of 2024, No.61306 is in operational condition and is certified to run on the main line as well.

After climbing onto the footplate of No.61200, Carrie set to work at helping to prepare the Thompson B1 for his next train of the day. Among the little jobs she helped out with was oiling up around all the different moving parts, which was an easier task as the B1s had only two outside cylinders, which meant that there was no need to get into the inspection pit beneath No.61200 to oil up any moving parts.

She also helped out with building up the fire inside the firebox so that they would have enough steam in the boiler went they set off, as well as helping out with placing the two headlamps onto the correct lamp-irons on the front buffer-beam. As they were going to be pulling a passenger train this afternoon, the headlamps were put onto the left and right lamp-irons.

Soon, with the clock showing the time as 1:56pm, they were all finished with the little jobs that needed to be done, and they could leave the depot and make their way over to Vicarstown Station and collect their train.

"Shall we get ourselves out of this depot and over to the station?" Carrie asked, as she looked towards the driver.

"Absolutely, Carrie! Hop aboard and we'll head over to get our train! After all, time is of the essence!" said the driver, as Carrie climbed aboard the footplate, where the fireman was placing some fresh coal into the firebox, with the driver following along a moment later.

A number of different passenger trains left from Vicarstown between 2:00pm and 2:50pm each day from Monday to Saturday, and all of them would be heading west bound for Knapford Station, with some going along the Southern Main Line and others going along the Northern Main Line. Different engines would take these trains on their journeys to Knapford, and some of them would be running non-stop runs while others would be stopping at selected stations along the way. Today, No.61200 would be taking the 2:15pm train and they would be stopping at a number of stations along the way, which would be Crovan's Gate, Sodor International Airport, and Wellsworth before they finally arrived at Knapford Station, which they were scheduled to reach at about 3:45pm.

"Okay, old boy! Let's get going!" the driver called from the footplate.

"All right, driver!" No.61200 said, as the regulator was opened a little to allow steam into the cylinders and they moved forwards.

(A short while later)

(Insert soundtrack – Busy Station Theme – Season 1)

With a short blast of his whistle, No.61200 rolled along the last length of track towards Platform 5 at Vicarstown Station where his line of coaches, about 12 of them in all, waited for him. As he gently buffered up to the front coach, Carrie looked out from the cab along the platform's length; she could see plenty of passengers getting aboard the train with their bags and whatever else they had with them. Porters were helping to load larger and heavier items of luggage into the coach that was coupled behind No.61200's tender. Listening to the commotion of passengers getting aboard this train, as well as boarding the coaches of the other passenger trains waiting at some of the other platforms in the station, Carrie was quietly glad she wasn't in amongst those crowds and trying to get aboard one of the trains.

Once No.61200 was coupled to the front vehicle in the train and the brake pipes were connected up, the driver created a vacuum throughout the train so as to take the brakes off the coaches. Watching the vacuum brake gauge, Carrie saw the two indicator arrows on both sides the gauge slowly rise up as the vacuum went through the train, until they came to rest at a point between 20 and 25 on both sides of the gauge.

"And there we are! All the brakes are taken off, and we're near-ready to go!" the driver said, as he wound the reversing gear into full forward, and then double-checked the brakes.

"And we've still got a good head of steam in the boiler too!" the fireman said, as he checked the main steam pressure gauge, which showed the pressure was at 225psi.

Carrie leaned out from the footplate again, along the driver's side, and looked at the different activities taking place within the station; people were moving about on the different platforms, either passengers trying to catch their trains, or porters loading up luggage into the special luggage coaches, or even other members of station staff helping the passengers get to where they needed to be.

There were half a dozen other lines of coaches, of different lengths, in the station at some of the other platforms, and each of them already had an engine coupled to their fronts. At Platform 1 stood L.N.E.R. Gresley P2 Class 2-8-2 No.2009 Merrow, with the later A4-style streamlined front end, while at Platform 2 stood G.W.R. King No.6015 King Richard III. Standing at Platform 3 was Southern Railway Merchant Navy Class No.35017 Belgian Marine, while standing at Platform 4 stood B.R. Standard Class 8P No.71001 Duke of London, and standing at Platform 6 beside No.61200 was Peppercorn A1 Class No.60140 Balmoral. Each of these other engines were also cleaned up and ready to take their trains out of Vicarstown so as to get their passengers to where they were needed.

Looking up at the clock fitted over the platform, Carrie saw the time was 2:07pm, and they were scheduled to depart at 2:15pm. Looking back along the platform, she could see there were still quite a lot of people still getting aboard their train and wondered if everyone would be able to get aboard in time.

Three minutes later at 2:10pm, there came the sounds of a guard blowing his whistle, followed seconds later by the sounds of a steam whistle blowing loudly. It was No.2009 Merrow, and it was time for him to depart from Vicarstown with his train, and his train would be going non-stop all the way to Knapford.

"Here we go! Let's get moving!" Merrow said, as he started off with his train, with his wheels digging into the rails and taking up the weight of his heavy train as he moved off.

"Good luck at getting your passengers to Knapford!" Duke of London called, as he and the other engines watched Merrow move out from the station with his train.

"Thanks! I'll see you all later on!" Merrow called, as his whistle sounded again for a few seconds as he headed out of the station, with him gradually building up more speed as the train moved out. From where she was standing on the fireman's side of the footplate of No.61200, Carrie watched as the train moved out from the station, and she counted the number of coaches that went by; there were 16 in total, and all of them were L.N.E.R. Gresley teak coaches, and each coach looked very smart as their exteriors had been polished to a high standard.

It wasn't long before the clock showed the time as 2:15pm, and it was time for No.61200 to be on his way with his own train. With the last of their passengers aboard, the last of the doors on the coaches were closed, and the guard leaned out from his compartment on the front coach, and waved his green flag while blowing his whistle loudly.

"Okay, here we go!" the driver said, as he blew the whistle for a few seconds before he opened the regulator. With a slight jerk, No.61200 moved forward and took up the weight of his long train, and he rolled out from Vicarstown Station and out onto the main line.

"Knapford, here we come!" No.61200 said, as he moved out, building up a little more speed all the time. Leaning out from the cab, Carrie looked behind then and watched as the train followed them out of the station.

"We're on our way." Carrie said quietly to herself, as shed pulled herself back into the cab and then went over to stand in front of the tender, ready to help stoke the boiler with more coal once the time for it came.

As they built up speed and ran out through the countryside to the west of Vicarstown, they settled down to the routine of keeping the fire burning inside the firebox to make steam to keep moving, while the driver concentrated on driving, looking out ahead for signals, and working the different controls in front of him as needed. The fireman took the first go with the shovel and stoked the boiler while Carrie sat on the fireman's seat and looked out ahead for signals as they went along the line at a steadily increasing speed.

Going along the line, they came upon a long stretch where the three railway lines that made up this part of the Southern Main Line went through a large forested area. By this point in September, with autumn upon Sodor, the leaves on almost all the trees were starting to slowly change colour from bright green to orange, yellow, and red. Gazing out at the line of trees that was closest to the line on her side of the cab, Carrie noticed some change of colour on many of the trees and felt herself smile a little as she watched all the trees go by them.

"Looks like we're getting into fall now." she said quietly to herself. Then she turned her attention into the cab to see what was going on there; the fireman had put enough coal on for now and was checking the main boiler pressure gauge, while the driver was looking out ahead on his side while keeping one hand firmly on the regulator handle.

"How's the steam pressure?" Carrie asked.

"Looks good so far, Carrie. We're at 225psi right now, and its holding steady." said the fireman.

"Okay!" Carrie said, as she got off the fireman's seat and went to take hold of the shovel so she would be ready to stoke the boiler once it was time to do it again.

It wasn't too long before they finally pulled into their first stop of this trip, Crovan's Gate Station. On the platform, a number of people were seen waiting to catch the train to Knapford and, remembering how many people had been on the platform back at Vicarstown, Carrie wondered if there would be room on the train for all these people.

After the driver brought the train to a stop, with No.61200 coming to a halt a little beyond the end of the platform, the doors on the coaches were opened and the passengers getting off at Crovan's Gate disembarked from the train.

As No.61200 waited at the head of the train to see off again, he heard the sounds of another whistle coming from up the line ahead of him, and he instantly knew who it was.

"Oh dear…here comes James." he said, as he looked along the line. Sure enough, a moment or two later James came into sight ahead, and he was pulling a long line of very heavy trucks along behind him. And he didn't look too happy, which interested No.61200.

"Having trouble with those trucks, James?" No.61200 asked, as he watched the splendid red engine approach him. James was certainly looking cross, and he glared at the B1 as he approached the station.

"Yes, I am! These trucks have been giving me trouble ever since I left Kirk Ronan Station not too long ago!" James said with an angry look on his face, as he went by, through the station, and then out the other side and on towards Vicarstown.

"Well, good luck with them then!" No.61200 said with a slightly small smile, as he watched the end of James' train go past him on its way through the station.

It wasn't too long before all the passengers who had been waiting on the platform had gotten aboard the train, and they could set off on their way again. After the guard blew his whistle and waved his green flag, they were off again, with the driver adjusting the regulator as they moved out of the station, and the fireman sitting on his seat on his side of the cab, while Carrie was standing behind the driver and watching out ahead of them as they started off again. Looking out from behind them as they went out of the station, Carrie watched as the coaches followed along behind them, and she swore that she could see a few people who were leaning out from some of the windows along the length of the train and looking ahead as they started to move on to their next stop.

When she saw these people leaned out from some of the windows, Carrie felt herself smile a little; it was quite obvious that these people were really serious railway enthusiasts and, as some of them had cameras in their hands, they seemed to be quite keen on getting some good pictures before their journey was finished.

"There seems to be a lot of people leaning out from the train and looking out as we're going along." Carrie said to the driver and fireman.

"Well, that's to be expected, Carrie. Especially at this time of year when the weather's as soon as it is now." the driver said, as he chuckled for a moment.

"And I've done it myself a few times myself as well…when I was a much younger man back in the day!" the fireman laughed.

"People like that just like the thrill of having their heads outside of the coaches and feeling the wind in their faces, as well as listening to the engine working hard at the front of the train and the sounds of the wheels running along the rails." said the driver.

"Yes, but it must be quite dangerous though, especially with the risk of having your head outside the train." Carrie said.

"I know, but I never had any problems back in the day, Carrie. I always kept my eyes firmly ahead whenever I had my head outside a coach on a train." the fireman said.

"Well, if you're so sure about that." Carrie said, as she reached for the shovel in the coal space in the tender and set about getting ready to stoke the boiler.

The journey from Crovan's Gate to Sodor International Airport went very smoothly along the line, with No.61200 passing by a number of other engines as they went along the way, including passing by Henry, who was waiting in the freight yard at Rossington Junction to leave with his train, going by Gordon near to Kildane-Upon-Barn, who was heading over to Vicarstown with the afternoon express from Knapford Station, and Murdoch, who was making his way along with a slow, heavy freight train along the main line.

They soon approached the junction to the north-west of Kildane-Upon-Bane which would take them directly to the airport. The points had already been set for them by the signalman, and they ran over the points and on towards the airport. On the footplate, the driver closed the regulator a little and prepared to put the brakes on once the airport station came into view.

"I wonder how many passengers will be waiting for us at the airport when we arrive there." Carrie said, as she looked out ahead from the fireman's side.

"We'll soon see, Carrie. After all, the numbers of waiting passengers do vary at each station as you'd expect." said the fireman.

"Yeah." Carrie said, as she looked on ahead.

The large airport station soon came into view ahead of them, and No.61200 could see several other engines waiting at the station at some of the other platforms, and he could also see quite a few people, both passengers and station staff, on some of the platforms.

"It looks like we'll have quite a few more passengers to take from here." No.61200 said, as they approached the station, with the driver closing the regulator and gently applied the brakes to slow them down.

"I just hope enough people get off at this train so any people waiting here can get aboard." Carrie said, as she leaned out from the driver's side and looked on ahead of them. Then she heard another sound, and turned her head to her left to see what it was; looking up towards the airport terminal, she heard the sounds of what was likely a large passenger plane taking from one of the long runways behind the airport terminal building, but she couldn't see it. Before she could even see the plane climbing into the air, the top of the station building blocked out her view of the sky.

With the signalman having set the different points for them, No.61200 rolled slowly along the line and over the points to the line that ran alongside Platform 13. Heading under the impressive canopy that covered most of the station and platforms, No.61200 rolled slowly alongside Platform 13, where a few passengers could be seen waiting for them to arrive. A few more could be seen coming out from one of the waiting rooms that was sitting on the platform, while others could be seen getting a quick coffee from one of the kiosks that were also sitting on the platform. Carrie could see that at least two passengers were in wheelchairs and so ramps would need to be placed up to the open coach doors so they could get aboard the train.

After they came to a stop, about halfway along the length of the long platform, the porters opened the doors and those passengers getting off the train here at the airport disembarked from the train. Some of those people were likely late-season tourists who were catching their flights back home, and it was clear that some of them wanted to get home as soon as they possibly could.

As Carrie watched the disembarking passengers leave the train and walk up the steps to the footbridge that crossed over all the tracks from one side of the station to the other, and she was a little surprised to see how many passengers were getting off from the coaches. It was clear that a great deal of people who had been on the train were indeed people who had been visiting Sodor and now wanted to head on home again.

"I'm surprised that some people are still visiting Sodor even at this time of year." Carrie said.

"Well, a lot of the hotels, guest houses, and B&B's always welcome visitors to Sodor year-round, and even in early autumn there still will be people coming here to take advantage of the lower hotel prices, as well as the fact that everything will be quieter than in the summer." said the fireman.

"I suppose so. I certainly would take the advantage of going to a popular place somewhere abroad when its much quieter, far less crowded and when the prices are much lower." Carrie said, with a smile.

"Yeah, me too." said the fireman, with a smile.

Once the last of the passengers had disembarked from the train, those who were waiting on the platform began to board the coaches, with the people in the wheelchairs being helped up ramps onto the train. Carrie could see a number of parents with children getting aboard the train as well, and many of the young kids all seemed to be very tired, probably from the flights from where they had taken off from on their long journey home to Sodor.

It wasn't long before the last of the passengers who were waiting on the platform had boarded the train, and the coach doors were closed. With the way ahead clear, the guard blew his whistle and waved his green flag before he stepped back into the first coach coupled behind No.61200.

"Right away!" the fireman called to the driver. And the driver, after blowing the whistle for a few seconds, opened the regulator a little and they started off again.

For the trip along the line from the Airport Station over to Wellsworth Station, No.61200 ran very smoothly along with his train following behind him, and Carrie took another go with stoking the boiler with fresh coal. By this point of the day, she was feeling quite tired and her arm muscles were feeling a little sore as well. She was looking forward to clocking out at the end of the day and having a good long rest afterwards, as well as turning in early once the evening rolled in.

They soon made their final stop in Wellsworth Station to pick up their last passengers, and while they were there the fireman took the chance to refill the tender tank with more water, as the level of water was getting a little bit low. Carrie helped by working the valve for the water crane on the platform, and turning it on or off as the fireman required it to be. There weren't as many passengers to collect at Wellsworth Station as there had been at the earlier two stations, only a handful of people who had finished work and wanted to get back to Knapford so they could head on home.

Once the tender was filled with more water, Carrie and the fireman climbed back aboard the footplate of No.61200. As they waited to set off again, Carrie climbed up onto the back of the tender with the coal shovel and moved the coal that was piled up at the back of the coal space further forwards. For about three minutes, Carrie worked hard at loosening the coal and pushing it forwards the front of the coal space where it would be easier to shovel it into the firebox when it was needed.

When the job was done, Carrie stepped back aboard the footplate in time to hear the guard blowing his whistle, meaning they were clear to go again.

"Here we go again! And a clear stretch all the way to Knapford Station!" the fireman said, as the driver blew the whistle and opened the regulator again.

"And hopefully back to where we can all go and have a good long rest after this job is finished." Carrie added, as she leaned on the front of the tender and rested for a while.

The last part of the journey to Knapford Station went as smoothly as the earlier part of the trip had gone, with the passengers in the train enjoying the trip, and Carrie helping out with stoking the boiler on the footplate of No.61200. Going along the line at quite a fair speed, Carrie would see all the landmarks she was familiar with seeing now, and could tell how far they were from Knapford as they went on by them.

The stations, bridges, tunnels, and other familiar landmarks flew on by as they went along the main line, and passed by a number of other engines along the way who were doing the jobs they were assigned to do. Among the engines they came upon, just before Henry's Tunnel, was L.M.S. Princess Royal Class No.6206 Princess Marie Louise, who just liked to be called Marie, heading in the opposite direction from Knapford towards Vicarstown with her non-stop afternoon train behind her, which consisted of about 16 coaches that were full of people. With both Marie and No.61200 whistling in greeting to each other as they went past, they headed on their way with their trains.

(Knapford Station)

It wasn't too long before No.61200 finally made his last approach towards Knapford Station, which appeared around the bend as a very welcome sight to see at the end of their journey from the other side of Sodor. Just as the driver closed the regulator and gently put on the brakes, he asked Carrie if she wanted to blow the whistle, to which she readily agreed. Reaching up for the whistle handle, Carrie pulled hard on it for a few seconds and sounded the whistle loudly as they approached Knapford Station, which gave her a big smile on her face.

There were a few other engines to be seen going into the station, or waiting at the platforms, or waiting to set out from Knapford. Among them, Carrie could see Thomas standing at the end of Platform 3 with his two coaches, Annie and Clarabel, coupled behind him.

"Hello No.61200!" Thomas said, when he saw the Thompson B1 pull alongside Platform 2 and come to a stop.

"Hello Thomas!" No.61200 said, as he came to a halt.

"Hello, Thomas!" Carrie called, as she leaned out from the footplate of No.61200.

"Hello there, Carrie! How are you feeling after your day of work?" Thomas asked.

"I'm feeling quite tired, but pleased after a job well done." Carrie said, as she wiped her sweaty forehead down with the back of her hand.

"That sounds very good, Carrie! That shows you're doing a very good job, and I think it's something to be pleased about!" No.61200 said.

"Thank you, No.61200!" Carrie said, as she smiled.

As the passengers disembarked from the coaches and made their way towards the footbridge so they could leave the station, a shunter uncoupled No.61200 from the train and disconnected the brake pipes, and the fireman checked on the state of the fire inside the firebox as well as the main boiler pressure gauge to see if the steam pressure was all right.

"Okay, you're all uncoupled from the train and free to head back to the sheds now!" the shunter called up to the cab.

"Okay, thanks for that!" the fireman called, before he then turned and nodded to the driver.

"Here we go! Let's get back to Tidmouth Sheds!" the driver said, as he released the brakes and opened the regulator a little.

"See you later, Thomas!" No.61200 said, as he started out of the station.

"Okay, No.61200!" Thomas said, as he watched the Thompson B1 set out from the station and back to the sheds.

"See you later, Thomas!" Carrie called, as she waved from No.61200's cab.

"Good luck, Carrie!" Thomas called, as he blew his whistle in greeting to Carrie. And Carrie waved to Thomas until they had pulled out of the station and were on their way back to Tidmouth Sheds.

And that's it for this chapter, everyone! This brings the word count in the story to well over 600,000 words so afar, and at the rate I'm going, I reckon it shouldn't be too long before we reach a figure of 700,000 words!

For the next chapter that's gonna come…well, not only is it gonna be 50th chapter in the story, it's also gonna be the start of a major turn in the story that's gonna bring a big surprise for Carrie much later on in the story. So, until the next chapter is uploaded…good reading!