THE quote often attributed to Henry Ford about “a car painted any colour so long as it’s black” had a certain resonance on the final day of the Mid-Hants Railway’s Autumn Steam Gala, with perhaps a little editing to say “a locomotive painted any colour so long as it’s BR black”.
Whether by coincidence or choice there was already a strong BR theme running through the locos in service at the October 19-21 event, broken only by the vibrant Malachite green of Maunsell ‘Schools’ No. 925 Cheltenham.
However, the decision to rest the National Railway Museum’s 4-4-0 on the Sunday saw its diagram filled by BR ‘4MT’ 2-6-0 No. 76017, and the dominance of BR black was complete.
The liveries may have all been similar, but two of the locos present were distinctly unfamiliar to this Southern Region stronghold.
BR-built Collett ‘Manor’ No. 7822 Foxcote Manor had arrived a few days before from extended hire at the West Somerset Railway, and was joined by its Llangollen Railway shedmate 2-6-2T No. 5199.
… as pre-Nationalisation liveries steal NYMR show
CENTENARIANS great and small were brought together for the North Yorkshire Moors Railway’s autumn gala on September 28-30 as the line celebrated both the 100th anniversaries of NER ‘Q6’ 0-8-0 No. 63395 and the Royal Air Force.
Sharing their centenaries with the ‘Q6’ were Severn Valley Railway-based ‘28XX’ 2-8-0 No. 2857 and the Talyllyn Railway’s 2ft 3in-gauge Andrew Barclay 0-4-0WT No. 6 Douglas; the latter making several runs over the line on the back of a ‘Lowmac’ as part of the 16-wagon freight train.
As a former RAF locomotive Douglas tied the two anniversaries together, and in its striking yet fictitious RAF blue livery turned several heads during the three days.
The RAF link was maintained by the presence of the Battle of Britain Locomotive Society’s Bulleid Light Pacific No. 34081 92 Squadron, courtesy of the Nene Valley Railway.
Read more on both of these stories in the November issue of The RM – on sale now!
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