B1 61306 'Mayflower's' first run through Harringay in preservation

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by pamish on March 3, 2015 at 17:46

So SoTo at about 8.40, I may just make that.

Lookit all those closed stations on the map, StAnns, Hornsey Rd etc.  How useful they would be now.

Permalink Reply by Gordon T on March 3, 2015 at 18:30

Yes, not to mention 'Junction Road for Tufnell Park' - and for the remotest Royal Mail Delivery Office in North London.....   

Permalink Reply by Chris on March 4, 2015 at 11:33

Heres a shot I took of 61306 on shed at Carnforth in June 1968 at the end of it's BR days. Will be great to see again going through Harringay, no doubt a much cleaner looking loco. Thanks for the heads-up!  Chris

Permalink Reply by Gordon T on March 4, 2015 at 21:12

It will be shiny bright on Saturday (and Sunday morning, from King's Cross through Harringay station, not sure about times), but even the condition in your well-retrieved picture was relatively clean in them there dark days, of course! Oh, and someone had already 'liberated' the smokebox numberplate.

Permalink Reply by Stephen Middleton on March 8, 2015 at 4:28

Sunday up the mainline: http://alexandraparkneighbours.org.uk/events/steam-train-passing-th...

Permalink Reply by Glenn Wallis on March 6, 2015 at 7:25

I was wondering why 61306 was at Carnforth in June 1968, far from her 'home' region, then my aging brain remembered. A group of wealthy steam loco owners bought Carnforth MPD from BR when it closed in August 1968 and kept there along with several Black 5s, an Ivatt 2 2-6-0, a German pacific and several other locos, 61306. That's why she was there in June, with her chimney covered and smokebox number plate removed for safe keeping, she had already been purchased from BR.

I remember one of the first railtours I travelled on after the return of steam to the main line was in 1976 with LNER 1306 as she was by then with 'Mayflower' name plates.

Carnforth changed hands in the 1990s and is now home to David Smith's West Coast Railways business. 1306 migrated to the Great Central Railway around the same time. She too has changed owners several times over the years.

Permalink Reply by Chris on March 6, 2015 at 9:39

The first time I saw this loco I was going past on my early morning train to school and 61306 was in steam on the turntable being turned, presumably for it's run 'home'. It then reappeared again in storage when this photo was taken, having by then passed into private ownership. The early morning trains we took to school were always Britannia hauled (Barrow-Preston), I will always remember their sound and smell as they stormed into our local station. 70013 was also in storage there for a long time as well. Also an ancient loco 'Thundersley' which I do not know much about.

Great to see this loco out and about again!

Permalink Reply by Glenn Wallis on March 6, 2015 at 10:25

'Thundersley' was a Whitelegg designed 4-4-2T for the London, Tilbury & Southend Railway which may have well worked St. Pancras - Southend trains through Harringay under the joint management arrangements of the line by the LT&SR and Midland Railways. The loco was retained by the LMS (successor to the Midland) and passed into the National Collection and was placed on indefinite loan to Bressingham Gardens Steam Museum, Diss around 1968 and I'm pretty sure it is still there, having never been to the National Railway Museum which opened in 1975 and is its owner.

Permalink Reply by Chris on March 6, 2015 at 11:09

Thanks for the info, very interesting history to think that it could well have worked through here in it's day. I will look back at my old B&W's and see if I can find a pic of Thundersley.

Permalink Reply by John D on March 6, 2015 at 7:44

Carnforth Station was, of course, the location used for the exteriors of the film " Brief Encounter "

Permalink Reply by Laurence on March 6, 2015 at 22:34

When I look up the Saturday morning train here, it says "diesel hauled" ... has it been changed?

Permalink Reply by Glenn Wallis on March 6, 2015 at 23:28

Don't worry. The schedule for 1Z21 shown on Real Time Trains displays the actual data (although in a different format) in Network Rail's train scheduling and running computer 'TRUST' (which hasn't changed since BR days). There is no 'timing type' for a steam loco in TRUST so NR's schedulers have to input it as a 60mph max diesel loco 'timing load', probably a class 37 or 47 diesel. The coaching stock is rated for either 90 or 100 mph but 'Mayflower' is limited to 60mph because she is only equipped with  basic Automatic Warning System and not the more recent Train Protection Warning System which would allow 75mph running. Running a steam loco on the main line is hugely expensive these days, on top of all the fitness to run examinations and certifications and it is not easy or cheap adapting modern electronic safety systems which have to be there to work on what is basically a hard riding mobile 'kettle'!

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