London North Eastern Railway A4 Class Pacific 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley

In 1935 the London and North Eastern Railway introduced the streamlined A4 Class locomotives to the design of the then H.N. Gresley (later to be Sir). Initially introduced to haul the new Silver Jubilee express between London and Newcastle the engines were an instant success with the first of them, Silver Link, setting a new British speed record of 112mph on the first press run! Such performances were not the norm but the engines were always regarded as the racehorses of the fleet and of course on 3rd July 1938 A4 Mallard set an all time world speed record for steam traction of 126mph.
In 1937 the 100th Pacific to the designs of Gresley was built by the London and North Eastern Railway, and the railway honoured her designer by giving the locomotive his name. This loco, Sir Nigel Gresley, now bearing the British Railways number 60007, was saved from scrapping in 1966 by a small group of determined men who set up the A4 Preservation Society.

Pentax K10D 18-55mm
1/750 f11 ISO400

from an original turned into a coloured pencil sketch and selective coloured.

388 views @ 3 Sept 2011