TRAINSPOTTERS in Warrington were given an early morning treat when the Sir Nigel Gresley locomotive, which set the post-war speed record for steam traction at 112mph, passed through Bank Quay today, Wednesday.
Named after British railway engineer Sir Herbert Nigel Gresley CBE, who was also responsible for the “Flying Scotsman” he was one of Britain’s most famous steam locomotive engineers, who rose to become Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London and North Eastern
The N°4498 Sir Nigel Gresley was the 100th Gresley Pacific built by the Great Northern Railway/London and North Eastern Railway. Built at Doncaster as works N°1863, the locomotive entered service in 1937 following a naming ceremony at Marylebone station on 26th November.
The locomotive was mainly based at London King’s Cross, with a spell at Grantham during World War II, and was briefly re-numbered as N°7 before becoming N°60007 when the LNER was merged into British Railways.
On 3rd June 1956, Sir Nigel Gresley had the honour of hauling the Royal Train from King’s Cross to York with H.M. the Queen on board. The “Stephenson Locomotive Society Special” of the 23rd May 1959 was the first train in the UK with a booked or advertised schedule of over 100 m.p.h. and during that trip, N°60007 set the official post-war speed record for steam traction of 112 mph on May 23 1959.
Like the “Flying Scotsman” the train is now used for excursions.
Sir Nigel Gresley passing through Bank Quay – Picture John Hopkins
