The afternoon of Saturday, March 13 will see Brigg train fans out in force to watch a surviving giant of the steam age pass along our rail line and through the station.
Britannia class loco No 70013 Oliver Cromwell will be in charge of an enthusiasts' train from London which is visiting Cleethorpes and New Holland. It's arriving via the Lincoln-Market Rasen-Barnetby route, but returning home by using the Brigg line.
No times are yet to hand but we hope to post them a few days before the steam loco's nostalgic visit.
We lost the last of our North Lincs locos back in 1966, but there are quite a few Brigg trainspotters still about who will be there to get a look at Oliver Cromwell.
Preserved steam loco excursion through Brigg over the past decade or so have included a B1 4-6-0, a Stanier Black Five 4-6-0 and the Gresley V2 2-6-2 Green Arrow, which was running so late that some folk went home and missed it.
Patience has always been a virtue when trainspotting!
There will be much more about Oliver Cromwell's visit in the next issue of the Scunthorpe Telegraph's Nostalgia magazine which goes on sale at the very end of this month (75p). It will also include a tribute to that long-serving Brigg newsagent of the past, Winnie Cammack.
The main picture (above) shows Oliver Cromwell in Barnetby last February when it hauled a special train from Cleethorpes to London (via the Scunthorpe line, not ours). Among the passengers were Brigg Town Cricket Club first team captain Lee Fielden and his wife Fiona, seen (inset) with the loco during a 'water stop' along the way.
Talking about names, Nige, what was the first name of that train designer, Gresley?
ReplyDeleteIt's on the tip of my tongue; think it may begin with, 'N'!
Apart from the bridge, (re pix) the symaphore signals are in keeping wuth 'Oliver Cromwell's' vintage.
More names: Ollie C., the person, went to Sydney Sussex College, Cambridge...and OC later became MP for Cambridge.
He remains widely hated in Ireland and initiated the Irish unrest, which still persist today.
Local, Sir John Nelthorpe perpetuated English rule over the Irish - hence the 'Red Hand of Ulster' in the family crest and which appears in SJN's school's badge.
However, this symbol has disappeared from the Nelthorpe Arm's pub sign.....perhaps for obvious reasons.
In the days of steam - it wasn't the wrong leaves on the tracks that was the big danger.
The odd hot ember from the chimney set fire to the embankments and people's fences...and a trip to the seaside by train in the summer resembled some sort of British Railway's scorched earth policy!!
If the embankment environs weren't on fire, then there were often charred remains of burnt grass, or somebody's smokng shed!!