Gresley double-header at Shildon

‘Pacific’ power for a brake van shuttle. Gresley 4-6-2s No. 60103 Flying Scotsman and No. 60009 Union of South Africa pull their train rather short train on the demonstration line at Shildon on July 30. EDDIE BOBROWSKI


Preservation history was made on July 30 as ‘A3’ No 60103 Flying Scotsman and ‘A4’ No. 60009 Union of South Africa double-headed the same train at Locomotion: the National Railway Museum at Shildon.

It is believed that this is the first time an ‘A3’ and an ‘A4’ have been at the head of the same train in preservation. The unique pairing was one of the highlights of the ‘Shildon Shed Bash’, which ran July 23-30.

Gary Campbell, Museum Manager at Shildon, said of the pairing: “This is the perfect showstopper to close our Scotsman Season in style – it’s a real one-off and rail fans won’t have seen anything similar for more than five decades.”

Although the Gresley ‘Pacifics’ were the stars of the show, they were joined by LNER ‘V2’ No. 4771 Green Arrow, Raven ‘Q6’ 0-8-0 No. No. 63395, NER ‘J72’ No. 69023 ‘Joem’ and ‘Deltic’ No. D9002 King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry.

The NRM has reported that over 40,000 people came to visit the Eastern Region-themed event, a quarter of which came to Shildon on the opening weekend alone.

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