What was the very last steam engine to work on BR at the end of steam on each region and the date

Were you Mr. Spock in another life by any chance?

 

I find the end of the steam era, interesting, sad, yes, but interesting, The amount of planning to ensure engines, either in convoys, or in ones and twos, were moved to faciliate their onward movement to the scrap yards must have been a logistical nightmere, and of course, you still had a railway to run, often with new forms of traction, that was not yet reliable , and of course, staff had to be trained up on these new electrics and deisels , then there was the job of moving dead redundant steam engines, over routes that possisibly they had never worked , axle loadings etc, break forces etc, hauling say 4 dead steam engines, thats what a good 400 tons, i would imagine, if your load started pushing you down a gradient, and your deisel's breaks were not that good, you could come unstuck very fast.

 

The type of train you describe ,un fitted, would need a brake van on the rear, if a coupling broke going up hill you would be even more unstuck as you put it.

 

Not so. The dead steam locos still had a handbrake, and many were run to their final destination without a brake van, the rear loco's handbrake doing the job.

Photo of Ivatt 2 6447 and Stanier Crab 2968 en-route to Barry passing Dallam Branch Sidings, Warrington, at this stage hauled by an unidentified 8F. Photo by Dave Lennon: and the pair later at Hereford by David Seabourne, both 2 April 1967.

 

Yes I meant to put and/or with a minder on one of the loco's. But the outcome is just the same a diesel would not be pushed by 400tons of dead loco's down hill.
I lived near Cohens Scrap Yard Cransley Kettering the first batch of loco's , went straight on shed and included some Schools class . From then on scrap loco's were left in the down sidings .They were taken down the Loddington branch to Cohens Cransley ,down I in40 ,by the Wellingboro' to Corby pick up ,always a class 45,complete with train. So I dare say there was several combinations of how withdrawn loco' were moved about.