East Lancashire steam enthusiasts were treated on Wednesday, August 27, when a famous steam engine that once operated crack expresses like the Golden Arrow from London to the South Coast passed through Blackburn.
A green-painted Tangmere, a Battle of Britain class locomotive numbered 34067, passed through the station ahead of a trip to Scarborough.
Named after the famous fighter ace Douglas Bader’s Second World War RAF base, the locomotive pulled traditional Pullman-style carriages.
Julia Ann Walton shared the fantastic photographs of the train with the Lancashire Telegraph via the Camera Club.
She said: “Full steam ahead for The Tangmere Steam Locomotive as she steamed into Blackburn today, picking up passengers to Scarborough.
“She arrived early, building up steam before setting off.”
First introduced in 1945 by the Southern Railway, the train was designed by Oliver Bulleid and worked out of Stewarts Lane in London, Salisbury and finally Eastleigh.
Having covered almost 700,000 miles, Tangmere was pulled from service in 1963 and, since then, has undergone major restoration, predominantly at Ian Riley engineering works in Bury, Lancashire.
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At the time, the train was incorporating several new developments in British steam technology and was one of the first to use welding in the construction process and to use steel fireboxes, which meant they could be more easily constructed under wartime austerity.
Additionally, they were designed to be lighter in weight than their sister locomotives, the Merchant Navy class, to permit use on a wider variety of routes, including the south-west of England and the Kent coast.
However, due to problems with some of the new features, such as the Bulleid chain-driven valve gear, 60 trains were rebuilt by the British Railways during the late 1950s.
Unfortunately, users of the Tangmere this weekend will not be treated to the full steam experience, as the locomotive will have to run on diesel due to ongoing wildfires in North Yorkshire.
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