A trip to Nene Valley Railway to see Sir Nigel Gresley now in BR Blue. Also saw at Leicester the other day too.
LNER A4 No. 60007 ‘Sir Nigel Gresley’ BR Blue, Light Engine Passing Leicester Station 5th April 2023 FULL VIDEO LINK [ Ссылка ]
LNER Class A4 4498 Sir Nigel Gresley is a preserved British steam locomotive built by Doncaster Works for the London & North Eastern Railway in 1937.
Sir Nigel Gresley wore many liveries throughout its career. It was released to traffic on 30 October 1937 in the standard LNER garter blue of the A4 Pacifics. New numbers and letters for the tender in stainless steel were added in a general overhaul 16 January 1939. Sir Nigel Gresley was repainted into wartime black with LNER markings on 21 February 1942. The next repaint was into black with NE markings on 20 October 1943, as a cutback. After the war, Sir Nigel Gresley regained LNER garter blue livery with red/white lining on 6 March 1947.
With the formation of British Railways came new liveries and Sir Nigel Gresley was painted into British Railways dark blue with black and white lining on 27 September 1950. The final livery change was into British Railways brunswick green livery on 17 April 1952. In preservation, Sir Nigel Gresley wore garter blue (with stainless steel letters and numbers as 4498 added later) from 1966 until its overhaul in the late 1990s, when it gained its British Railways blue livery as 60007. This livery was retained between its 2006 and 2015 overhauls. Prior to the locomotive returning to steam in 2022, the BR Blue livery was voted as the livery that the locomotive would ultimately wear. However, upon completion of its 2022 overhaul, it entered service in LNER Wartime Black as 4498. The locomotive remained in Wartime Black until January 2023 when it was again unveiled in its now trademark BR Blue.
The Nene Valley Railway (NVR) is a preserved railway in Cambridgeshire, England, running between Peterborough Nene Valley and Yarwell Junction. The line is 7+1⁄2 miles (12.1 km) in length. There are stations at each terminus, and three stops en route: Orton Mere, Ferry Meadows and Wansford.
In 1845, the London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR) company was given parliamentary assent to construct a line from Blisworth in Northamptonshire to Peterborough. Completed in 1847, it was Peterborough's first railway line. It terminated at Peterborough, later 'Peterborough East’ station.
The line was of little significance until the late 19th century, when the London & North Western Railway (L&NWR), which had absorbed the L&BR, constructed a line via Nassington and King's Cliffe to Seaton, below Welland Viaduct. This turned Wansford, previously an unimportant village station, into a major junction. Its importance increased a few years later when the Great Northern Railway constructed another line via Sutton, Southorpe and Barnack to Stamford, on the Midland Railway line. In 1884 the line received a royal visit when the royal family travelled from Peterborough to Barnwell, some 13 miles (21 km) beyond Wansford, to visit Barnwell Manor, home of the then Duke of Gloucester. The station building is now preserved at Wansford station on the NVR, and is known as the Barnwell building.
Between 1900 and the 1960s, the line formed an important connection from Norwich, Cambridge and eastern England to Northampton and the Midlands. The line was generally acknowledged to be a secondary main line and frequently saw large engines such as Black 5s and B1s. However, the NVR was one of the last passenger line closures of the Dr Beeching era, services to Northampton and Rugby having ceased in 1964 and 1966 respectively. It remained open until 1972 for freight traffic only.
