LNER A2 Class 60532 Blue Peter
Encyclopedia
LNER Peppercorn A2 Class No. 60532 Blue Peter is the sole survivor of 15 locomotives of the 4-6-2
Peppercorn A2 Class, designed by Arthur Peppercorn
of the LNER. 60532 worked between 1948 and 1966, and is now preserved in the care of the North Eastern Locomotive Preservation Group (NELPG)
at Barrow Hill Engine Shed
in Derbyshire
.
and out shopped by the newly formed British Railways on 25 March 1948. The initial livery was LNER apple green with British Railways on the tender sides.
60532 was named in the LNER tradition of using the names of famous racehorses. Blue Peter III
was the name of a horse owned by Harry Primrose, 6th Earl of Rosebery
, which in 1939 won races including the Epsom Derby
and the 2000 Guineas. The horse earnt almost £32,000 for Lord Rosebury, more than enough to purchase three Doncaster Pacific locomotives at the time.
sheds. 60532 was allocated to the North Eastern Region of BR at York
, where it worked principally over the East Coast Main Line
.
In the autumn of 1949 five A2's were overhauled at Doncaster where a number of modifications were made, including the fitting of a multiple valve regulator and a double blastpipe
and chimney, together with Kylchap
cowls. Subsequently the five A2's, including 60532, moved to Scotland
to make up for deficiencies experienced with the Thompson Class A2/2
's (rebuilt LNER Class P2
). 60532 was allocated to Aberdeen
, with all the Scottish based A2s used mainly on express passenger services between Aberdeen and Edinburgh, which benefited from their greater power and acceleration.
After the English based A2's were withdrawn in 1962/3, the three remaining Scottish A2's remained in service until 1966. Replaced by diesel power, 60532 was allocated to Dundee
and became the last Peppercorn Pacific to be overhauled at Darlington Works. As a result it was often requested for rail tours, working as far as Holyhead
and Exeter St Davids.
60532's final rail tour was in October 1966 over the Waverley Line
and the West Coast Main Line
over Beattock
. 60532 was withdrawn from service on 31 December 1966, and put into store.
from British Rail in 1966. After her failure in 1968 he tried to buy an A1, but after the last one was cut up he was offered and purchased 60532 in 1968. The locomotive is still owned by the Drury family.
After preservation 60532 was the subject of a campaign for its restoration on the BBC
Television series Blue Peter
, and the locomotive has subsequently featured several times in the programme. Restoration was undertaken at York, Leeds
and Doncaster Works where it was repainted in LNER apple green livery as No 532. 60,000 people witnessed its renaming by the BBC Blue Peter programme presenters at a Doncaster Works Open Day in 1971.
Moved to the Dinting Railway Centre
it did little running, and in late 1987 the NELPG took charge of 60532 and A4 Bittern on long-term loan from the Drury family. Restored at the Imperial Chemical Industries
works at Wilton, Redcar and Cleveland
, 60532 was renamed by the BBC Blue Peter programme for a second time in December 1991.
It was then moved to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway
for running in. The locomotive obtained its main line certificate in 1992 and subsequently worked many rail tours over the Settle and Carlisle Railway and as far north as its old depot of Aberdeen.
.
During an unscheduled stop at Durham station the inexperienced footplate crew overfilled the boiler
. As the train departed south across Durham
viaduct an initial slip was poorly controlled by the driver, who then reopened the regulator too early, probably worried about stalling on the bank up to Relly Mill. The force of the initial slip caused the boiler to prime, carrying water over into the regulator valve and jamming it open. This allowed passage of steam through to the cylinders, perpetuating the slip and accelerating the driving wheels. When the driver attempted to wind the reversing gear back into mid-position to halt the slip, the force of the boiler spun it into full-forward position, and the driving wheels reached a rotational speed of 140 mph before the cylinder heads blew off and the motion disintegrated.
The driver suffered major injury to his arms, as a result of the screw reversing lever whipping around when he released it. The accident brought to light the importance of train crews being trained on the specific locomotives they were driving, rather than simply a common general instruction on steam locomotives. Neither the driver or fireman had ever worked 60532 before, and were unaware of the locomotive's sensitivity to priming, which led to the accident.
to Preston via Newcastle
and Carlisle
. In 1998 60532 ran an Edinburgh to London excursion to mark the 40th anniversary of the Blue Peter TV programme, passing through Durham on the way.
60532's mainline boiler certificate expired in September 2001 by which time it was again based at the NYMR, where it worked until the end of the 2002 season. It was subsequently displayed at the Darlington Railway Centre and Museum
. On 22 May 2007 BBC Look North
News reported that the locomotive was being moved into storage in Chesterfield
, due to the renovation of the museum, and would not be returning.
60532 is now based at Barrow Hill Engine Shed
in Derbyshire
, with the NELPG looking to raise £600,000 for restoration of the locomotive to main line running.
60532 has been repainted from British Railways Brunswick green into British Railways apple green livery, similar to the first livery used on the A1 Class 60163 Tornado, .
4-6-2
4-6-2, in the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles , six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and two trailing wheels on one axle .These locomotives are also known as Pacifics...
Peppercorn A2 Class, designed by Arthur Peppercorn
Arthur Peppercorn
Arthur Henry Peppercorn, OBE was the last Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London and North Eastern Railway.- Career :...
of the LNER. 60532 worked between 1948 and 1966, and is now preserved in the care of the North Eastern Locomotive Preservation Group (NELPG)
North Eastern Locomotive Preservation Group
The North Eastern Locomotive Preservation Group was formed in 1966 with the intention of preserving some of the steam locomotives then still working on regular goods or passenger trains in North East England ....
at Barrow Hill Engine Shed
Barrow Hill Engine Shed
Barrow Hill Roundhouse & Railway Centre, until 1948 known as Staveley Roundhouse & Train Centre, is a former Midland Railway roundhouse in Barrow Hill, near Staveley and Chesterfield, Derbyshire .-History:...
in Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
.
Construction
60532 was built at Doncaster WorksDoncaster Works
Doncaster railway works is in the town of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England.Always referred to as "the Plant", it was established by the Great Northern Railway in 1853, replacing the previous works in Boston and Peterborough...
and out shopped by the newly formed British Railways on 25 March 1948. The initial livery was LNER apple green with British Railways on the tender sides.
60532 was named in the LNER tradition of using the names of famous racehorses. Blue Peter III
Blue Peter III
Blue Peter was a British bred Thoroughbred racehorse whose career was cut short by the outbreak of World War II. He won the Epsom Derby and was later a Leading broodmare sire in Great Britain & Ireland....
was the name of a horse owned by Harry Primrose, 6th Earl of Rosebery
Harry Primrose, 6th Earl of Rosebery
Albert Edward Harry Meyer Archibald Primrose, 6th Earl of Rosebery and 2nd Earl of Midlothian , known by his third name of Harry, was a UK politician who briefly served as Secretary of State for Scotland in 1945...
, which in 1939 won races including the Epsom Derby
Epsom Derby
The Derby Stakes, popularly known as The Derby, internationally as the Epsom Derby, and under its present sponsor as the Investec Derby, is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies...
and the 2000 Guineas. The horse earnt almost £32,000 for Lord Rosebury, more than enough to purchase three Doncaster Pacific locomotives at the time.
BR service
Initially all the A2s were allocated to EnglishEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
sheds. 60532 was allocated to the North Eastern Region of BR at York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
, where it worked principally over the East Coast Main Line
East Coast Main Line
The East Coast Main Line is a long electrified high-speed railway link between London, Peterborough, Doncaster, Wakefield, Leeds, York, Darlington, Newcastle and Edinburgh...
.
In the autumn of 1949 five A2's were overhauled at Doncaster where a number of modifications were made, including the fitting of a multiple valve regulator and a double blastpipe
Blastpipe
The blastpipe is part of the exhaust system of a steam locomotive that discharges exhaust steam from the cylinders into the smokebox beneath the chimney in order to increase the draught through the fire.- History :...
and chimney, together with Kylchap
Kylchap
The Kylchap steam locomotive steam locomotive exhaust system was designed and patented by the famous French steam engineer André Chapelon, using a second-stage nozzle designed by the Finnish engineer Kyösti Kylälä and known as the Kylälä spreader; thus the name KylChap for this design.The Kylchap...
cowls. Subsequently the five A2's, including 60532, moved to Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
to make up for deficiencies experienced with the Thompson Class A2/2
LNER Thompson Class A2/2
The London and North Eastern Railway Class A2/2 was a class of 4-6-2 steam locomotives. The A2/2 were former members of Sir Nigel Gresley’s P2 Class of eight-coupled express passenger locomotives. Edward Thompson was appointed on the 28 April 1941 and decided to gain experience by rebuilding the...
's (rebuilt LNER Class P2
LNER Class P2
The London and North Eastern Railway Class P2 was a class of 2-8-2 steam locomotives designed by Sir Nigel Gresley for working heavy express trains over the harsh Edinburgh to Aberdeen Line...
). 60532 was allocated to Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
, with all the Scottish based A2s used mainly on express passenger services between Aberdeen and Edinburgh, which benefited from their greater power and acceleration.
After the English based A2's were withdrawn in 1962/3, the three remaining Scottish A2's remained in service until 1966. Replaced by diesel power, 60532 was allocated to Dundee
Dundee
Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
and became the last Peppercorn Pacific to be overhauled at Darlington Works. As a result it was often requested for rail tours, working as far as Holyhead
Holyhead
Holyhead is the largest town in the county of Anglesey in the North Wales. It is also a major port adjacent to the Irish Sea serving Ireland....
and Exeter St Davids.
60532's final rail tour was in October 1966 over the Waverley Line
Waverley Line
The Waverley Line is an abandoned double track railway line that ran south from Edinburgh in Scotland through Midlothian and the Scottish Borders to Carlisle in England. It was built by the North British Railway Company; the first section, from Edinburgh to Hawick opened in 1849. The final section,...
and the West Coast Main Line
West Coast Main Line
The West Coast Main Line is the busiest mixed-traffic railway route in Britain, being the country's most important rail backbone in terms of population served. Fast, long-distance inter-city passenger services are provided between London, the West Midlands, the North West, North Wales and the...
over Beattock
Beattock
The village of Beattock is located in the southern lowlands of Scotland, and lies within the administrative area of Dumfries and Galloway. It is surrounded by the parish of Kirkpatrick Juxta. It was an important stabling point for horses in the olden days with a coach house at one end of the village...
. 60532 was withdrawn from service on 31 December 1966, and put into store.
Preservation
Geoff Drury had purchased LNER Class A4 4464 BitternLNER Class A4 4464 Bittern
4464 Bittern is a London and North Eastern Railway Class A4 steam locomotive. Built for the LNER in 1937 at Doncaster Works as works number 1866, it was originally numbered 4464. It was renumbered 19 on 16 August 1946 under the LNER 1946 renumbering scheme and after nationalisation in 1948 BR added...
from British Rail in 1966. After her failure in 1968 he tried to buy an A1, but after the last one was cut up he was offered and purchased 60532 in 1968. The locomotive is still owned by the Drury family.
After preservation 60532 was the subject of a campaign for its restoration on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Television series Blue Peter
Blue Peter
Blue Peter is the world's longest-running children's television show, having first aired in 1958. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC channel. During its history there have been many presenters, often consisting of two women and two men at a time...
, and the locomotive has subsequently featured several times in the programme. Restoration was undertaken at York, Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
and Doncaster Works where it was repainted in LNER apple green livery as No 532. 60,000 people witnessed its renaming by the BBC Blue Peter programme presenters at a Doncaster Works Open Day in 1971.
Moved to the Dinting Railway Centre
Dinting railway station
Dinting railway station serves the village of Dinting near Glossop in Derbyshire, England. The station is on the Manchester-Glossop Line 20 km east of Manchester Piccadilly. Prior to the Woodhead Line closure in 1981 Dinting was a station on a major cross Pennine route...
it did little running, and in late 1987 the NELPG took charge of 60532 and A4 Bittern on long-term loan from the Drury family. Restored at the Imperial Chemical Industries
Imperial Chemical Industries
Imperial Chemical Industries was a British chemical company, taken over by AkzoNobel, a Dutch conglomerate, one of the largest chemical producers in the world. In its heyday, ICI was the largest manufacturing company in the British Empire, and commonly regarded as a "bellwether of the British...
works at Wilton, Redcar and Cleveland
Wilton, Redcar and Cleveland
Wilton is a small village in the unitary authority of Redcar and Cleveland and the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England.-Geography:It is located between Redcar and Eston at the base of Eston Hills - to the east of Eston Nab. The village is noted for its golf course and castle, Wilton...
, 60532 was renamed by the BBC Blue Peter programme for a second time in December 1991.
It was then moved to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway
North Yorkshire Moors Railway
The North Yorkshire Moors Railway is a heritage railway in North Yorkshire, England. First opened in 1836 as the Whitby and Pickering Railway, the railway was planned in 1831 by George Stephenson as a means of opening up trade routes inland from the then important seaport of Whitby. The line...
for running in. The locomotive obtained its main line certificate in 1992 and subsequently worked many rail tours over the Settle and Carlisle Railway and as far north as its old depot of Aberdeen.
1994 accident
In 1994, during the first run of a preserved steam locomotive from Edinburgh to Newcastle, 60532 suffered extensive damage during a catastrophic uncontrolled wheelslipWheelslip
Articles on Wheelslip include:* Locomotive wheelslip, railways* Wheelspin, road vehicles* Wheelspin...
.
During an unscheduled stop at Durham station the inexperienced footplate crew overfilled the boiler
Boiler
A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications.-Materials:...
. As the train departed south across Durham
Durham
Durham is a city in north east England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county...
viaduct an initial slip was poorly controlled by the driver, who then reopened the regulator too early, probably worried about stalling on the bank up to Relly Mill. The force of the initial slip caused the boiler to prime, carrying water over into the regulator valve and jamming it open. This allowed passage of steam through to the cylinders, perpetuating the slip and accelerating the driving wheels. When the driver attempted to wind the reversing gear back into mid-position to halt the slip, the force of the boiler spun it into full-forward position, and the driving wheels reached a rotational speed of 140 mph before the cylinder heads blew off and the motion disintegrated.
The driver suffered major injury to his arms, as a result of the screw reversing lever whipping around when he released it. The accident brought to light the importance of train crews being trained on the specific locomotives they were driving, rather than simply a common general instruction on steam locomotives. Neither the driver or fireman had ever worked 60532 before, and were unaware of the locomotive's sensitivity to priming, which led to the accident.
Post 1994
The damage to the motion, cylinders and driving wheels was devastating. Moved to Thornaby MPD, the repair work took 18 months to complete. 60532 was then moved again to the NYMR for running in. It resumed its mainline career in November 1996, working a charter from MiddlesbroughMiddlesbrough
Middlesbrough is a large town situated on the south bank of the River Tees in north east England, that sits within the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire...
to Preston via Newcastle
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
and Carlisle
Carlisle railway station
Carlisle railway station, also known as Carlisle Citadel station, is a railway station whichserves the Cumbrian City of Carlisle, England, and is a major station on the West Coast Main Line, lying south of Glasgow Central, and north of London Euston...
. In 1998 60532 ran an Edinburgh to London excursion to mark the 40th anniversary of the Blue Peter TV programme, passing through Durham on the way.
60532's mainline boiler certificate expired in September 2001 by which time it was again based at the NYMR, where it worked until the end of the 2002 season. It was subsequently displayed at the Darlington Railway Centre and Museum
Darlington Railway Centre and Museum
Darlington Railway Centre and Museum, also known as Head of Steam, is located on the 1825 route of the Stockton and Darlington Railway which was the world's first steam powered passenger railway. Run by Darlington Borough Council the museum is located in the northern suburbs of Darlington in the...
. On 22 May 2007 BBC Look North
BBC Look North
BBC Look North is a name used by the BBC for its local regional news programme in three regions in the North of England:*BBC Look North for the BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire region*BBC Look North for the BBC Yorkshire region...
News reported that the locomotive was being moved into storage in Chesterfield
Chesterfield
Chesterfield is a market town and a borough of Derbyshire, England. It lies north of Derby, on a confluence of the rivers Rother and Hipper. Its population is 70,260 , making it Derbyshire's largest town...
, due to the renovation of the museum, and would not be returning.
60532 is now based at Barrow Hill Engine Shed
Barrow Hill Engine Shed
Barrow Hill Roundhouse & Railway Centre, until 1948 known as Staveley Roundhouse & Train Centre, is a former Midland Railway roundhouse in Barrow Hill, near Staveley and Chesterfield, Derbyshire .-History:...
in Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
, with the NELPG looking to raise £600,000 for restoration of the locomotive to main line running.
60532 has been repainted from British Railways Brunswick green into British Railways apple green livery, similar to the first livery used on the A1 Class 60163 Tornado, .