Ready for the Off

In a timeless scene at Loughborough, we see sole surviving Great Northern Railway N2 Class number 1744, prepare to head south with a train for Leicester North.

Also, just as a bit of fun, I decided to give it a bit of a tint effect to make it look 1950's or 60's.

The Great Northern Railway (GNR) Class N2 is an 0-6-2T side tank steam locomotive designed by Nigel Gresley and introduced in 1920. Further batches were built by the London and North Eastern Railway from 1925. They had superheaters and piston valves driven by Stephenson valve gear. Some locomotives were fitted with condensing apparatus for working on the Metropolitan Railway Widened Lines between King's Cross and Moorgate.

107 of these locomotives were built between 1920 and 1929, designed for suburban passenger operations, and worked most of the duties out of King's Cross and Moorgate, often hauling one or two quad-art sets of articulated suburban coaches. These ran to places such as New Barnet and Gordon Hill on the Hertford loop. They also hauled some empty coaching stock trains between King's Cross and Ferme Park carriage sidings.

They were also a common sight in and around Glasgow and Edinburgh operating suburban services, mainly on what is today known as the North Clyde Line.

N2's would continue to work their originally intended duties at Kings Cross until the arrival of the diesels in the mid/late 1950's. The first withdrawal was in 1955, but a full withdrawal programme did not start until 1957. Many of their later duties included standing-in for diesel failures and acting as station pilots. The last thirteen N2's were withdrawn in 1962. One of these last thirteen, No. 69523 (LNER No. 4744, GNR 1744) was purchased by the Gresley Society and survives today on the Great Central Railway.