1T57 IN SEARCH OF THAT LAST STEAM PHOTO
The days leading up to the end of steam operation on British Railways 50 years ago on August 11, 1968 will always live in the memory for those who witnessed it.
The week before had seen the final regular steam passenger working. Remarkably, steam was used right to the end to transport ordinary passengers six days a week from Preston to Liverpool and Blackpool.
I was one ofthe ‘Master Neverers Association’ (MNA) gang who endeavoured to clean the last operational engines to make sure they would finish their days with some pride. The MNA was well-known for its cleaning exploits between 1965-68, when hundreds of locomotives received attention from these very unofficial cleaners. Indeed, one ofthe many engines cleaned was ‘Black Five’ No. 45318, scheduled to haul the last train –the 9.25pm Preston-Liverpool Exchange on Sunday, August 3.
Its headboard, made by enthusiasts, was simple. It said: ‘The End’.
For more than 140 years steam locomotives had been used to haul scheduled passengers trains, but now it was over.
The day before the ‘Fifteen Guinea Special’, I went to Carnforth to see Britannia No. 70013 and check that it was cleaned and take
