The Green Arrows!
John Heaton FCILT examines the highs and lows of Gresleydesigned ‘V2s’ in their latter days of working on the East Coast Main Line.
IT IS January 1966. Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘Sound of Silence’ is No. 1 in the music charts – and that is exactly what will soon envelop Leeds Central Station, as it has outlived its usefulness and is slated for closure. A rebuilt City station can accommodate the rapidly dwindling train services of Yorkshire’s largest population centre. The North Eastern Railway (NER) part of the station, known as ‘New’ when opened in 1869, will not survive to see its centenary because next year it will be rebuilt and become ‘New’ yet again. Brutal, cheesepared, but new. “The present now will later be past. The order is rapidly fadin’,” as Bob Dylan had apprised us.
And here comes a surprise manifestation of the old order, as weary Gresley ‘V2’ 2-6-2 No. 60824 wheels the 10-coach (350tons tare) 13.54 York-Cardiff Central alongside the new Platform 12 that has already replaced the tired, soot-blackened station fabric of the NER structure. It is a rare visit from this Edinburgh St Margaret’s loco, and its work is almost done as it will be withdrawn for scrap eight months from now. Today, ‘V2’ has covered for an unavailable rostered Brush 2750hp Type 4 (Class 47) to Leeds, where Holbeck has found a spare ‘Peak’ to work the train forward. This must be one of the last occasions when steam will give way to diesel on timetabled midweek cross-country services.
