A4 Sir Nigel Gresley on test at Severn Valley after overhaul

AFTER almost seven years, A4 Pacific No. 4498 Sir Nigel Gresley turned its wheels under its own power at about midday on Wednesday, March 23, when backing out of Bridgnorth Shed on the Severn Valley Railway.

Built by the LNER at Doncaster as the 100th Gresley Pacific in 1937, on May 23, 1959, as No. 60007 it achieved the postwar speed record of 112mph on Stoke Bank on the East Coast Main Line, where sister No. 4468 Mallard set the world speed record for steam of 126mph on July 3, 1938.

On September 30, 2015, as No. 60007, it hauled its last train on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway before being towed with its support coach that November from Grosmont