BACK after 21 years – with A2 Pacific No. 60532 Blue Peter included in the new SaphosTours brochure thanks to its potential return to steam later in 2023, attention is again focusing on the history of this preservation icon which is once more set take the sector by storm.
The A2 Pacifics were four subclasses. Each variation had double chimneys, 6ft 2in driving wheels and three cylinders with divided drive, whereby the inside cylinder drove the front driving wheels and the outside cylinders the centre drivers.
The class was introduced between 1943 and 1948 and had two designers, Edward Thompson and Arthur Peppercorn. The majority were built by the LNER immediately before nationalisation took place in 1948.
➜A2/2 class: BR Nos. 60501 to 60506 (LNER 501-6), power classification 7MT,
