Royal Scot - at last!

I finally caught up with the Royal Scot on Tuesday 4^th April. She was in the loop at Newark Northgate station, waiting for her path southwards back to Southall, following a visit to the North York Moors Railway. I had never seen her before because she spent her last active BR days based on former Midland lines at Nottingham, when we were doing most of our spotting on the West Coast Main Line at Crewe and Preston. Now I only need to see 4 Scots out of the total of 71 class members, which, of course, is not going to happen.

There was quite a crowd on the station, as is often the case on such occasions. The station staff at Newark are generally very helpful and welcoming in permitting access through the barriers to the platforms for the viewing of steam specials. It is obviously good PR for the industry, reflecting the continued, widely held affection for our railway heritage amongst the public at large. I noticed a number of commuters who were clearly surprised by her presence but who also bothered to stop to take their own photographs of her on their phones, presumably to share later with friends and family.

Rail fans often bring children and grandchildren to such events, nurturing an interest that will surely help to maintain the railway preservation movement in the future. An added bonus on Tuesday was the arrival of Deltic diesel No. 55018 Ballymoss, returning to its old stamping ground at the head of the extra working, which also included two ex-BR Mark 1 support coaches.

The Deltic left the rest of the formation behind to head south alone, before Royal Scot departed in a cloud of steam that was so all-enveloping that you could almost claim that she disappeared in a puff of smoke. It was good job that there had been plenty of time to take photos before her shrouded exit from the scene.