LNER B1 61306 'Mayflower' erupts through Clapham Junction on The Cathedrals Express! 14/02/15
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- Опубліковано 8 лют 2025
- Kicking up an absolute storm at Clapham Junction is preserved London and North Eastern Railway B1 61306 'Mayflower', applying the power whilst working the Cathedrals Express from London Victoria to Eastleigh.
The LNER B1 Classes were built by the Thompson company between 1942 and 1952 as a mixed traffic equivalent of the highly successful LMS Black 5 and the Great Western Hall Class locomotives. The class made their initial start on the Great Eastern Mainline between London Liverpool Street and Ipswich, Harwich and Norwich, becoming an immediate success and being employed on London - Harwich 'Boat Trains', and the cheap construction costs ultimately resulted in 410 members of the class being built. The locomotive's had a relatively short life span much like many of the later LNER designs, with the final examples being withdrawn between 1961 and 1967 with only two members of the class preserved, including B1 number 61264 and 61306, which was initially never named but later donned the name of 'Mayflower' in preservation after the demise of original name bearer 61379.
61306 was in fact a British Railways built example, emerging from the North British Locomotive Works in 1948 after Nationalisation of the Railways earlier that year, and worked a charmed life in the Hull area throughout the 1950's before being transferred to Bradford in 1967 and withdrawn soon afterwards. The locomotive was immediately bought for preservation at Carnforth, where it was given the name 'Mayflower' and painted into LNER Apple Green, a livery it never wore due to the lateness of its construction. It was then transferred to the Great Central Railway between 1978 and 1989 before going into overhaul until 2006. The locomotive has recently undergone a 2 year overhaul at Washwood Heath in Birmingham and has returned in British Railways Apple Green similar to that worn by 60163 Tornado between 2009 and 2010.
Firstly though, and adorned in its lavish British Rail Blue with Union Flag to commemorate H.M. Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee, West Coast Railways owned Class 47, 47580 'County of Essex', leads the empty stock of the Cathedrals Express into London Victoria from its Southall base after a quick jaunt along the West London Line.
Prior to departure we get some quick examining shots of the beautifully restored locomotive as it is prepared for its jaunt across the South of England.
We then move to Clapham Junction, where as before steam forms mini-eruptions through gaps in the underpass before the train in a shroud of black smoke rumbles through the station towards Staines. And just to top-off what was already a fantastic day, 47580 gives us its own little eruption of smoke as it pushes the train up to speed, it's Sulzer engine rattling and screaming beautifully!
P.S. Happy Valentine's day everyone! I hope you all enjoy your day with the one you love most!
Enjoy!
Watching it years later still shows how much quality your videos have kept to. Well done :)
What a spacious railway place,lots of trains passing through it
Very sorry I haven't added this one to my Likes section before this is one of your all-time greats steam, diesel and electric all in one programme.... GOOD!!!!!
What an atmospheric shot of Mayflower passing under the junction. Smashing stuff. Dave
Thank you! :D
Ruairidh MacVeigh qq
Hey UK ! I'm a big fan of turn of a child, watching the various trains. Thank the author of this video and greetings from southern Poland :)
What do you mean by ‘fan of turn’ ?
@@bennickss As a child, I really liked to play with electric trains and watch trains and the entire infrastructure related to trains in real life. Now I like watching different trains from different countries on the internet.
Love the shot at Clapham, always a cracking spot when they come a cross!! Great work!! All the best..Andy : )
Wonderful video Ruairidh! 61306 is in immaculate condition and its driver chose the perfect time to open up just prior to reaching your position. Nicely captured and well produced video. Thanks. Ken
Thank you very much Ken! It was a truly amazing day! :D
An excellent series of clips Rory. A fantastic sight going through Clapham Jct I am sure you agree. Nice to see you at Victoria too. Cheers - Allan.
Thanks Allan! It was great to see you again, hopefully we can do this again sometime! :D
Lovely shots of mayflower and nicely captured, len.
Thank you very much! :D
That was just great. and what a beautiful engine Mayflower is, Thanks Rory
Thank you very much! :D
I always think the B1's were Edward Thompson's only design that looked any good. His rebuilds of some early Gresley Pacifics and P2's were a travesty!
Well done. Felt as though I was there.
Great video nice to see the 47 erupting at the end too! :-)
Thanks! I'm so glad they did that, a real cherry on top! :D
Ruairidh MacVeigh I managed to see the lot at Brighton with loads of clag too. My video coming soon! :)
trainmania100 Awesome! I'll keep my eye out for it! :D
beautiful
Beautiful images with passenger train and Steam Loco! Good job! Perfect video! Thumbs Up
Greetings from Romania
Andrew
Thank you very much! :D
Am I the ONLY American who loves British steam?!
No my friend..... we're right there with you loving all the history as well. Cheers from TX.
Florida Railfanning 812 Nope I love them
Florida Railfanning 812 no.
More like the 47 errupts!! shame that it needs to especially on the flat, no need to be involved
Driver just wanted to make it thrash!
It's flat there, but the B1 will already be on the 1 in 90 climb to Wandsworth Town. With a busy railway, they can't afford to grind up the bank without assistance.
Shame about the box, that B1 looks and sounds A1
see he is having a lot of help from the diesel at the back
Surely, a trailing load of approximately 400 imperial tons is slot to ask of class 5MT locomotive?
It's fine, if they didn't think Mayflower could do it alone, the 47 was there to assist if there were any problems.
georgeous vid!!
Great video mate.have liked and subscribed :)
A nice video done well!
Thanks! :D
At what time marker did it erupt?
Was that giant jack livery on the diesel-electric that necessary? (class 40 I don't terribly know)
Anyway it's showing
Isn't it a reproduction of an unofficial livery addition by Stratford shed to mark the Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977?
Clapham is where season 1 of ttte was filmed
Seems to be getting a lot of help from the Brush in the rear
Nice shot! Shame the 47 was doing a little work there... :/ Very nicely filmed. :)
Im not a train expert... Why is there a diesel at the end of the coaches? Is it pushing it along?
+Cheeky Prickswitch Normally its just there to power the lights and electrics in the carriages. Also serves as a backup in case something goes wrong.
+Cheeky Prickswitch Probably was but don't tell anyone
+Cheeky Prickswitch as you can see, the class 47 does clag up as the whole train gets on the main, probably helping due to slightly wet conditions, always loved that sulzer rattle... 580 doing a 47,7 impresssion
+richard timms of course, unless the driver was just showing off with the master handle in engine only......getting in on the act perhaps.
Also it's there to drag the train if it ever needs to go backwards, like taking the empty coaches into Victoria
A bongo erupting, I doubt it we had 1306 at gcr Loughborough when owned by Gerald bowden never erupted then
I always thought that steam crews wanted the diesel driver to sit quietly to the rear.
Pisses me off when they put a diesel on the back to assist. It takes away the full charm
A murrain on whoever put the box on the back. And as for the fool who opened it's throttle......
Nigel Terry a dose of botulism upon him, sir.
too many coaches
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