46100 Royal Scot and 70000 Britannia hauling the Devonian Express tour back from Plymouth to Cardiff, here passing the Exe Estuary at Starcross, Devon, England.

See my other 70000 Britania photos.

Signalling the end to Western Region steam, Swansea Landores BR Brush/Sulzer Type 4 No. D 1728 (TOPS 47 136, then 47 621 and finally 47 839) gets a run past Saltley Station for the climb up St Andrews bank with 7V26, a mixed Class 7 freight from Washwood Heath yard to the West Country, whilst a BR Class 2 steam locomotive shunts coaches in the distance.

Ironically 42 years later the locomotive would be named 'The pride of Saltley' for a short period of time.

F.A. Haynes - Summer 1964.

© Anthony Haynes - All rights reserved so please do not use this image without my explicit permission.

BR Standard Class 7 4-6-2 No. 70049 SOLWAY FIRTH with an up parcels train near Milnthorpe on 19th August 1967.

8'289

Swietelsky Babcock Rail (SBRail) owned Plasser & Theurer TJC60 Self-Propelled Heavy Duty Twin Jib Crane 78219 on the rear of 7G50 13:39 Bescot Up Engineers Sdgs to Bletchley Relief 2

BR Standard Class 7 No. 70000 Britannia negotiates the tight curves at Nappa, just south of Hellifield, on the return leg of Pathfinder Tours 'Cumbrian Fells Express' from Carlisle to Bristol Temple Meads on 30th May 2015.

BR Standard Class 7 Pacific No. 70013 'Oliver Cromwell' descends from Folkestone East Sidings to Folkestone Harbour at the rear of the first return 1Z83 11:25 Folkestone Harbour to Folkestone Harbour short rail tour.

West Coast Railways Class 47 No. 47245 is on the front of the train.

The full rail tour was -

1Z82 08:40 Waterloo to Folkestone Harbour

1Z83 11:25 Folkestone Harbour to Folkestone Harbour

1Z83 12:00 Folkestone Harbour to Folkestone Harbour

1Z84 13:09 Folkestone Harbour to Canterbury West

1Z85 16:05 Canterbury West to Waterloo

Preserved steam locomotive, Class 7, 70013 Oliver Cromwell is making its way to the Great Central Way Railway Quorn station.

Grounding out happens quite often at this location looking the number of scrapes and grooves in the tarmac.

"On 3 March 2018, 70013 hauled its final main line charter from Ealing Broadway to York via the Midland Main Line prior to the expiry of its boiler certificate. It was last steamed at the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway on 11 March 2018 before moving to the GCR for storage."

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BR_Standard_Class_7_70013_Oliver_Cr...

Approaching Newton-le-Willows station, BR Standard Class 7 loco 70000 "Britannia" and LNER A4 loco 60007 "Sir Nigel Gresley" make their way across Mill Lane Viaduct. The two steam locos head east from Crewe towards Bury, where they are attending the Legends of Steam event at the East Lancashire Railway.

Fowler 3F "Jinty" 47406 works off the Mountsorrel Branch with a set of private owner wagons at Swithland Sidings

Having just alighted from this train following an exhilarating run from Oxenholme, I was faced with something of a scrum in my attempt to get this shot of BR Standard Class 7 4-6-2 No. 70039 formerly SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN departing from Preston with the 14:00 SO Glasgow Central - Liverpool Exchange on 26th August 1967.

9'326

A bit of focus on locomotive builder Sharp, Stewart and Company today - works no.4147 was a 3'6" gauge Class 7A 4-8-0 built in 1896 for the Cape Government Railway, South Africa. Seen here 80 years later in light steam in industrial service with Witbank Consolidated Coal Mines at Saaiwater, Transvaal.

Amazingly, this loco was still at work some five years later.

Sharp, Stewart and Company was established in 1843, initially based in Manchester, England before moving to Glasgow, Scotland in 1888. In 1903, having built over 5000 locomotives, the company amalgamated with Neilson, Reid and Company and Dübs and Company to form the North British Locomotive Company.

The last standard gauge steam train operated by British Railways, IT57, the Fifteen Guinea Special with 70013 OLIVER CROMWELL heading away from Manchester Victoria and passing Threlfall's brewery, 11th August 1968.

Threlfall's Salford brewery, along with another site in Liverpool, had been taken over by Whitbread in 1967 at which time it was the 8th largest brewing company in the UK, and the largest to be based in North West England. The takeover raised Whitbread, a predominantly southern based business, to be the second largest brewing group in the United Kingdom. The Salford building became surplus to requirements in 1999 and is now the Deva Centre, an urban business village. It is grade II listed.

12'453

BR Standard Class 7 4-6-2 No. 70013 OLIVER CROMWELL on shed at Stockport Edgeley on 27th April 1968.

10'380

70813 is greeted by some cracking morning sunlight as it gets into its stride away from Liskeard where a run round in the station was required, working 6C35 07:55 Moorswater to Aberthaw.

One of the last and most powerful steam locomotives ever built, the British Rail Standard Class 7 was BR's top express locomotive, and could have been utilised far better in its short lifespan, but ended up only serving the railways for 15 years, a blink of an eye compared to other mainline Pacifics of the time that had operated under the pre-nationalisation companies.

Designed by Robert Riddles, who had previously coined the design for the War Department Austerity 2-10-0 and 2-8-0 freight locomotives, the BR Standard Class 7's were conceived of as a result of the 1948 locomotive exchanges, which were done to test the best and worst aspects of locomotive design within the Big Four railway companies that had existed before nationalisation. The research gained from operating the best designs of the GWR, LMS, LNER and Southern railways on different areas of the British Railways network paved the way for several new classes of standardised locomotives to be constructed, largely to replace many of the ageing Victorian era engines that even in the late 1940's continued to ply their merry trade.

The first design requested by the Railway Executive was for a new express passenger Pacific locomotive, designed specifically to reduce maintenance and using the latest available innovations in steam technology from home and abroad. Various labour-saving devices were utilised to produce a simple, standard and effective design, able to produce equivalent power to some of the Pacifics that were still available as legacies of the Big Four.

The basic design of the Standard 7's can be traced to LMS construction practices, largely owed to Riddles' previous career with that company, but complimented this with the boiler and trailing wheel design of the Southern Railway's Merchant Navy Pacifics so as to follow the best design practice. The firebox was also similar in having a rocking grate, which allowed the fire to be rebuilt without stopping the locomotive, removing both ash and clinker on the move. A self-cleaning smokebox was used, which enabled ash to flow into the atmosphere, reducing the workload of the engine cleaner at the end of a working day. A single chimney was placed on top of the smokebox, which was unusual for a Pacific type of locomotive.

The Standard 7's were fitted with 6 ft 2 in driving wheels, allowing these engines greater capacity for use in mixed-traffic working, which made them available for both sustained fast running with heavy passenger trains, yet small enough to allow them to undertake more mundane tasks such as freight haulage.

55 of these engines were constructed between 1951 and 1954, with 70000 'Britannia' being the first and flagship of the fleet, with residual locomotives of the class being dubbed 'Britannia-Class'. Three batches were constructed at Crewe Works, before the publication of the 1955 Modernisation Plan.

Britannia was built at Crewe, completed on 2 January 1951. She was the first British Railways standard locomotive to be built and the first of 55 locomotives of the Britannia class. The locomotive was named at a ceremony at Marylebone Station by the then Minister for Transport Alfred Barnes on 30 January 1951. The BR Locomotive Naming Committee were determined not to use names already in use on other locomotives. They tried to observe this by not selecting the name Britannia for use on 70000 because it was already in use on one of the ex-LMS Jubilee Class locomotives, but Robert Riddles overruled them and the Jubilee had to be renamed.

The Britannias took their names from great Britons, former Star Class locomotives, and Scottish firths, although one locomotive, 70047, was never named. The success of these first Standard Pacifics gave birth to two other Pacific classes over the BR years, including the unique BR Standard Class 8, number 71000 'Duke of Gloucester', which was built in 1954 to replace the destroyed Princess Royal Class locomotive number 46202 Princess Anne, lost in the Harrow and Wealdstone rail disaster of 1952, and the fleet of 10 BR Standard Class 6 'Clan' Pacifics that were employed on services in the west of Scotland, but failed to gain a stellar reputation due to their employment on timetables for the more powerful Standard 7's they couldn't keep up to.

The class gained a warm response from locomotive crews across all British Railway Regions, with especially glowing reports from those operating them from Stratford depot on the Eastern Region, where its lower weight and high power transformed motive power over the restricted East Anglian lines. However, negative feedback was received from various operating departments, most notably on the Western Region. The criticism was primarily out of partisan preference for GWR-designed locomotive stock among Western Region staff; in particular, the class was 'left-hand drive' in contrast to 'right-hand drive' GWR locomotive and signalling practice, a factor in the Milton rail crash of 1955.

For this reason, the Western Region locomotive depots at Old Oak Common and Plymouth Laira declared that the class was surplus to requirements. However Cardiff Canton depot displayed its liking for the class (despite being part of the former GWR empire) and managed to obtain good results on South Wales passenger traffic.

The Midland Region also had favourable reports, but a marked consistency in losing time on the longer runs between Holyhead and Euston was recorded, although all complaints were down to the individual techniques of the operating crews. This was compounded by the irregular allocation of the class to depots all over the network, meaning that few crews ever had a great deal of experience in driving them. The Southern Region also had an allocation of seven in May 1953, when all Merchant Navy Class locomotives were temporarily withdrawn for inspection after 35020 "Bibby Line" sheared a crank axle on the central driving wheel.

Repairs to the class were undertaken at Crewe, Swindon and Doncaster Works until the financial constraints of the British Railways Modernisation Plan in terms of expenditure on steam began to preclude the regular overhaul of locomotives. During the mid-1960s overhauls were carried out exclusively at Crewe Works.

Britannia was initially based at Stratford in order to work East Anglian expresses to Norwich and Great Yarmouth, but was also particularly associated with the Hook Continental boat train to Harwich. Subsequently, the loco was based at Norwich Thorpe in January and March 1959 before spending the remainder of her career on the London Midland Region based at Willesden, Crewe North, Crewe South and finally Newton Heath.

The locomotive also had the distinction of hauling the funeral train for King George VI from King's Lynn, Norfolk to London following his death in February 1952 at Sandringham House, Norfolk. For this task, Britannia had her cab roof painted white, as was the custom with royal locomotives. Britannia has also worn the white roof in preservation.

However, as the locomotives entered the 1960's, the modernisation plan continued to gather pace, and diesel locomotives started to replace steam on most parts of the network. Very soon the Standard 7's placement on Top-Line expresses were demoted to the on-again-off-again work of freight and parcels, and cosmetic maintenance was reduced as their final years loomed. The lavish BR Brunswick Green soon faded to grey, and in some cases BR Lined Black was adopted for ease.

The first locomotive to be withdrawn from service was number 70007 Coeur-de-Lion in 1965, and the entire class was gradually transferred to Carlisle Kingmoor and Glasgow Polmadie depots. Britannia was withdrawn in May 1966, after 15 years of service.

A succession of bulk withdrawals began in 1967, culminating in the very last steam operation in British Railways service on August 11th, 1968, where Standard 7 number 70013 Oliver Cromwell, was chosen to assist in hauling the Fifteen Guinea Special, the last steam hauled British Railways passenger service from Liverpool to Carlisle via the S&C. 70013 was chosen as it was the last BR-owned steam locomotive to undergo routine heavy overhaul at Crewe Works, being out-shopped after a special ceremony in February 1967. The engine hauled the Manchester to Carlisle leg of the service via the Settle and Carlisle line, with LMS Class 5 45110, and LMS Stanier Class 5 locomotives, 44781 and 44871 double-heading the return working back to Manchester.

Upon withdrawal, 70000 was initially planned for preservation with the National Railway Museum due to it's cultural significance, but because of its prototypical nature, 70013 was instead chosen and bought up for preservation. 70000 would later be preserved by Britannia Locomotive Company Ltd.

After moving from one home to another, the engine wound up on the Severn Valley Railway, where she remained for a number of years in operational but non-mainline condition. With the society wishing to make more use of the locomotive, she was moved to the European gauge Nene Valley Railway in Peterborough, where she was also fitted with an air-brake compressor. Britannia made her return to the main line on 27 July 1991, successfully working enthusiast trips until 1997.

With an expired mainline boiler certificate, due to the high cost of refurbishment, the locomotive was sold to Pete Waterman in 2000. Stored at Waterman's workshops at the Crewe Heritage Centre, after initial assessment the amount of work resulted in Waterman selling her to Jeremy Hosking. The locomotive underwent restoration at Crewe which involved a newly refurbished cab, a new smoke box and major work on the boiler; replacement steel sides, new crown stays, new front section barrel section, new steel and copper tubeplate, repairs and patches to door plate and major work to copper firebox.

Transferred to the Royal Scot Locomotive and General Trust, the locomotive was returned to main line operational condition in 2011, initially out shopped in its prototype black British Railways livery. After a running-in period, in 2012 the locomotive was repainted in British Railways Brunswick Green, but with an early BR crest. On 24 January 2012, the loco hauled the Royal Train with Prince Charles on board to Wakefield Kirkgate, where he rededicated the locomotive. For the trip the loco again had a painted white cab roof, removed after the engine's appearance at the West Somerset Railway's Spring Gala.

"Britannia Class" British Railways Standard Class 7 70013 'Oliver Cromwell' seen on a visit to Portsmouth in July 2009 on a Cathedrals Express Charter operated by WCRC with Class 37 37706 at the rear as a back up locomotive.

Fifty five Standard Class 7s were built in the early 1950s and they lasted until the very last day of steam operation in 1968 and two examples have survived into preservation, 70000 which is currently based in Crewe and is mainline certified. 70013 is currently awaiting an overhaul at the Great Central Railway but holds the distinction of hauling the final steam operated train on BR the 'Fifteen Guinea Special' from Liverpool to Carlisle on August 11th 1968, 45110 took the charter to Manchester where 70013 took over for the remainder of the journey to Carlisle.

Preserved British Railways Standard 'Britannia' Class 7MT 4-6-2 Pacific steam locomotive 70013 'Oliver Cromwell' entering Quorn and Woodhouse Station on the heritage Great Central Railway in Leicestershire (UK).

An old friend of mine, 70013 is a very special steam locomotive. It is one of only two surviving 'Britannia's' in preservation out of 55 locomotives built.

70013 was built at Crewe Works in May 1951 and delivered to Norwich Crown Point Depot soon after and ran on the the London to Norwich mainline until 1963 just prior to the withdrawal of steam on the Great Eastern Main Line in 1965.

70013 was then transferred to Carlisle Kingmoor depot and this actual locomotive ran the very last steam passenger train prior to the withdrawal of steam altogether on British Railways on August 11th 1968.

The very next day August 12th 1968 'she' arrived back in East Anglia en route for a new home at Bressingham Steam Museum at Diss in Norfolk.

Restoration to bring 'her' back to steam began in 2004 here at the Great Central Railway Centre and on August 10th 2008 'Ollie' was back on the mainline for the first time in 40 years.

I've been hauled behind 'Ollie' several times including on the mainline and the locomotive features heavily in my flickr photostream.

www.flickr.com/photos/stuart166axe/tags/70013/

Photograph taken by and copyright of my regular photostream contributor David and is posted here with very kind permission.

Riddles BR Standard 7MT 70013 "Oliver Cromwell" with a set of mineral wagons approaches Quorn and Woodhouse

See this locomotive in the video here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDP5mgPXMf0&feature=youtu.be

At last! A steam tour comes to town after months of silence, today in the form of flagship British Railways Standard Class 7, 70000 'Britannia', hauling the 'Torbay Express' from Bristol Temple Meads to Kingswear and return. Here, the train works the return service along the banks of the River Teign, whistling loudly and proudly to the sound of the the water and the Seagulls.

One of the last and most powerful steam locomotives ever built, the British Rail Standard Class 7 was BR's top express locomotive, and could have been utilised far better in its short lifespan, but ended up only serving the railways for 15 years, a blink of an eye compared to other mainline Pacifics of the time that had operated under the pre-nationalisation companies.

Designed by Robert Riddles, who had previously coined the design for the War Department Austerity 2-10-0 and 2-8-0 freight locomotives, the BR Standard Class 7's were conceived of as a result of the 1948 locomotive exchanges, which were done to test the best and worst aspects of locomotive design within the Big Four railway companies that had existed before nationalisation. The research gained from operating the best designs of the GWR, LMS, LNER and Southern railways on different areas of the British Railways network paved the way for several new classes of standardised locomotives to be constructed, largely to replace many of the ageing Victorian era engines that even in the late 1940's continued to ply their merry trade.

The first design requested by the Railway Executive was for a new express passenger Pacific locomotive, designed specifically to reduce maintenance and using the latest available innovations in steam technology from home and abroad. Various labour-saving devices were utilised to produce a simple, standard and effective design, able to produce equivalent power to some of the Pacifics that were still available as legacies of the Big Four.

The basic design of the Standard 7's can be traced to LMS construction practices, largely owed to Riddles' previous career with that company, but complimented this with the boiler and trailing wheel design of the Southern Railway's Merchant Navy Pacifics so as to follow the best design practice. The firebox was also similar in having a rocking grate, which allowed the fire to be rebuilt without stopping the locomotive, removing both ash and clinker on the move. A self-cleaning smokebox was used, which enabled ash to flow into the atmosphere, reducing the workload of the engine cleaner at the end of a working day. A single chimney was placed on top of the smokebox, which was unusual for a Pacific type of locomotive.

The Standard 7's were fitted with 6 ft 2 in driving wheels, allowing these engines greater capacity for use in mixed-traffic working, which made them available for both sustained fast running with heavy passenger trains, yet small enough to allow them to undertake more mundane tasks such as freight haulage.

55 of these engines were constructed between 1951 and 1954, with 70000 'Britannia' being the first and flagship of the fleet, with residual locomotives of the class being dubbed 'Britannia-Class'. Three batches were constructed at Crewe Works, before the publication of the 1955 Modernisation Plan.

Britannia was built at Crewe, completed on 2 January 1951. She was the first British Railways standard locomotive to be built and the first of 55 locomotives of the Britannia class. The locomotive was named at a ceremony at Marylebone Station by the then Minister for Transport Alfred Barnes on 30 January 1951. The BR Locomotive Naming Committee were determined not to use names already in use on other locomotives. They tried to observe this by not selecting the name Britannia for use on 70000 because it was already in use on one of the ex-LMS Jubilee Class locomotives, but Robert Riddles overruled them and the Jubilee had to be renamed.

The Britannias took their names from great Britons, former Star Class locomotives, and Scottish firths, although one locomotive, 70047, was never named. The success of these first Standard Pacifics gave birth to two other Pacific classes over the BR years, including the unique BR Standard Class 8, number 71000 'Duke of Gloucester', which was built in 1954 to replace the destroyed Princess Royal Class locomotive number 46202 Princess Anne, lost in the Harrow and Wealdstone rail disaster of 1952, and the fleet of 10 BR Standard Class 6 'Clan' Pacifics that were employed on services in the west of Scotland, but failed to gain a stellar reputation due to their employment on timetables for the more powerful Standard 7's they couldn't keep up to.

The class gained a warm response from locomotive crews across all British Railway Regions, with especially glowing reports from those operating them from Stratford depot on the Eastern Region, where its lower weight and high power transformed motive power over the restricted East Anglian lines. However, negative feedback was received from various operating departments, most notably on the Western Region. The criticism was primarily out of partisan preference for GWR-designed locomotive stock among Western Region staff; in particular, the class was 'left-hand drive' in contrast to 'right-hand drive' GWR locomotive and signalling practice, a factor in the Milton rail crash of 1955.

For this reason, the Western Region locomotive depots at Old Oak Common and Plymouth Laira declared that the class was surplus to requirements. However Cardiff Canton depot displayed its liking for the class (despite being part of the former GWR empire) and managed to obtain good results on South Wales passenger traffic.

The Midland Region also had favourable reports, but a marked consistency in losing time on the longer runs between Holyhead and Euston was recorded, although all complaints were down to the individual techniques of the operating crews. This was compounded by the irregular allocation of the class to depots all over the network, meaning that few crews ever had a great deal of experience in driving them. The Southern Region also had an allocation of seven in May 1953, when all Merchant Navy Class locomotives were temporarily withdrawn for inspection after 35020 "Bibby Line" sheared a crank axle on the central driving wheel.

Repairs to the class were undertaken at Crewe, Swindon and Doncaster Works until the financial constraints of the British Railways Modernisation Plan in terms of expenditure on steam began to preclude the regular overhaul of locomotives. During the mid-1960s overhauls were carried out exclusively at Crewe Works.

Britannia was initially based at Stratford in order to work East Anglian expresses to Norwich and Great Yarmouth, but was also particularly associated with the Hook Continental boat train to Harwich. Subsequently, the loco was based at Norwich Thorpe in January and March 1959 before spending the remainder of her career on the London Midland Region based at Willesden, Crewe North, Crewe South and finally Newton Heath.

The locomotive also had the distinction of hauling the funeral train for King George VI from King's Lynn, Norfolk to London following his death in February 1952 at Sandringham House, Norfolk. For this task, Britannia had her cab roof painted white, as was the custom with royal locomotives. Britannia has also worn the white roof in preservation.

However, as the locomotives entered the 1960's, the modernisation plan continued to gather pace, and diesel locomotives started to replace steam on most parts of the network. Very soon the Standard 7's placement on Top-Line expresses were demoted to the on-again-off-again work of freight and parcels, and cosmetic maintenance was reduced as their final years loomed. The lavish BR Brunswick Green soon faded to grey, and in some cases BR Lined Black was adopted for ease.

The first locomotive to be withdrawn from service was number 70007 Coeur-de-Lion in 1965, and the entire class was gradually transferred to Carlisle Kingmoor and Glasgow Polmadie depots. Britannia was withdrawn in May 1966, after 15 years of service.

A succession of bulk withdrawals began in 1967, culminating in the very last steam operation in British Railways service on August 11th, 1968, where Standard 7 number 70013 Oliver Cromwell, was chosen to assist in hauling the Fifteen Guinea Special, the last steam hauled British Railways passenger service from Liverpool to Carlisle via the S&C. 70013 was chosen as it was the last the last BR-owned steam locomotive to undergo routine heavy overhaul at Crewe Works, being out-shopped after a special ceremony in February 1967. The engine hauled the Manchester to Carlisle leg of the service via the Settle and Carlisle line, with LMS Class 5 45110, and LMS Stanier Class 5 locomotives, 44781 and 44871 double-heading the return working back to Manchester.

Upon withdrawal, 70000 was initially planned for preservation with the National Railway Museum due to it's cultural significance, but because of its prototypical nature, 70013 was instead chosen and bought up for preservation. 70000 would later be preserved by Britannia Locomotive Company Ltd.

After moving from one home to another, the engine wound up on the Severn Valley Railway, where she remained for a number of years in operational but non-mainline condition. With the society wishing to make more use of the locomotive, she was moved to the European gauge Nene Valley Railway in Peterborough, where she was also fitted with an air-brake compressor. Britannia made her return to the main line on 27 July 1991, successfully working enthusiast trips until 1997.

With an expired mainline boiler certificate, due to the high cost of refurbishment, the locomotive was sold to Pete Waterman in 2000. Stored at Waterman's workshops at the Crewe Heritage Centre, after initial assessment the amount of work resulted in Waterman selling her to Jeremy Hosking. The locomotive underwent restoration at Crewe which involved a newly refurbished cab, a new smoke box and major work on the boiler; replacement steel sides, new crown stays, new front section barrel section, new steel and copper tubeplate, repairs and patches to door plate and major work to copper firebox.

Transferred to the Royal Scot Locomotive and General Trust, the locomotive was returned to main line operational condition in 2011, initially out shopped in its prototype black British Railways livery. After a running-in period, in 2012 the locomotive was repainted in British Railways Brunswick Green, but with an early BR crest. On 24 January 2012, the loco hauled the Royal Train with Prince Charles on board to Wakefield Kirkgate, where he rededicated the locomotive. For the trip the loco again had a painted white cab roof, removed after the engine's appearance at the West Somerset Railway's Spring Gala.

Ely 19th October 1991

BR Standard Class 7 4-6-2 No. 70013 OLIVER CROMWELL on shed at Stockport Edgeley on 27th April 1968.

10'384

See this locomotive in the video here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDP5mgPXMf0&feature=youtu.be

At last! A steam tour comes to town after months of silence, today in the form of flagship British Railways Standard Class 7, 70000 'Britannia', hauling the 'Torbay Express' from Bristol Temple Meads to Kingswear and return. Here, the train works the return service along the banks of the River Teign, whistling loudly and proudly to the sound of the the water and the Seagulls.

One of the last and most powerful steam locomotives ever built, the British Rail Standard Class 7 was BR's top express locomotive, and could have been utilised far better in its short lifespan, but ended up only serving the railways for 15 years, a blink of an eye compared to other mainline Pacifics of the time that had operated under the pre-nationalisation companies.

Designed by Robert Riddles, who had previously coined the design for the War Department Austerity 2-10-0 and 2-8-0 freight locomotives, the BR Standard Class 7's were conceived of as a result of the 1948 locomotive exchanges, which were done to test the best and worst aspects of locomotive design within the Big Four railway companies that had existed before nationalisation. The research gained from operating the best designs of the GWR, LMS, LNER and Southern railways on different areas of the British Railways network paved the way for several new classes of standardised locomotives to be constructed, largely to replace many of the ageing Victorian era engines that even in the late 1940's continued to ply their merry trade.

The first design requested by the Railway Executive was for a new express passenger Pacific locomotive, designed specifically to reduce maintenance and using the latest available innovations in steam technology from home and abroad. Various labour-saving devices were utilised to produce a simple, standard and effective design, able to produce equivalent power to some of the Pacifics that were still available as legacies of the Big Four.

The basic design of the Standard 7's can be traced to LMS construction practices, largely owed to Riddles' previous career with that company, but complimented this with the boiler and trailing wheel design of the Southern Railway's Merchant Navy Pacifics so as to follow the best design practice. The firebox was also similar in having a rocking grate, which allowed the fire to be rebuilt without stopping the locomotive, removing both ash and clinker on the move. A self-cleaning smokebox was used, which enabled ash to flow into the atmosphere, reducing the workload of the engine cleaner at the end of a working day. A single chimney was placed on top of the smokebox, which was unusual for a Pacific type of locomotive.

The Standard 7's were fitted with 6 ft 2 in driving wheels, allowing these engines greater capacity for use in mixed-traffic working, which made them available for both sustained fast running with heavy passenger trains, yet small enough to allow them to undertake more mundane tasks such as freight haulage.

55 of these engines were constructed between 1951 and 1954, with 70000 'Britannia' being the first and flagship of the fleet, with residual locomotives of the class being dubbed 'Britannia-Class'. Three batches were constructed at Crewe Works, before the publication of the 1955 Modernisation Plan.

Britannia was built at Crewe, completed on 2 January 1951. She was the first British Railways standard locomotive to be built and the first of 55 locomotives of the Britannia class. The locomotive was named at a ceremony at Marylebone Station by the then Minister for Transport Alfred Barnes on 30 January 1951. The BR Locomotive Naming Committee were determined not to use names already in use on other locomotives. They tried to observe this by not selecting the name Britannia for use on 70000 because it was already in use on one of the ex-LMS Jubilee Class locomotives, but Robert Riddles overruled them and the Jubilee had to be renamed.

The Britannias took their names from great Britons, former Star Class locomotives, and Scottish firths, although one locomotive, 70047, was never named. The success of these first Standard Pacifics gave birth to two other Pacific classes over the BR years, including the unique BR Standard Class 8, number 71000 'Duke of Gloucester', which was built in 1954 to replace the destroyed Princess Royal Class locomotive number 46202 Princess Anne, lost in the Harrow and Wealdstone rail disaster of 1952, and the fleet of 10 BR Standard Class 6 'Clan' Pacifics that were employed on services in the west of Scotland, but failed to gain a stellar reputation due to their employment on timetables for the more powerful Standard 7's they couldn't keep up to.

The class gained a warm response from locomotive crews across all British Railway Regions, with especially glowing reports from those operating them from Stratford depot on the Eastern Region, where its lower weight and high power transformed motive power over the restricted East Anglian lines. However, negative feedback was received from various operating departments, most notably on the Western Region. The criticism was primarily out of partisan preference for GWR-designed locomotive stock among Western Region staff; in particular, the class was 'left-hand drive' in contrast to 'right-hand drive' GWR locomotive and signalling practice, a factor in the Milton rail crash of 1955.

For this reason, the Western Region locomotive depots at Old Oak Common and Plymouth Laira declared that the class was surplus to requirements. However Cardiff Canton depot displayed its liking for the class (despite being part of the former GWR empire) and managed to obtain good results on South Wales passenger traffic.

The Midland Region also had favourable reports, but a marked consistency in losing time on the longer runs between Holyhead and Euston was recorded, although all complaints were down to the individual techniques of the operating crews. This was compounded by the irregular allocation of the class to depots all over the network, meaning that few crews ever had a great deal of experience in driving them. The Southern Region also had an allocation of seven in May 1953, when all Merchant Navy Class locomotives were temporarily withdrawn for inspection after 35020 "Bibby Line" sheared a crank axle on the central driving wheel.

Repairs to the class were undertaken at Crewe, Swindon and Doncaster Works until the financial constraints of the British Railways Modernisation Plan in terms of expenditure on steam began to preclude the regular overhaul of locomotives. During the mid-1960s overhauls were carried out exclusively at Crewe Works.

Britannia was initially based at Stratford in order to work East Anglian expresses to Norwich and Great Yarmouth, but was also particularly associated with the Hook Continental boat train to Harwich. Subsequently, the loco was based at Norwich Thorpe in January and March 1959 before spending the remainder of her career on the London Midland Region based at Willesden, Crewe North, Crewe South and finally Newton Heath.

The locomotive also had the distinction of hauling the funeral train for King George VI from King's Lynn, Norfolk to London following his death in February 1952 at Sandringham House, Norfolk. For this task, Britannia had her cab roof painted white, as was the custom with royal locomotives. Britannia has also worn the white roof in preservation.

However, as the locomotives entered the 1960's, the modernisation plan continued to gather pace, and diesel locomotives started to replace steam on most parts of the network. Very soon the Standard 7's placement on Top-Line expresses were demoted to the on-again-off-again work of freight and parcels, and cosmetic maintenance was reduced as their final years loomed. The lavish BR Brunswick Green soon faded to grey, and in some cases BR Lined Black was adopted for ease.

The first locomotive to be withdrawn from service was number 70007 Coeur-de-Lion in 1965, and the entire class was gradually transferred to Carlisle Kingmoor and Glasgow Polmadie depots. Britannia was withdrawn in May 1966, after 15 years of service.

A succession of bulk withdrawals began in 1967, culminating in the very last steam operation in British Railways service on August 11th, 1968, where Standard 7 number 70013 Oliver Cromwell, was chosen to assist in hauling the Fifteen Guinea Special, the last steam hauled British Railways passenger service from Liverpool to Carlisle via the S&C. 70013 was chosen as it was the last the last BR-owned steam locomotive to undergo routine heavy overhaul at Crewe Works, being out-shopped after a special ceremony in February 1967. The engine hauled the Manchester to Carlisle leg of the service via the Settle and Carlisle line, with LMS Class 5 45110, and LMS Stanier Class 5 locomotives, 44781 and 44871 double-heading the return working back to Manchester.

Upon withdrawal, 70000 was initially planned for preservation with the National Railway Museum due to it's cultural significance, but because of its prototypical nature, 70013 was instead chosen and bought up for preservation. 70000 would later be preserved by Britannia Locomotive Company Ltd.

After moving from one home to another, the engine wound up on the Severn Valley Railway, where she remained for a number of years in operational but non-mainline condition. With the society wishing to make more use of the locomotive, she was moved to the European gauge Nene Valley Railway in Peterborough, where she was also fitted with an air-brake compressor. Britannia made her return to the main line on 27 July 1991, successfully working enthusiast trips until 1997.

With an expired mainline boiler certificate, due to the high cost of refurbishment, the locomotive was sold to Pete Waterman in 2000. Stored at Waterman's workshops at the Crewe Heritage Centre, after initial assessment the amount of work resulted in Waterman selling her to Jeremy Hosking. The locomotive underwent restoration at Crewe which involved a newly refurbished cab, a new smoke box and major work on the boiler; replacement steel sides, new crown stays, new front section barrel section, new steel and copper tubeplate, repairs and patches to door plate and major work to copper firebox.

Transferred to the Royal Scot Locomotive and General Trust, the locomotive was returned to main line operational condition in 2011, initially out shopped in its prototype black British Railways livery. After a running-in period, in 2012 the locomotive was repainted in British Railways Brunswick Green, but with an early BR crest. On 24 January 2012, the loco hauled the Royal Train with Prince Charles on board to Wakefield Kirkgate, where he rededicated the locomotive. For the trip the loco again had a painted white cab roof, removed after the engine's appearance at the West Somerset Railway's Spring Gala.

Preserved and mainline certified British Railways Standard 'Britannia' Class 7MT 4-6-2 Pacific steam locomotive 70000 'Britannia' at Hampton Loade station on the Severn Valley Railway in Worcestershire (UK).

70000 was designed by Robert Riddles, built at Crewe Works in late 1950 and was withdrawn from service on May 28th 1966.

70000 was a special guest locomotive at the 2015 SVR Autumn Steam Gala courtesy of The Royal Scot Locomotive and General Trust.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BR_standard_class_7_70000_Britannia

www.flickr.com/photos/stuart166axe/tags/70000/

Photograph taken by my regular photostream contributor David on his travels and is posted here with very kind permission.

Taken with my 50mm lens

Thanks to Andrew Jeffery (North Eastern Railways - 2) for the spot

Here is a link to his pictures www.flickr.com/photos/northeasternrail2/

Britannia Class 4-6-2 No. 70021 MORNING STAR waits at Birmingham New Street with a train for Manchester on 28th May 1964.

127'095

Preserved British Railways Standard 'Britannia' Class 7MT 4-6-2 Pacific steam locomotive 70013 'Oliver Cromwell' working the 1Z70 10:20 (11:37 6L) London Liverpool Street- Norwich 'The Cathedrals Express' railtour on February 22nd 2018 at Kelvedon Station on the Great Eastern Main Line in Essex (UK).

An old friend of mine, 70013 is a very special steam locomotive. It is one of only two surviving 'Britannia's' in preservation out of 55 locomotives built.

70013 was built at British Railways Crewe Works in May 1951 and delivered to Norwich Crown Point Depot soon after and ran on the the London to Norwich Great Eastern Main Line until 1963.

70013 was then transferred to Carlisle Kingmoor depot and this actual locomotive ran the very last steam passenger train prior to the withdrawal of steam altogether on British Railways on August 11th 1968.

The very next day August 12th 1968 'she' arrived back in East Anglia en route for a new home at Bressingham Steam Museum at Diss in Norfolk.

Restoration to bring 'her' back to steam began in 2004 at the Great Central Railway Loughborough and on August 10th 2008 'Ollie' was back on the mainline for the first time in 40 years.

I've been hauled behind 'Ollie' several times including on the mainline and the locomotive features heavily in my flickr photostream.

The wreath is in commemoration of well known former Eastern Region railwayman Richard 'Dick' Hardy who passed away on February 19th 2018.

Unfortunately 70013 was 44 minutes late after limping into Norwich with a hot big end bearing which ended Ollie's participation in the return leg of the railtour back to London Liverpool Street.

www.flickr.com/photos/stuart166axe/tags/70013/

Photograph taken by and copyright of my regular photostream contributor David and is posted here with very kind permission.

Preserved British Railways Standard 'Britannia' Class 7MT 4-6-2 Pacific steam locomotive 70013 'Oliver Cromwell' just outside Loughborough Central Station on the heritage Great Central Railway in Leicestershire (UK).

An old friend of mine, 70013 is a very special steam locomotive. It is one of only two surviving 'Britannia's' in preservation out of 55 locomotives built.

70013 was built at Crewe Works in May 1951 and delivered to Norwich Crown Point Depot soon after and ran on the the London to Norwich mainline until 1963 just prior to the withdrawal of steam on the Great Eastern Main Line in 1965.

70013 was then transferred to Carlisle Kingmoor depot and this actual locomotive ran the very last steam passenger train prior to the withdrawal of steam altogether on British Railways on August 11th 1968.

The very next day August 12th 1968 'she' arrived back in East Anglia en route for a new home at Bressingham Steam Museum at Diss in Norfolk.

Restoration to bring 'her' back to steam began in 2004 here at the Great Central Railway Centre and on August 10th 2008 'Ollie' was back on the mainline for the first time in 40 years.

I've been hauled behind 'Ollie' several times including on the mainline and the locomotive features heavily in my flickr photostream.

www.flickr.com/photos/stuart166axe/tags/70013/

BR Standard Class 7 Pacific No. 70013 'Oliver Cromwell' climbs from Folkestone Harbour to Folkestone East Sidings working the second 1Z83 12:00 Folkestone Harbour to Folkestone Harbour short rail tour.

West Coast Railways Class 47 No. 47245 is on the rear of the train.

The full rail tour was -

1Z82 08:40 Waterloo to Folkestone Harbour

1Z83 11:25 Folkestone Harbour to Folkestone Harbour

1Z83 12:00 Folkestone Harbour to Folkestone Harbour

1Z84 13:09 Folkestone Harbour to Canterbury West

1Z85 16:05 Canterbury West to Waterloo

Video clip of preserved British Railways Standard 'Britannia' Class 7MT 4-6-2 Pacific steam locomotive 70013 'Oliver Cromwell' working the 1Z70 10:20 (11:37 6L) London Liverpool Street- Norwich 'The Cathedrals Express' railtour on February 22nd 2018 at Kelvedon Station on the Great Eastern Main Line in Essex (UK).

An old friend of mine, 70013 is a very special steam locomotive. It is one of only two surviving 'Britannia's' in preservation out of 55 locomotives built.

70013 was built at British Railways Crewe Works in May 1951 and delivered to Norwich Crown Point Depot soon after and ran on the the London to Norwich Great Eastern Main Line until 1963.

70013 was then transferred to Carlisle Kingmoor depot and this actual locomotive ran the very last steam passenger train prior to the withdrawal of steam altogether on British Railways on August 11th 1968.

The very next day August 12th 1968 'she' arrived back in East Anglia en route for a new home at Bressingham Steam Museum at Diss in Norfolk.

Restoration to bring 'her' back to steam began in 2004 at the Great Central Railway Loughborough and on August 10th 2008 'Ollie' was back on the mainline for the first time in 40 years.

I've been hauled behind 'Ollie' several times including on the mainline and the locomotive features heavily in my flickr photostream.

The wreath is in commemoration of well known former Eastern Region railwayman Richard 'Dick' Hardy who passed away on February 19th 2018.

Unfortunately 70013 was 44 minutes late after limping into Norwich with a hot big end bearing which ended Ollie's participation in the return leg of the railtour back to London Liverpool Street.

www.flickr.com/photos/stuart166axe/tags/70013/

Video taken by and copyright of my regular photostream contributor David and is posted here with very kind permission.

SAR-Class 7E (Union Carriage and Wagon) Nr. E7058

I always found the British Railways Class 7 locomotives (Britannia Class) to be handsome, purposeful locomotives. Not beautiful like an A4 of an LMS "Coronation" streamliner, nor racy like an A3, but solid, workmanlike and powerful looking.

One of the last classes of British steam locomotives to be designed, they had a pitifully short lifetime, as well: the first Britannia hit British metals in January 1951, and the last were withdrawn from service in 1968 - the last year of British Steam. Two survived into preservation - 70013 Oliver Cromwell, and 70000 Britannia.

This photograph, taken in about 1961 shows a very dirty 70009 Alfred the Great crossing the bridge at Carr Lane, Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, heading out of the Town's Lea Road Station and towards Sheffield and Doncaster. This particular "Brit" was outshopped from Crewe Works on May 4th, 1951, and was withdrawn on January 21st, 1967. She was cut up at McWilliams of Shettleston in May of the same year.

Unknown Camera, 35mm Slide stock

Photographer retains copyright, reproduced with permission

West Coast Railways Class 47 No. 47245 climbs from Folkestone Harbour to Folkestone East Sidings at the rear of the second 1Z83 12:00 Folkestone Harbour to Folkestone Harbour short rail tour.

BR Standard Class 7 Pacific No. 70013 'Oliver Cromwell' is on the front of the train.

The full rail tour was -

1Z82 08:40 Waterloo to Folkestone Harbour

1Z83 11:25 Folkestone Harbour to Folkestone Harbour

1Z83 12:00 Folkestone Harbour to Folkestone Harbour

1Z84 13:09 Folkestone Harbour to Canterbury West

1Z85 16:05 Canterbury West to Waterloo

The 'Railway Touring Company's railtour 'The Easterling' ex Lowestoft approaches Chelmsford at Generals Lane bridge Boreham at dusk (hence not very good video quality) bound for Stratford station in London on August 15th 2009. (Liverpool Street was original terminating station but was changed to Stratford at late notice for an unknown reason)

The locomotive is the 143 ton British Railways Standard Class 7MT 4-6-2 Pacific (better known as the Britannia class) number 70013 'Oliver Cromwell' This is a very special steam locomotive. It is one of only two left out of a batch of 55 locomotives, Oliver Cromwell was built at Crewe Railway Works in May 1951and delivered to Norwich Crown Point Depot soon after to which it regulary ran on this line, the London to Norwich mainline until 1963 just prior to the withdrawal of steam in this area in 1965.

It was transferred to Carlisle Kingmoor depot and this actual locomotive ran the last steam passenger train prior to the withdrawal of steam altogether on British Railways on August 11th 1968. The very next day August 12th 1968 she arrived back in Norwich en route for Bressingham Steam Museum at Diss in Norfolk. It is now owned by the National Railway Museum in York but maintained and based at and are based at the Great Central Railway in Loughborough, UK.

Restoration began to bring 'her' back to steam in 2004 and on August 10th 2008 it ran a mainline railtour for the first time in 40 years.

70013 Oliver Cromwell get's the personal touch from one of the crowd at the Old Oak Common Open Day.

Bridgnorth, Severn Valley Railway, July 5th 1979, and yours truly is standard in front of one of his favourite engines.

Living very close to the GE Lea Valley line and having an older brother who fired this and sister engines, meant that I saw and heard them often. They were used on the Cambridge expresses. I also saw her at Clacton-on-Sea where we had a caravan.

The last I saw of her in service, she was in a terrible condition, at Ponders End on the GE line. So I was emotional to see her after 18 years and in good condition.

"This engine was completed at Crewe works in January 1951 at a cost of £20,325.

Britannia did not reach the high mileages of many of its classmates on the Great Eastern down to being selected as the regular engine for The Hook Continental, a Boat Train from London to Harwich Parkeston Quay to connect with the ferry for the Hook of Holland. It accumulated 57,500 miles during 1954, which is about the highest for 70000, but is way below the mileage accrued by the majority of Britannias on Great Eastern metals. Britannia was a regular visitor to Doncaster Works for repairs, whilst it was also shopped at Crewe Works four times and visited Stratford Works on about three occasions, one of which was for repairs to its mainframe.

70000 Britannia made its first appeared in January 1951, although it was painted black, and was seen to be unnamed for the first four weeks of its career. It was trialed between Crewe and Carlisle to begin with, and re-entered Crewe Works for its final paint finish of Brunswick Green, lined out with Orange and Black in which livery it was named at Marylebone Station, in London on 30th January 1951 by the Minister of Transport.

Early in 1952, 70000 attained the title of Royal Train Engine, and for this reason its cab roof was painted white, and as such Britannia was seen at Brookman’s Park, hauling the funeral train of King George Sixth, from Kings Lynn to Kings Cross dated 11th February 1952 (the train journey began at Sandringham). In September 1953, Britannia was a display engine at Doncaster Works Open Day.

During 1951 and 1952 Britannia often hauled The Norfolkman or The East Anglian expresses between London and Norwich. Soon after this 70000 became the regular engine for The Hook Continental connecting London to the Netherlands. As a result 70000 was usually stabled out at Parkeston rather than its home base of Stratford.

In 1958 the Essex Coast Express was inaugurated; the new service was advertised as ‘to London by Britannia’, travelling between Clacton and Liverpool Street with only two stops on the way, at Thorpe-le-Soken and Colchester. The engine chosen was 70000 Britannia, and it was polished to a fault, and Stratford MPD applied the new BR emblem to the tender, because there was to be fanfares and fancy girls at the initial send off, dated June 1958.

By September 1958 70000 was seen at Sheffield in a very grubby state, having taken over from an electric locomotive, on a Liverpool Central to Harwich boat train. This was a new diagram for Stratford, involving freight to Parkeston, train to Sheffield, and returning the same way.

In September 1961 70000 went into Doncaster Works and had the boiler replaced as well as some other work undertaken.

Withdrawn from service May 1966.

Initially it was planned that Britannia would form part of the National Collection but in the event the National Railway Museum chose to preserve 70013 Oliver Cromwell instead.

The reason for this is said to be that Britannia was not chosen due to its prototype design and construction differences from other members of the class that some people considered would have made its preservation more complicated. Another reason put forward is that Britannia was in a poor mechanical condition.

Following withdrawn the locomotive was stored – firstly at Stratford, then Preston Park Pullman Car Works at Brighton and then Redhill. During this time the East Anglian Locomotive Preservation Society was formed and bought 70000 in 1970.

After this it was moved to the Severn Valley Railway in April 1971 where it was eventually returned to steam in the May 1978 and renamed Britannia by MR R A Riddles, the locomotives’s designer. It completed 250 miles on the Severn Valley Railway in that year and a further 80 the following year before it left to go to the Nene Valley Railway. It has been suggested that Britannia was not suitable for use on the Severn Valley Railway as it was too heavy with an axle load of 20 tons.

Whilst at the Nene Valley Railway it was fitted with an air-brake equipment which the locomotive still has.

In the late 80’s she was moved to Steamtown in Carnforth for an overhaul to mainline condition.

After a few years of running, it was fully overhauled at Carnforth and returned to main line running in July 1991 some 25 after hauling its previous train on the main line. It continued to operate on the main line until 1997 when boiler problems forced her withdrawal from service.

With an expired mainline boiler certificate, due to the high cost of refurbishment, the locomotive was sold to the Waterman Railway Heritage Trust in 2000, with the hope of returning it to steam at the workshops at Crewe Heritage Centre.

In need of extensive repairs the engine was sold to the Waterman Railway Heritage Trust in 2000, with the hope of returning it to steam.

The repairs proved too costly and in 2006 Britannia was again sold, this time to Jeremy Hosking. In 2009 it became part of the Royal Scot Locomotive and General Trust (RSL&GT).

An overhaul of Britannia commenced that same year and took over three years to complete.

This overhaul involved fitting a newly refurbished cab, a new smoke box and major work on the boiler; replacement steel sides, new crown stays, new front section barrel section, new steel and copper tubeplate, repairs and patches to door plate and major work to copper firebox.

As a result of changes in the standards for locomotives on Network Rail changing dramatically in addition to a complete overhaul of the boiler and ‘bottom-end’ of the locomotive Britannia had to be fitted with TPWS and OTMR safety systems to supplement the original BR Automatic Warning System.

Britannia made its return to steam in late 2010 when it hauled an excursion in April 2011 from Oxford to Canterbury.

After its running in period, the Pacific was repainted in BR Brunswick Green, and on January 24th 2012, with a temporary white cab roof, it hauled the Royal Train with Prince Charles who re-dedicated the engine at Wakefield Kirkgate.

After just three years back in service, Britannia was involved in a collision at the North Norfolk Railway in March 2013. While running through a station in foggy weather it shunted into BR Standard 2MT 78019, causing significant damage to its front buffer beam. This was compounded weeks later with revelations that some of the copper boiler stays used in Britannia – and many other engines – might not have been of the correct standard.

Britannia re-entered traffic in the Autumn of 2013, working a number of trains before being withdrawn from service again with flats spots on some of her steel tyres. In March 2014 it returned to the mainline but it was found that one of Britannia’s leading driving wheels had slipped on its axle, causing significant vibrations throughout the locomotive.

The complex nature of the repair work necessitated a prolonged period out of service whilst parts were prepared and paperwork percolated through the system.

The engine returned to service in April 2015 when it worked the first two legs of the Great Britain railtour from London to Plymouth and back to Bristol.

In 2017 it was identified that the tender axlebox bearings needed to be replaced. The engine has been out of service for a while after axlebox problems in 2015.

Work on the locomotive at LNWR Crewe slowed in the latter part of 2017 because of problems with the driving wheels and the boggie cannon boxes. It was thought there might be some cracking but this turned out not to be the case and it was anticipated that reassembling the engine would commence by the end of 2017.

It was anticipated that Britannia will be running again on the main line in 2018 and by the middle of that year reassembly of the bottom end was hopeful thought to be completed by the end of August. Towards the end of July 2018 the repaired wheelsets were fitted to the locomotive.

In August 2018 the locomotive passed its annual boiler inspection before undertaking running in trials. In October 2018 it underwent a light and then a loaded test run before hauling a railtour in early December.

The boiler certificate expired on the 1st September 2020. It was is planned that the locomotive would go straight into the works at Crewe.

By November 2021 the overhaul had progressed to the state where the boiler could be lifted back on the rolling chassis following successful hydraulic and steam testing.

The locomotive returned to steam at Crewe in January before going to the Severn Valley Railway. The locomotive then undertook light and loaded runs on the Severn Valley Railway before returning to Crewe and undertaking a test run on the main line in February"

source: preservedbritishsteamlocomotives.com/70000-britannia/