Image: Hugh llewelyn 60007 (5371152920)

Description: A simple portrait shot - but what a locomotive! If a machine can look elegant, graceful and simply beautiful - then this locomotive does so. It looks as if it is going 100 mph standing still. Exemplifying the British interpretation of Art Deco for railway engines, LNER "A4" 4-6-2 No.60007 "Sir Nigel Gresley" (ex-LNER No.7; ex No.4498) is in 1949 BR Caledonian Blue and has the 1949 B.R. totem. It is at Barrow Hill, 04/09. 60007 holds the highest speed record post-war in Britain at 112mph in 1956 (the commemorative plaque is on the centre of streamlined casing). Its sister, "Mallard", holds the world record for steam at 126 mph, achieved in 1938. Caledonian Blue was British Railways' first livery standardised for its elite express passenger locos (Power Class "8P" locos) in 1949; however, the pigment apparently did not prove durable and in about 1952 (references are vague on exactly when) it was abandoned in favour of the 1949 livery intended originally only for for lesser passenger locos - (GWR) Brunswick Green. Yet the Caledonian Railway managed quite happily for decades with this blue before 1923!
Title: Hugh llewelyn 60007 (5371152920)
Credit: 60007 Uploaded by Oxyman
Author: Hugh Llewelyn
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0
License: CC BY-SA 2.0
License Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Attribution Required?: Yes